RON SANTO – Baseball
In 15 seasons with the Cubs and White Sox, he was selected for 10 All-Star games. A one-time Sick’s Stadium ball boy, he hit .333 in All-Star games. He had 2,200 hits during his Major League career with 342 home runs. He scored more than 1,100 runs and had more than 1,300 RBIs.
Underappreciated in his time, Santo led the National League in walks four times. He received MVP votes in seven consecutive seasons (1963-1969) with a high of fourth in MVP voting in 1967 when he also won the Gold Glove at third base (one of five consecutive Gold Glove seasons).
Santo set N.L. records for career assists (4,532), total chances (6,777) and double plays (389) at third base. All were later broken by Mike Schmidt. In 1999, Santo was included on the MLB All-Century Team. The Seattle Franklin High grad was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012, two years after his death.
Learn more about Santo’s life and baseball career in his Society of American Baseball Research bio.
KAYE HALL-GREFF – Swimming
From her bio upon her 1979 Induction in the International Swimming Hall of Fame:
“OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 gold (100m backstroke; 400m medley relay); WORLD RECORDS: (100m backstroke; 400m medley relay); AMERICAN RECORDS: 6; PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1967 silver; U.S. NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 3; CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (CASA): 5 (1969: 100m, 200m backstroke; 100m, 200m freestyle; individual medley); WORLD STUDENT GAMES: 3 (1970: backstroke; 400m freestyle relay; medley relay).
Kaye Hall will be remembered most in the International Swimming Hall of Fame as the first woman ever to go under one minute for the 100-yard backstroke (Dec., 1967) putting her in the record book for milestone achievement alongside of Al Vande Weghe, the first man to do it in 1938. Kaye’s biggest day was winning the Olympic 100m backstroke over Canadian Elaine Tanner at Mexico City, reversing their finish at Winnipeg the year before. The two women were almost “cross-town” rivals competing for years out of Tacoma, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Kaye proved to the Canadians once more that she was for real with 5 golds in their 1969 National Championships winning the 100m backstroke and freestyle and the 200m backstroke, freestyle and individual medley. She retired in 1970 after winning 3 gold medals in the World Student Games in Italy where she added the 400m freestyle relay to her usual medley relay and backstroke wins.”
Hall attended Tacoma’s Wilson High School. She swam for fellow State Hall of Fame inductee Dick Hannula at Tacoma Swim Club.
CHUCK ALLEN – Football
Chuck Allen was a stalwart guard and linebacker for the University of Washington who earned all-Coast honors as a key member of the 1960 and 1961 Rose Bowl champion teams. He won All-Star honors as a linebacker for both the San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers in a 14-year pro career. Allen had 21 interceptions for the Chargers and was inducted in the team’s Hall of Fame. He started 110 of 144 career NFL games. He was fourth in AFL Rookie of the Year voting in 1961, was second-team all-pro in 1962 and made the Pro Bowl in 1963 and 1964.
In 1975, Allen joined the NFL expansion Seattle Seahawks as director of player personnel. He spent 20 years with the Seahawks, mostly as assistant general manager.
Allen grew up in Cle Elum.
EARL JOHNSON – Baseball
As a Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers left-handed pitcher, he won 40 and lost 32 but World War II cost him four prime seasons and an even more successful career. As a rifle platoon sergeant, Johnson helped liberate European towns after D-Day. He was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. Johnson received the Bronze Star, a Bronze Star with clusters, and the Silver Star.
The Ballard High School grad won a World Series game against St. Louis, 3-2, in 1946 for the Red Sox. After his playing career ended, Johnson was a long-time Red Sox scout.
Learn more about his Washington roots and career in his Society of American Baseball Research bio.
JACK WESTLAND – Golf
Before becoming a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington, Jack Westland was a standout amateur golfer. The Everett native won the 1929 French Amateur. He finished runner-up to Francis Ouimet in the 1931 U.S. Amateur. Westland won the 1933 Western Amateur and played on three Walker Cup teams (1932, 1934, 1953). He was also non-playing captain of the 1961 team. In 1952, at the age of 47, Westland won the U.S. Amateur over Al Mengert. He is the oldest golfer ever to win the Amateur. Westland also won the Pacific Northwest Amateur four times (1938, 1939, 1940, 1951), the Washington State Amateur three times (1924, 1947, 1948) and the Chicago District Amateur three times (1927, 1929, 1934).
In 1978, Westland was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s Hall of Fame. He represented Washington’s second congressional district in Washington D.C. from 1953-1965.
BILL MORRIS – Basketball
Bill Morris moved from Bremerton to the University of Washington earning first-team all-Pacific Coast Conference twice (1943 and 1944), leading Washington to the conference title each year. He was named to some All-America teams in 1943. The 1943 team finished fourth at the NCAA Regionals. Morris was known as “Battleship Bill” and set then-school records of 183 points in a single season and 439 for a career. After serving in World War II he served as an assistant coach at UW. Morris then coached the Buchan Bakers of Seattle to the Amateur Athletic Union national championship.
Legendary UW coach Hec Edmundson called Morris one of the best guards in his 27-year UW coaching career.
GEORGE REED – Football
George Reed was a star running back on the Washington State University football teams of 1959, 1961 and 1962. A gruesome leg fracture and angle dislocation kept him out of the 1960 season. After his senior season, he received the Fred Bohler Award for inspiration and was selected to play in the East-West Shrine and Hula Bowl games.
Reed, who graduated from Renton High School, went on to play 13 seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of Canadian Football League, being named the league’s Most Outstanding Player in 1965 and in 1976. A nine-time CFL all-star, he concluded his career holding the CFL record for yards gained (16,166), rushing touchdowns (134) and total touchdowns (137). A member of the 1966 Grey Cup champions (he was MVP of the championship game), Reed was voted one of the CFL’s Top 50 players (#2) of the league’s modern era and is a member of the CFL Hall of Fame. Mosaic Stadium in Saskatchewan is at 1734 George Reed Way.
ENOCH BAGSHAW – Coach (Football)
From 1909 to 1929, Enoch Bagshaw was a prominent football coach in the Pacific Northwest. He coached Everett High for 11 seasons winning a national championship in 1921. From 1911 until 1920, his Everett teams lost one game to another high school. He was University of Washington coach for nine seasons with a 63-22-6 record and two Rose Bowl appearances.
A native of Wales, Bagshaw’s family moved to Seattle in 1892. He was a captain on the University of Washington football team.
ED GODDARD – Football
Ed Goddard was a consensus All-American quarterback at WSU in 1935 and 1936. He was the No. 2 pick of the 1937 NFL Draft and played two seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) and Cleveland Rams. He played in 18 NFL games, mostly as a halfback, and scored two touchdowns.
Originally from Escondido, California, Goddard played in the East-West Shrine Game following his senior season in 1936. He was also a baseball player at WSU. In 1937 he batted .430 as a senior. After his two years in the NFL, he played two seasons in professional baseball. With El Paso in the Arizona-Texas League as a 23-year-old, he hit .347 with 87 RBI, 105 runs and 31 steals in just 105 games. The following year, at Ogden in the Class C Pioneer League, he hit .317.
Goddard was inducted in the WSU athletics Hall of Fame in 1978.
