Hal Lyons among WSU golden grads

Hal (Babe) Lyons, a Colfax World War II veteran who returned to graduate from Washington State College with the class of 1950, was among the university’s graduates honored at the Diamond Grad celebration last April.

Lyons, now of La Quinta, Calif., has continued his support of the university by sponsoring the Cougar Desert Golf Classic at Rancho Mirage Country Club for eight years. Proceeds from the event were used for scholarships for WSU students. Lyons also promoted the first WSU football game in Seattle and had a role in recruiting support for developing Martin Stadium. He also helped develop the WSU Foundation.

After earning a degree in business and banking at WSC in 1950, Lyons received backing to form a state bank in Othello which grew to finance 22 businesses and companies. He had a role in developing the town agriculture as part of the Columbia Basin project.

In 1960 he moved to Seattle where he operated marinas on Lake Union and developed condominiums. He branched out to undertake developments in Brazil.

Lyons was one of the players in the 1988 Colfax Codger Bowl game and scored the lone touchdown. During World War II, he was a pilot for B-25, B-17 and B-29 bomber crews.