LC state titlists, 40 years apart

Oh, yeah, there was that other guy.

So many details have faded in the 40 years between Lewis and Clark’s football championships, but Bob Leslie remembers enough.

“We had an abundance of talent, starting with (Bill) Etter and (Bob) Minnix, the two guys that went to Notre Dame,” he said. “Every time they touched the ball we had an opportunity to break a play.”

After rummaging through the memory bank, the tight end/defensive end, added: “(Jim) Ivory was the same way. He went to Oregon.”

Spokane hasn’t had an abundance of big school state championship football teams. The one captured by LC last fall was the fourth since state playoffs started in the 1970s. That’s why LC’s 1967 mythical title remains significant.

“You didn’t think about it at the time. I do now. I wish we could have gone through the playoff system,” Leslie said. “That would have really determined how good we were. At the time we didn’t know any difference. We would have played Renton. I think they were the other undefeated team.

“We could go play them now,” he added with a chuckle. “I wonder what they look like.”

Leslie would have to find time as a new grandfather and principal at Sunnyslope Elementary School in Port Orchard to get into playing shape.

He’s been in education since graduating from Washington State, where he played linebacker for Jim Sweeney in 1969, ’70 and ’71.

Leslie married a Tacoma native and moved to Western Washington after college.

“I get tired of the rain at times so it’s nice to get back to Spokane,” he said. “I see my folks a couple of times a year.”

One of the recent visits was a 40th reunion, where the football players who returned went to Hart Field to meet the remaining Tigers from last year’s championship.

“We just told them we were proud of them and we were glad they had become the second-best team in LC history,” he cracked. “It was exciting for us to see them. It’s interesting that it was 40 years apart.”

Though it is hard to compare generations as athletes get bigger, stronger and faster, only running back Alex Shaw earned a Division I scholarship from last year’s LC team that was the Greater Spokane League runner-up before getting on a roll and finishing 11-2.

More than the starting backfield from ’67 went on to play D-I. The late Bruce Johnson, also a tight end, joined Ivory at Oregon, and Leslie wasn’t sure how many interior linemen played in college.

His Tigers, or rather “business-like” coach George Sullivan’s Tigers, rolled through the City League with a 9-0 record. They piled up 326 points (153 more than the next team) and allowed only 48 (43 less than the next team). There was just one close game, a 20-7 win over second-place Shadle Park, when Leslie had his only touchdown reception.

Leslie started his teaching career at Bellarmine and six years later was the first football coach at Gig Harbor, staying for 10 years until getting into middle school counseling.

“I enjoyed (coaching) but it got to be one of those jobs I was spending more time with other kids rather than my own,” he said. “They were young at the time. I liked coaching but I didn’t like all the hours that went with it.”

In 1990 the Leslies, both educators, decided to give their two young children a life lesson, moving to Cairo, Egypt, to teach and coach at an international school.

“We wanted to expose them to a world that was bigger than Gig Harbor,” he said. “The Gulf War was going on at that time so we had a lot of second thoughts, but it turned out to be a good opportunity, a life-changing experience for the kids. It showed them what they could do.”

Tisha’s volleyball team played in London; Rob debated in Switzerland and played soccer in the United Arab Emirates.

Now both in their 30s and settled in Seattle, Rob spent six years in Manhattan with Sports Illustrated, the Women’s Tennis Association and Tennis magazine. Tisha has traveled Europe and lived in Atlanta.

When the family returned in 1992, Leslie got into elementary counseling and is now in his eighth year as a principal, “the big kahuna.”

Leslie doesn’t think too much about the past and didn’t even know LC was on a roll until the last minute – in time to catch the title game in Tacoma.

Another excuse to look reminisce was welcome.

“I ended up reading old articles from ’68,” he said, “a trip down memory lane.”