Coach Otton named to WIAA hall of fame

One-time Colfax football coach Sid Otton was among those named to the 2017 Hall of Fame for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Friday. Otton, who coached at Colfax for four years, went on to coach for 43 years at Tumwater before he retired after the quarterfinal round last season.

He has been recognized as the winningest coach in Washington state football history.

His overall record is 394 wins and 131 losses. Otton-led teams made 27 state playoff appearances and won six state titles, with the win by the 1971 Colfax team as his first.

The Colfax 1971 championship pre-dated the WIAA championship playoff grid, and the Bulldogs claimed the title after it was announced by the state AP wire service poll. Colfax rolled up a 9-0 record that year and scored 362 points and allowed just 92.

Otton won his first title with the T-birds in 1987, 13 years after he departed Colfax.

Otton was inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996 and received the American Football Coaches Association’s National Power of Influence Award in 2006.

In announcing this year's hall of fame, WIAA Executive Director Mike Colbrese listed Otton as the head of the class.

Cheryl Byers Schauble was honored as an athlete inductee. Schauble was a five-time individual state track champion at Pullman High School before going on to coach the Kamiakin girls track team and leading them to six straight titles.

The hall of fame picks also listed a local connection with naming of Duke Washington, a former Cougar football player who was named to the WSU Hall of Fame in 2008.

Washington was named an all-state player in 1951 when he played for the Pasco Bulldogs. He was the first African-American to receive the honor.

During his career with the Cougars, Washington became the first African-American to play in Texas Memorial Stadium. He was allowed on the Texas grid after the Cougars put down a "no Washington, no game" ultimatum in response to Texas concerns about their unofficial color barrier.

Washington went on to mark a long career in education and retired as assistant dean of students at the University of Washington, He died Feb. 16 of this year at the age of 83.