GUYLE FIELDER – Hockey
“Golden” Guyle Fielder was arguably the greatest minor league hockey player ever. Fielder played 21 seasons in the Western Hockey League, 15 of them with the Seattle Bombers (1953-54), Americans (1955-57) and Totems (1957-1969). During his tenure in Seattle the club played in five WHL finals and won three championships. He also enjoyed his best years during this period, leading the league in assists 12 times and points nine times, was an 11-time all-star team selection and won six MVP awards.
Fielder became the first pro player anywhere to accumulate 100 points in a season, totaling 122 for the Americans during the 1956-57 season. He tallied a total of 2,037 points in his career and was the first professional hockey player to score 2000 points.
PETE GROSS – Media
Inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor in 1992, Pete Gross served as the radio play-by-play “Voice of the Seahawks” for 17 seasons: from the Seahawks inaugural 1976 season through 1992. One of the most beloved people to have ever been associated with the Seahawks franchise, fans will never forget his numerous “touchdown Seahawks” calls.
Over his 17 seasons, Gross called all but the five games he missed in 1992 while battling cancer. His career included eight playoff games. In the 1983 season, Gross came within one game of the Super Bowl when Seattle faced the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Championship game. The Seahawks lost that game 30-14.
Gross was diagnosed with cancer in 1989, and he succumbed to the disease in 1992, just three days after his induction. He was inducted into the Ring during a Monday Night Football game against the Denver Broncos, a game the 2-14 Seahawks won in overtime.
MARK RYPIEN – Football
After completing one of the most illustrious sports careers in the history of Washington high school athletics, Rypien brought his talents as the nation’s top prep quarterback to Washington State University. During his career at Shadle Park High in Spokane, he earned All-State honors in football, basketball and baseball and led them to state championships in baseball and basketball.
The former Cougar co-captain earned All-America honors in 1984 and 1985 and was named the top quarterback in the Pacific-10 Conference in 1985. He completed his collegiate career playing in the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl.
A sixth-round draft pick by the Redskins in the 1986 NFL draft, Rypien became a fixture at quarterback for Washington, earning MVP honors in the 1992 Super Bowl. His play also earned him two Pro Bowl selections.
JACK SPRENGER – Official (Football)
Jack Sprenger, Lincoln High (Tacoma) and College of Puget Sound grad (1934), officiated football for over 40 years and became only the third official to be inducted into the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame when he was so honored in 1986.
Sprenger earned four football letters at CPS during the 1930s where he was an all-conference guard selection twice, won the school’s scholarship trophy three times, and was named the Loggers’ most valuable player. He was named to the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974.
He worked Pacific Coast Conference and Pac-10 games for 27 years and was chosen to be the referee for the Rose Bowl, in 1953, 1959 and 1967. He also worked three East-West Shrine games and refereed the 1964 Sun Bowl game. He became the Pac-10’s Supervisor of Officials in 1971, a position he held for 15 years. During that time he helped write and interpret the official NCAA football rules while serving on the NCAA Football Rules, Editorial Committee.
LENNY WILKENS – Basketball (Player & Coach)
Lenny Wilkens was an All-America for Providence before embarking on his NBA career. During 15 seasons he averaged 16.5 points and ranked second on the NBA all-time assist list with 7,211 when he retired. He was a 10-time member of the NBA All-Star team and was MVP of the 1971 All-Star Game.
He began his coaching career in 1969 with the Seattle Supersonics as their player-coach through the 1971-72 season and coached the Sonics again from 1977-85, earning an NBA championship in 1979. During his 11 seasons as coach of the Sonics he amassed a 478-402 record. Wilkens’ No. 19 jersey was retired by Seattle in 1979.
He earned a pair of Olympic Gold Medals as an assistant coach in 1992 and as head coach at the 1996 Games. When the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary season, Wilkens was named as both one of the NBA’s Top Ten coaches in league history as well as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. Wilkens was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989 and as a coach in 1998.
JIM ZORN – Football
Jim Zorn, a left-handed quarterback, is perhaps best known as the youthful and charismatic leader of the then-expansion Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, for their first seven-and-a-half seasons. Zorn was named NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year by the NFLPA following the team’s inaugural 1976 season and was also the Seahawks’ team MVP, throwing for 12 touchdowns and rushing for four more. In 1991 he became just the second Seahawk to be inducted into the team’s “Ring of Honor”, right behind his favorite passing target, Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent.
In the NFL, Zorn threw for 21,115 yards and 111 touchdowns, completing 53% of his passes. He also ran for another 17 touchdowns. Zorn moved up to the pro coaching ranks in 1997-98 as an offensive assistant for the Seahawks under Dennis Erickson, and after two years in Detroit, he returned to the Seahawks in 2001 as their quarterbacks coach, and retained that position through the 2007 season.
