SHANNON HIGGINS CIROVSKI – Soccer
Shannon Higgins Cirovski, a 1986 graduate of Mount Rainier High School, led her soccer team to the 1984 3A state finaL and earned high school All-American honors. She entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that fall, playing on the women’s soccer team from 1986 to 1989. During those four seasons, UNC finished with a record of 89-0-6 and won four consecutive NCAA Championships with Shannon scoring the game-winning goal in the last three championship games. She was a two-time first-team All American (1988 and 1989) and the recipient of numerous awards including the 1988 and 1989 Soccer America Player of the Year, 1989 ISAA Player of the Year and the 1989 Hermann Trophy.
Cirovski won the Honda Sports Award as the nation’s top soccer player at the end of the 1989–90 season. In 2000, she was named to the Soccer America College Team of the Century. She earned 51 caps (appearances) for the U.S. National Team from 1987-91. Shannon retired after helping the U.S. win the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991, assisting on both Michelle Akers goals in the final. She later served as head coach at both George Washington University and the University of Maryland and with the U.S. U18 National Team. Shannon was inducted into National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2002, becoming the youngest ever player (34) and only the third female.
ALAN HINTON – Soccer
Alan Hinton was a successful soccer coach and personality in the Puget Sound area for four decades. He is esteemed in his native England where The Guardian newspaper wrote: “To many, Hinton is a hero … a trendsetter, and a legend on both sides of the Atlantic.” Hinton was a stylish winger for Wolverhampton, Nottingham Forest and, most notably, Derby County, where he won two championships. He played for Dallas and Vancouver in the North American Soccer League and set a record with 30 assists in 1978 for the Whitecaps at age 36.
Hinton coached the Seattle Sounders to a 25-7 record in 1980 earning NASL Coach of the Year honors. In 1982 he guided the Sounders into the league championship game. Hired as coach of the Tacoma Stars in 1986, he took the team to their first playoff berth and, a year later, to a division title and the 1987 Major Indoor Soccer League championship series. He returned to coach the Sounders of the A-League in 1994, finishing with the best regular season record and again earning Coach of the Year. In his final season as coach, he took the Sounders to the 1995 A-League title. He later coached and developed youth players for Crossfire Premier and worked as a broadcaster and team ambassador for the reborn Sounders of Major League Soccer.
BRUCE KISON – Baseball
Bruce Kison was a right-handed pitcher who had a 15-year Major League career. He was a part of two World Series championships with Pittsburgh. In the 1971 World Series, his debut season, Kison pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings of one-hit relief to win Game 4 over Baltimore in perhaps his most notable performance. The 4-3 victory was historic because it was the first World Series game played at night.
Kison was a 14th-round draft pick and began his Major League career as a sidearm thrower and later adjusted after injuries. The Pasco High School grad was often praised for his “bulldog mentality.” His career record was 115-88 with a 3.66 earned-run average. He threw two one-hitters. He had a 5-1 record and 1.98 ERA in 10 postseason appearances, including four starts. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1971-79), California Angels (1980-84) and Boston Red Sox (1985). When his playing days ended, he served as a coach for Kansas City and coached and later scouted for Baltimore. He was honored as a “Legend in Scouting” by the Pro Baseball Scouts Foundation. He died of cancer in 2018 at age 68
BILL NORTH – Baseball
Bill North, the speedy center fielder and base-stealer, played 11 Major League seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Francisco Giants and collected two World Series rings with the Oakland Athletics. He led the majors with 54 stolen bases in 1974 and 75 in 1976 on his way to a career total of 395. He had 1,016 hits, batting .261 in his career.
North is an example of a late-bloomer as he was only a third-team All-Metro League selection at Garfield High School. Two years later he led Central Washington University to a third-place finish in the 1968 NAIA College World Series and was a first-team All-American. North can claim to be among the few Major League to have been coached by a governor. Future Washington Governor Booth Gardner coached him on the Broadway Kiwanis Little League team. After his baseball career ended, North finished requirements for his sociology degree from Central in 1993. He is in the CWU athletic Hall of Fame.
PETE RADEMACHER – Boxing
A Tieton native of Yakima County, Pete Rademacher won the gold medal in the heavyweight boxing division at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. Three straight knockouts carried the 28-year-old Army lieutenant to the title, including a first-round knockout of Russia’s Lev Moukhine in the championship match. Pete was chosen to carry the American flag in the closing ceremonies. However, he is best known as the first and only man in boxing history to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world in his first professional fight.
In 1957, Pete met professional champion Floyd Patterson outdoor in Sicks’ Seattle Stadium. Pete was the first contender ever to knock Patterson down, but the champion recovered to win by technical knockout in the sixth round. Pete went on to post a 17-6-1 professional record, winning his last fight with Bobo Olson. Pete left the ring in 1962 to become a successful salesman, business executive, and inventor in Ohio. During his college years, Pete was a standout athlete at Yakima Valley Junior College, earning two letters each in football and baseball (1948-50), and at Washington State College, lettering twice in football (1950-51). Throughout his life, Pete enjoyed motivational speaking and liked to toss his Olympic medal into the crowd … trusting that it would be returned. To continue sharing that inspiration, grandson Pete carries the gold medal in his pocket every day. Rademacher died in 2020 at age 91.
COURTNEY THOMPSON – Volleyball
Courtney Thompson was a champion volleyball setter at every level from high school to international play. She was the setter on the University of Washington’s 2005 national championship team and a three-time All-American. She also won the Honda Award as the nation’s top collegiate volleyball player. The Huskies were in the final four NCAA playoffs three years with Thompson as setter. Her career mark of 14.56 assists per game broke the NCAA record. She ended her college career with 6,531 assists. Later, the Husky Hall of Famer became the first woman in UW history to have her number (3) retired.
She was on the 2014 U.S. world championship team and on the 2012 London Olympics team that won silver and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic team that won bronze. Courtney also served three years as a national team co-captain. Thompson is a graduate of Kentlake High School where she guided her team to three state championships. She was also valedictorian of her class and a basketball standout.
Courtney played professionally in Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and Brazil and spent a season on the Stanford University coaching staff. She was active in the formation of the Give It Back Foundation that teaches volleyball and life skills in the U.S. and overseas and has also been active in teaching mindset skills and sports psychology.
TED GARHART – Crew
Ted Garhart stroked University of Washington crews that won the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta in 1940 and 1941 before World War II interrupted rowing. The Huskies never lost when he was stroking and he was the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Man of the Year in 1942. During World War II Garhart, a Garfield High School grad, rose to colonel in the Marine Corps. The legendary stroke was voted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame in 1972 and died in 2000. “He never lost a race in the stroke seat at Washington,” said Dick Erickson, the Husky crew coach from 1967-88. “That has not happened before or since. Afterward, he was a very loyal Husky fan.”
STEVE GERVAIS – Football coach
Steve Gervais is one of the most successful high school football coaches in Washington history. He served as head football coach at the prep level for 31 seasons, finished with a record of 244-83 and led teams to 15 league titles and six state championships. Gervais won three 1A state titles at Eatonville High School (1985, 1990, 1992) and three 4A crowns at Skyline High School (2000, 2005, 2007). He also coached runner-up teams at Gig Harbor (1993) and Skyline (2004). Steve is a member of the Northwest Football and Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame. He is also a two-time winner of the Coach of the Year award from the National Football Foundation and a two-time Seahawks Coach of the Year. He also won the John Wooden Award from Pro Athletes Outreach. At Puyallup High School, Gervais played quarterback and was a member of the 1971 state championship basketball team. He also played quarterback at Oregon State under Coach Dee “The Great Pumpkin” Andros. Gervais coached running backs at the University of Washington in 2008 and from 2009-2011 served as athletic director at Bishop Blanchet High School. Steve founded and leads the SG Academy which provides offseason training programs and camps for high school football players.
