Cougars return for reunion
PULLMAN – The current players from Washington State’s football team weren’t the only ones hanging around Martin Stadium on Saturday.
This weekend, about 60 former Cougar football players spanning decades of WSU teams, have gathered in Pullman for a reunion, and they hope, the start of a long tradition.
Organized by the school’s Gray W National Varsity Club, former players were given the opportunity to come back to campus, take in the scrimmage and talk with the current Cougars.
“I’m excited to see the current team interact with the alums,” said Collin Henderson, himself a former player and now the school’s Gray W coordinator. “It’s going to be good to hear the old guys pass stories on so our kids now can learn about the tradition. And that it wasn’t always this nice; the facilities aren’t quite what they were 20 years ago. The guys that came back are a big reason why we’re doing as well as we are now. So it’s good to thank the alumni for all they’ve done for us.”
While this year’s gathering wasn’t enormous, Henderson was thrilled that alumni traveled from as far as Illinois and California for the weekend’s events, which began Friday night and conclude this morning with a golf tournament.
And the former Cougars in attendance also said they were glad to be accepted back so generously.
“They did a wonderful job,” said 83-year-old Tom Parry, who played on the offensive and defensive lines for WSU in 1942, 1946 and 1947. “No. 1, it’s nice to see friends. And then to be with some new guys who played when we didn’t. Which, of course, in my case is lot of them.”
Mike Monahan, who played defensive back from 1969-71, said he relished the opportunity to spend time with older players like Parry, some of whom were his own idols growing up.
“There’s more to this than just the reunion. There’s an emotional and family connection going on,” Monahan said. “They were giants to me when I was a kid. They show up, and now they’re shaking my hand, I’m getting to know them and talking to them. They remember some of the guys, and guys like me that looked up to them feed them back respect that they had way back when.”
Monahan, who lives in Portland, is trying to help organize a 40th anniversary reunion of the Cardiac Kids team this October, and said there are already about 30 members of that 1965 team who have been contacted and could make an appearance during the Stanford game.
Henderson said he hopes to double the reunion attendance next August, and is counting on word continuing to spread about the event.
“We got a great response. Everybody’s so happy be to back involved, just to be contacted,” he said. “We’ve got guys that haven’t seen each other for 20, 30 years. So it’s a good service to offer them to say we still appreciate you and you’re still welcome back.”