Former E-W coach enters wrestling Hall of Fame

By JOHN McDONALD

Prep Editor

Former Edmonds-Woodway wrestling coach Mike Hess, who died last May, is one of three coaches who will be inducted into the Washington Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame during its annual banquet Saturday at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.

Joining Hess as inductees are Ferndale coach Lee Andersen and former Newport and University of Washington coach Darren Sipe.

Tom Tipton of Puyallup will receive the Joe Babbitt Contributors Award.

Hess, who wrestled at Warden High School and the University of Washington, coached 34 years in the Edmonds District. He was the head coach at Meadowdale from 1966-68, Edmonds from 1968-90 and Edmonds-Woodway from 1990 until his death. Hess’ teams won numerous district and regional championships as well as an academic state championship. He was named Washington coach of the year in 1988.

A former president of the WSWCA, Hess later served as the organization’s cultural exchange director. He was responsible for bringing the first Russian high school team to Washington state.

In addition to his teaching and coaching career, Hess served as a referee for national and international competitions and was a former national official of the year.

He was also director of competition for wrestling at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle and the staging director for freestyle wrestling at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.

Close shave: The Edmonds-Woodway boys and girls cross country teams had a little bet going into Thursday’s Edmonds District meet. If they lost their competition, the boys would shave their legs. If the girls didn’t win, they wouldn’t be able to shave their legs until the Nov. 4 state meet. Well, the boys won. But things got hairy for the girls, who lost to Mountlake Terrace by three points.

Heisman hopefuls: Nominees have been announced for the annual Wendy’s High School Heisman Program. Each year high school principals are asked to nominate one male and one female student-athlete for their athletic and academic accomplishments as well as their community service. Twelve finalist are selected from among the 50 state finalists and invited to attend the Heisman Trophy ceremony at the New York Athletic Club, where the national winners are announced. Local nominees for Washington State include Sarah Hardee and Sherman Williamson of Bothell, Kevin Jacobs and Danae Kaemingk of Shoreline Christian, Yashmeen Knox of Coupeville, Joe Osmundson and Katie Struiksma of Arlington, Christina Pepin of Everett and Carl Schillhammer of Darrington.