The Two Most Exciting Issaquah Football Games

This is a two part series describing the 1959 game with Lake Washington, the 1980 state semi-final game with Cascade..

Part One: Issaquah vs. Lake Washington November 6, 1959

The 1959 Issaquah Varsity

One of the most satisfying moments in a coach's career is seeing a team coalesce after seasons, months, and weeks of practices. Often the members of successful teams have grown together playing on Sundays during their PeeWee and Little League days and through their junior high years. They learned to play with pride and for each other. What is important to a coach is the team’s journey not the championship. The Issaquah High School 1959 varsity team, led by George Nowadnick (1930-2019), exemplified those qualities. The team played as a unit with the “one-for-all spirit.” The player's “will-to- win” is "tremendous” as stated in an Issaquah Press editorial. They bonded together after three dismal prior seasons.

When the ’59 football season began, George was in his third year of coaching at Issaquah

after playing college ball at PLU, as well as teaching and coaching at Mossy Rock. When I knew George, he wore a semi-grin throughout the school day. For the confident student, he was approachable, kind, patient, and understanding. He had his standards. At practice he wore well-polished, black, low cut-shoes, white coaching pants, and a baseball hat. Carl Erickson, who wrote sports articles for The Issaquah Press at the time, wrote, "George Nowadnick was a terrific football coach. He came to IHS in our sophomore year. The prior year I think the team was 0-9. I think in our freshman year Bellevue beat our varsity 40-0. Our senior year we prevailed 35-13. We had a lot of talent on the team, but Coach knew how to bring it out. I have a lot of respect for him.” Carl adds, George “switched players around. He moved Kevin Thomas (1942-2014) from fullback to right tackle and Jerry Hendrickson from end to running back.” Those moves may have been a key to the team’s success that season. He never yelled. Instead he used a tone voice that wasn’t critical, yet demanding. During our 1966 Homecoming game George called me to his side after an opponent's successful TD and PAT passes. George put his arm around me and said, “Do you know you were beat by the same player on the same pass for two consecutive plays?” It never happened again. Good coaches are good teachers that know their craft. They develop the younger and less skilled players without hindering the talented players. George was the right coach for this group of players. In the locker room as the players assembled their pads and pulled on their jerseys, George would quietly and nonchalantly check the players’ shoes for polish as he walked through the locker room. Once an individual player was suited up, he would walk into the main gym and find a space to lie on his back with his feet up on the first step of the bleachers. The gym was quiet and dark so players could focus on the task before them. Eventually George would walk silently into the gym and slowly pass the heads of the players. He could judge their readiness from their stillness and quietness. It was then that he determined how difficult the opponent was going to be that night.

On Nov. 6, 1959, the day of the infamous game between Issaquah and Lake Washington, Issaquah’s football team was undefeated and “a Cinderella team that has caught the fancy of the metropolitan area,” stated the Issaquah Press in an editorial. According to right end Ray Erickson they were “favored to beat” the powerhouse team from Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. There was no Redmond High School, Juanita High School or Eastside High School at the time. Jerry Henrickson, running back, indicated it was just the Kangaroos from Rose Hill with an "enrollment around 650 students compared to Issaquah's enrollment of 402 students." Carl reported in the Issaquah Press at the beginning of the season, “With 13 returning letterman and some good sophomores, Coach Nowadnick has his best squad since he introduced the T-formation here two years ago.” Because the 'Roos tied Mercer Island earlier, they had to beat Issaquah to win another league title. If Issaquah won or tied the game, they would be league champions. Coach Bill McLoughlin (1918-1995) was well respected for his championship teams at Lake Washington and Carl cited their "35 consecutive victories and two ties” at the time. Their only loss came after 51 consecutive wins. According to Hunter Mock, former principal at Lake Washington High School, “By concentrating on the basics, and by believing in his players, he inspired fierce loyalty.” (Obituary) Jock, the coach’s son and starting left tackle, considered, "The reason we were powerhouse was because my dad had a great sense of who belonged where.” Like George, he had moved several players to new positions. The game was a showcase of two well-coached and talented teams and two of the best in the state. Garfield High School finished the season ranked number one after Davis lost to Eisenhower that night. Thinking back 63 years, Jock thought they "were ranked no higher than fourth or fifth. We didn’t care much. We had some good athletes, but no one was outstanding but Bob Lambert, a junior. I remember playing against Kevin and Jerry and being impressed with both. We didn’t have anyone like them on our team. We just had a bunch of well-drilled kids and it got us through." Jock later stated, "When a reporter asked what was his favorite one of those undefeated teams he immediately said, 'The '59 team for sure.' The reporter asked why that team, he said, 'They weren't very good, but they didn't know it.'"

The 1959 Lake Washington football team. They were undefeated that season. Coach McLaughlin is on the left in the light coat, Pat Alexander is #17, Robbie Avery is #14, Ron Davis is #7, Don Burlingame is #30, and Jock McLaughlin is #42. Assistant coaches on the far right are Jim Jolgen and Hunter Mock.

On game day, Ray said he went home after school using the bus. His time at home was to be alone and “try not to do anything stupid like injuring a toe from kicking something.” Unlike today, it was up to the individuals during the season to take their uniforms home and wash them. Kevin lived on Bush Street, and he would go home for lunch which was normally soup. Quarterback Andy Erickson, lived across the street on the north side of the school. Each had their own way of relaxing and resting before games. During the week prior, IHS sold 4,000 tickets for that Friday’s 8:00 game. Lake Washington fans ordered 500 tickets. Jock, starting left tackle for the ‘Roos, claimed there were “four or five rooter buses full of town people and Lake Washington students at the game." According to the Issaquah Press Editorial the day before the game, "Many fans from Renton, Snoqualmie Valley, and Seattle wouldn’t miss this one." The Issaquah Press Editorial of Nov. 12, 1959, stated, “The largest crowd in the history of the KingCo Conference witnessed this game; 2,200 adult tickets were sold. Adding student tickets and numbers for children admitted free, the attendance reached close to 4,000. There was not a vacant inch on the rope around the entire field. All seats were filled an hour before the kick-off.” A few dads who had played for the town team, the Alpines, watched from the sidelines as their sons played in this important game. Fritz Carlson (1917-1994), supervisor of the district’s bus garage was the Inspirational Award winner for the 1934 team. His son, John (1942-1976), was the starting center for the Indians. Harold Erickson (1907-1978), Andy’s dad; Floyd Erickson (1910-1987), Pete’s dad; Theodore Erickson, father of Ray, all played for Issaquah. We lived behind the junior high, adjacent to the coal dirt track which my mom hated due to the dust. The high jump pit contained sawdust from the local sawmill and was next to our fence. My parents would run a hose from the outdoor faucet to that fence so the athletes over numerous seasons could get a drink during practice. On Friday night home games my dad and I, and sometimes my cousin Bill, walked the dark length of the 100-yard dash section of the track and then passed by the dump site where the janitors burned their daily trash from the classrooms. Past the track, we would then find the concrete path between the junior high building and Ken Schmelzer’s shop classroom continuing down the sidewalk guided by the few dim streetlights. We walked past the grass slope that many of us would slide down in the summer on cardboard “sleds” and quickly by the tennis courts. We wanted to be between Sunset Way and the Renton-Issaquah Auto Freight building where so many generations of students had carved and scribbled their inscriptions on the huge gray wooded doors. We needed to be able to get out of the way when the team jogged by us. That Friday night, like any home-game night, George led the team out of the gym and on the quarter mile jog to Memorial Field. The players cautiously made their way down that well known grass slope. They crossed Bush Street and jogged by the freight building. We could hear their three quarter inch steel capped cleats on the First Avenue’s sidewalk coming toward us. Like other fans making their way to the field, we turned to make sure we didn’t get trampled. The team would jog by us and to this day I can hear the tempo of their cleats on the concrete. The only other sound was the players breathing as they passed us. This was serious. Ray stated, "Our attitude during the jog to the field was going to do a job.” This game was what they had been working toward since they began playing Little League football on Memorial Field. For many it was their last football season. Tackle Jim Schembs remembered, "It was the four-year build up to the 1959 season which stands out for me." The Memorial Field lights glowed in the distance above, creating a silhouette of the team as they continued near the end of First Avenue. They then spilled onto the street and made the crossing of Sunset Way where the train tracks cross the street. The team continued to jog left of the memorial to the many Issaquah men who lost their lives in previous wars and through the dirt parking lot in front of the fire hall. Finally, they were greeted by the open double gates to the field. Ticketless Little Leaguers would wait at the gates for the team and as they passed through the gates they would slide into the mass of players and disappear into the crowd. Ray indicated the size of the crowd “was a lot of people.” Jerry remembered the field was “encircled by fans.” Jock said it was “just a mob around the outside. One of our guys came back to the huddle and said, ‘Don’t go out of bounds. It's more dangerous out there than in here.’ There were people everywhere on the sidelines." That Nov. 6th night had a dampness that penetrated your clothing. It was 40 degrees at the 8:00 kick-off. A student, Donna Kutz-Fraker, recalled, "It was cold and wet” and another student, Cathrine Stevens, said, “I remember it was a really rainy day that day.” Jerry recalled, "The field was muddy between the hashmarks and from 20 to 20.” He added, “It was nothing the three-quarter-inch screw-on cleats couldn’t handle." Ray said the field was in "pretty good shape” considering they practiced on it during the week. Ken Baugh, a young fan that night, said, “I remembered the weather as being cool and crisp at that game. I was only 11 at the time, so the game was far more memorable than the weather! I do know the field was very muddy, but it was always muddy." The rain held off. On the northeast section of the field was the baseball infield and it had a shallow puddle of water created from the week’s rain surrounding second base. On the east and west sidelines were flat bed trailers with two rows of chairs on top. The flat beds were set back from the sideline for safety reasons to allow the bubble of fans that usually followed the team up and down the field. After warmups, the IHS substitutes wore their heavy yellow rain overcoats as they kneeled on one knee in front of the eight rows of grandstand seats. George was adamant about the kneel. The Seattle Times wrote a preview of the game and printed line play should be intense with Tom Thousand and Jock McLaughlin as the ‘Roos “towers of strength” going against Kevin Thomas and Jim Schembs, Issaquah’s “Rocks of Gib.” Ray wore jersey number 11 that season. He would be considered a tight end today used mostly for blocking. Ray remembered he seldom split out but had George's permission to do so “as long as it didn’t harm the play called.” He and Andy had a set of hand signals they would use to know what each was going to do on the play. He usually aligned in a three-point stance alongside Kevin, the right tackle. Jerry stated, “[Kevin] was the toughest guy on

the field that night.” Jock, a junior, considered Kevin "a toughie. He was really tough. I was in survival mode just trying to keep him from hurting people. He left a large impression on me. I was just a technician, and my job was to keep him away from Ron (the quarterback)."

Ray did not play football until his junior year after noticing how much fun his friends were having. He was an outstanding basketball and a baseball player and never really enjoyed football. George must have heard that Ray had decided not to return to the team for his senior season, so the coach appeared unannounced at Ray’s home during the summer. As Ray tells it, his father usually had “coffee time” at their home for his clients and friends. Ray explained that George wanted to talk to him about playing football his senior year as he was “part of that team”. Of course, Ray showed up on the first day of practice.

Ray said, “I never dropped a ball that season.” During the season, his favorite pass play was “Fake 2-3 Cross” which had him crossing behind the linebackers as Andy would fake the handoff as the “two” back dove into the "three" gap. It was simple play action that would cause the linebackers to miss read the play and give Ray open space. Most of the time he was working with Kevin creating holes for the running backs. Ray explains that when they played Lake Washington, he and Kevin would leave the huddle one would say say “high or low” meaning who was going to be the low block or high block against the opposing tackle, Jock, who Ray considered “a big guy." When he graduated, Ray went to Yakima Community College and then entered the Navy for pilot training. After a year of flight training a migraine variant caused some eyesight problems that were deemed unsafe for a combat pilot, so he was discharged from the Navy. On his way home he stopped in Pullman and looked up his old Yakima baseball coach, BoBo Brayton, who was the coach at WSU, and informed him that he was going to enroll at WSU in the fall and would like to try out for both the basketball and baseball teams despite never having been recruited for anything. He enrolled in school and became Jerry's roommate. There were about 30 players trying to make the basketball team. At the end of tryouts, the coaches interviewed each player in the coach's office. That was how they retained and cut players. They verbally informed them and provided the rational. As Ray sat down in the office one coach said, "You can’t shoot well enough to play in this league." The second coach said, "You can’t play defense well enough to play at this level." The third coach said, “You can’t handle the ball well enough to play at this level.” Ray indicated that head coach Marv Harshman loved his attitude and would be willing to allow him to practice with the team with no guarantees. Ray took the offer and eventually earned playing time and became an asset to the WSU’s basketball team. Ray also played varsity baseball for the Cougars. Jerry wore jersey number 2 and was one of the team's starting running backs at “about 180-190 pounds and the fastest on the team,” according to Jerry himself. Jerry led the league in scoring that year with 16 touchdowns and a conversion for 97 points. He ran for 1,037 yards for a 7-yard average per carry according to the Post-Intelligencer. He made the First Team All-KingCo. Jerry was the P-I’s number one back in the league. He was known for gaining yardage on end runs while his running mates Pete Erickson and Don Viney would get yardage on the three- yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust plays. After graduating Jerry went to WSU on a football scholarship. At the time, the NCAA would not allow freshmen to play varsity. They had their

own team and coaches and practiced separately from the varsity. According to Jerry, “The coaches yelled and screamed at the team and really didn’t know much about coaching." Football at the time became a job and the joy and desire to play diminished. He asked the coaches if he could practice with the track squad that spring, and they told him no because they didn't want him to miss spring football. Jerry gave up his football scholarship and went out for the track team. He said he enjoyed and respected Jack Mooberry, the head coach, "who seem to have a way of recognizing raw talent and developing it” and they gave him a “working scholarship” to make ends meet. He never played football again. When I was a sophomore, George asked me on Thursday prior to my first high school football game which jersey number I wanted to wear. I didn’t hesitate. I wanted number 2 to carry on the jersey’s tradition of great IHS football players like Jerry and Steve Anderson. Andy Erickson (1942-2014) was the team’s quarterback and leader. Andy was an all-round athlete at IHS playing varsity football, basketball, and baseball all three years of high school. Like me, my teammates on the Peewee football team idolized him.

Andy lived next door to the school's gym and often on Fridays after school he would go inside the gym and walk to the top of the bleachers to release the locking device on one of the windows. During the weekend he would prop his dad's, Harold Erickson, ladder against the gym’s wall and climb up, open the window, and crawl inside. Throughout the weekend he would be in the gym shooting baskets alone. It is what you do when no one is watching that is important.

He later became our Little League coach. He took it personally when we played poorly or lost a game. He taught Randy Pickering and me how to run the belly series of plays like they used on the varsity team. Randy got so good at making it appear he had the ball that the referees would blow their whistles when he was tackled. The problem was he didn’t have the ball. The second running back further down the field had it. Andy would call timeout and question the referees about their quick whistle. From that point on we had a slow whistle during the game. At halftime it was common for him to throw his clipboard to the ground and yell at us. We deserved it. We loved playing for him, being around him, and his passion. Andy was left-handed and had a strong arm probably due to his baseball career as a pitcher. He always stood tall in the pocket on passing plays and displayed an unusual poise under pressure. During games George would allow Andy to call most of the plays and seldom did a play call come from the sideline. As good of a quarterback he was at the time, his real expertise was on the baseball mound. George Vanni caught for Andy after high school. Vanni shared the following:

"Here is a story you might enjoy. Andy rarely shook me off. One night he shook me off. I gave him the same sign; he shook me off again. I gave him the same sign and he shook me off. I called time and went to the mound and told him 'this guy kills fastballs and can't hit a curve.' Andy insisted on the fastball. I said, Ok, but you take the blame for whatever happens.' He threw the fastball, the guy hit it and it was out of the park before I got out of my crouch. I walked slowly out to the mound trying hard not to laugh or gloat. Andy looked at me and said, ‘What do you want?.' I said, ‘You're doing so well calling the pitches, I just wondered what you wanted to throw next.' He never shook me off again. All the years I knew Andy, I never saw him get mad, throw his glove, or chew someone out." Jim Schembs was the team’s starting left tackle. He started playing football in Little League and continued through junior high and high school. He played alongside left end, Gregg Lundquish, a sophomore, and left guard, Larry McCain. Jim remembered being “very excited and confident” during the week's buildup to the game. He said when the team arrived at the field the “crowd was so big it was standing room only.” He knew the Kangs were a “solid team and the teams were evenly matched.”

Jim looked up to Andy because of his skills and he added that "all the players respected Andy.” He related the fact that the “teamwork and wanting to win” was a key to their success that season. Even though he had a good game he recounted he felt disappointed with the outcome of the game but he "was proud about the season.” He credited the fact that “it was a good group of guys and outstanding coaches” that made it a memorable season. By comparing points scored and points allowed over the previous seasons, Jim noted how much they had improved over the past four years. The team had arrived. With the elbow-to-elbow crowd surrounding the gridiron and both teams on the field, the referee blew the whistle to start the game we all had been waiting to watch. The following descriptions are from the Seattle Times sportswriter, Chick Garrett and Carl Erickson writing for the Issaquah Press. Chick's article appeared in the Times on Saturday, November 7. Carl’s article was in the November 12, 1959, issue.

Chick describe the game as a “bitterly fought contest, a thriller-diller from start to finish, saw both teams score in the second quarter” as “Issaquah gave it the big try…before the biggest crowd ever seen on its home field.” The article skipped the entire first quarter of action. Carl described it well stating, “The game settled into a defensive battle, as the teams traded punts” after the Kangs' initial drive to Issaquah’s 25 “before Ray Erickson recovered a ‘Roo fumble. The Indians finally got a successful drive going from their own 49.” After four runs and one complete pass Issaquah had a first down on the 27-yard line. Carl continues that “a reverse around his right end, Don Viney rambled for a 16-yard gain to the 11-yard line.” Carl added that after Viney moved the ball to the five-yard line, “Andy Erickson squirmed through to the half yard line.” Viney took it in on the next play for the touchdown. Andy, on the conversion point, was tackled on a sprint out to the left before he could pass the ball or carry it in for a score. Chick continues, “With little more than two minutes left in the first half, Lake Washington started a march from its own 21-yard line and drove deep into Indian territory. A pass interference ruling on the Issaquah 21 was the big break.” Carl wrote, “with only 7 seconds left on the clock, it looked as if the Indians would hold, but the ‘Roos came up with one of their rinky-dink plays for the TD. Davis hit Burlingame with a quick pass on about the five. With tacklers breathing down his neck, Burlingame got off a haphazard lateral to Pat Alexander, who went over to score” from eight yards out. Of that play, Carl later said, “It looked to me like a planned play, not improvised.” Giving that play so thought, Jock said, "That 'rinky-dink' play was called a "flea flicker." Jock concluded, “We used it all the time and it only worked when we were in a desperate situation." Chick described the conversion as “Davis made the conversion point on a fake pass attempt and a sweep around his left end.” The score was 7-6 to end the first half.

Lake Washington's defense was challenged to stop Issaquah's running backs. While Pete Erickson and Don plunged for short yardage, Jerry indicated he did not have a good game because Lake Washington stopped him on his normal long gain end sweeps. Jock said his dad "changed our defense for this game from a 5-2 to 4-3 which really confused the Issaquah players. We had some linebackers out a little further. I was one of the defensive tackles and I tackled Jerry quite a bit and paid for it. He was a load. He was a wonderful guy that I got to know when throwing the discus in track. I liked him a lot. Changing the defense got us through the first half and George must have made changes at half time and they shut us down the second half." At half-time the Indians met in the basement of the town’s fire hall. It was a musty smelling location, often damp. As for the Kangaroos, Jock thought “We went down to an end zone."

Carl noticed the difference during the second half and wrote, “The Indians completely dominated the second half.” A fumble recovery by John Gilmore on Lake Washington’s 36-yard line sparked the Indians to the 11. Carl wrote, “Andy Erickson threw a complete pass to Ray Erickson deep in the end zone.” Chick noted that the “Issaquah fans moaned, and with reason, in the third quarter when Andy Erickson completed a pass to cousin Ray Erickson barely out of the end zone.” Describing that play, Ray said he sprinted off the line of scrimmage and “drifted to the right and then crossed to the left corner of the end zone.” He remembered Andy hit him “in the breadbasket. I was all alone. There was no defender near me. I did not bobble the ball. It was a clean reception.” The referee signaled the reception out of bounds due to Ray’s heel touching the chalk line. Jock said, “There was nobody back there. I remember seeing the signal and thinking we dodged that one.” After the game, Ray was “sad and rattled about the play.” Jock added, "Regarding the out of the endzone call, it wasn't made by Pop. I was looking at the back of the endzone when I saw, with referee, the signal so it wasn't Pop from the 11." People have stated that the back judge gave the touchdown signal and the head judge, Pop Hagerty, who was beyond the 11-yard line overruled him and called it incomplete. None of the interviewees remembered that and I cannot reference it happening. I was on the west sideline and about midway up the end zone. Ray was only a few yards from me when he caught the pass. I saw the catch and the flash from the camera. I thought the heel was inbounds but that was through the eyes of a devoted ten-year-old fan. One play in the second half has gone forgotten by the Issaquah fans. Jock explains, “The play that stands out the most at the Issaquah’s 30 or 40, you know Pop Hagerty was the official, the fullback's job in the 'full house T' was to carry out the fake and Pat Alexander carried out the faked and he even faked out Pop and must have been eight or 10 yards down the field and people were piling on him and Pop blew the ball dead except he didn’t have the ball. Robbie Avery had the ball on the five-yard line from a pass from Ron. Robbie stopped at the five-yard line because of the whistle. They called it back because Pop had blown the whistle to stop the play. We should have had another touchdown. Pop was the speaker at our banquet at the end of the year that dad had already set up. We picked him up at the bus station in Kirkland. He looked in the door and said, 'Is it safe for me to go in there?' Dad said, 'Hell yeah, we won.’ Pat, the fullback who faked out Pop, took great pride in that play.” Issaquah had other chances in the second half to put the game away. One was gaining possession of the ball at the Kang’s 40-yard line. After two running plays and the ball on the 25, Ray made a leaping catch at the 10-yard line. The Kang’s defense toughened up and held the Indians. According to Carl on fourth down, "Andy's screen pass went incomplete and the ‘Roos were out of a jam.” On the next series the ‘Roos had to punt, and Issaquah again gave it back due to a pass interception with seven minutes left in the contest. The ‘Roos gave up the ball on downs at Issaquah’s 39. With two minutes remaining on the clock and no time-outs, Andy hit Viney at the ‘Roos' 45-yard line. Their last drive was ended when Andy was intercepted at the nine-yard line. All the ‘Roos had to do was gain a first down to run out the clock to end the game. Jock remembered, "We had a tight end that was marginal, and I asked Dad one time if I could play tight end. 'I think I’m better.' Dad said, 'Yeah, you probably are but what would I do with Don?' I couldn't answer him. In that game we had a 7 to 6 lead and not much time left but Issaquah had two timeouts and we had to get a first down to run out the clock and who makes the one-handed acrobatic catch for a first down? Don Burlingame. It was Don’s one-handed catch that saved the day for us.” Jock stated, “Dad had a lot of respect for Nowadnick and that they won’t make any mistakes and I remember they didn’t. I was impressed with them being that tough. I knew Jerry well enough to know he was a load. They played a very good game. Well played on both sides. I had to deal with Kevin and had to tackle Jerry. I was in survival mode most of the time. That was the nature of the game.” Regarding the bus ride back to Kirkland, Jock said, “I was just relieved at the time. I was just happy that I was not on the team that lost to stop the streak. It was a momentous game." There was rumor that the referees were escorted to safety by the police after the game. Yet the editorial in the Press claimed, “Visiting as well as local fans deserve a 'pat on the back.' Partisanship was intense, but nothing unsportsmanlike was visible. This was a great team, school and community effort that’s why the 1959 Indians will always be champs in the minds of Issaquah fans.” At the end of my senior season, George and his wife, Phyllis, invited the seniors to their home for dinner. George asked us which game film we wanted to watch thinking we would enjoy seeing one of our games. We requested the ’59 Lake Washington game. George retrieved it and we silently watched the game that inspired us when we were 10 years old. I don’t recall the film revealing where Ray’s heel was when he caught that pass. As I researched the details of this epic game, I heard that the head referee, Pop Hagerty, went to the seniors' dinner and apologized for the wrong call. Each Issaquah player I interviewed could not remember a dinner nor an apology. I wonder if it was confused with Pop going the ‘Roos’ banquet. As I researched the three most exciting IHS football games, I became aware of one characteristic that all three Issaquah teams (’59, ’80, ’03) had in common. The players had grown together from the first time they awkwardly put on football pads and fresh jerseys to the last time they took off their pads and sweat soaked, muddy jerseys. Because of their individual desire to be the best teammate they could be for their fellow teammates and, of course, the leadership and the ability of the coaches, they banded together during their final season to make it a memorable one. Some players still carry with pride memories of their performance in that game and others carry memories that are hard to forget.

The reserves on the '59 team had to be tough because they scrimmaged against

one of the all-time best IHS varsity teams daily.

The guards and centers were quick and were technicians of their craft.

The linemen were the unsung heroes of the '59 team.

The ball carriers took third and short seriously.

The twelve returning starters forged together to give Issaquah and Coach Nowadnick an outstanding season. According to teammate Jim Schembs, the "supporting cast of senior players who kept the team going" were Steve Frink, Larry LaDoux, Dirk Forbes, Carl Ficker, Whitney Persell, and Jim Graves.

Special thanks to the people that help make this essay happen. Without their help the game may have been forgotten.

Players: Jerry Henrickson, Jim Schembs, Ray Erickson, and Jock McLaughlin. So honest and humble.

Ashley Erickson, for her insight, articles, and photos of her dad, Andy.

Sports writers: Carl Erickson and Chick Garrett. Carl stayed in touch providing many details.

Bill Willard, the contact person for the class of '60.

George Vanni for his delightful story about Andy.

Curt Nowadnick for all his help.

All the people on the Facebook site "You know you are from Issaquah when..." They provided many details I could not remember.

Many thanks to my wife for proof reading it several times. You make me look good.

Ray Erickson's memorial: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/ray-erickson-obituary?id=36790464&fbclid=IwAR23e7W_7adyYhCi8yR1ewXNd3pJ04e0bPdGH7dROoCaN13Hl27CjKLGIGo

To help me make the next two installments interesting and insightful, give me feedback on the above article. tarnjarv@msn.com or my Facebook site.

Part Two: The 1980 State Semi-final game between Issaquah and Cascade

The 1980 Varsity Team