Former University of Washington and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Warren Moon and retired Mercer Island High School basketball coach Ed Pepple will be inducted into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame Sunday at CenturyLink Field prior to the Seahawks’ game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Moon, a color commentator on Seahawks broadcasts, is already a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Canadian Football League Hall of Fame.
Moon came to local prominence during his UW career, which concluded when he was named Player of the Game in Washington’s 27-20 victory over Michigan in the 1977 Rose Bowl.
Moon then spent six years with the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL, leading the franchise to five Grey Cup titles before signing with the Houston Oilers as a free agent in 1984. Moon had a 17-year career with the Oilers, Minnesota, Seattle (1997-98) and Kansas City.
At the time of his retirement, Moon ranked third all-time in NFL passing percentage and fourth in touchdown passes. He made NFL All-Pro three times and was voted to nine Pro Bowl teams.
Pepple is the winningest basketball coach in Washington high school history with a 952-306 record. He coached for 52 years, 42 as head coach at Mercer Island High School where the Islanders won state championships in 1985, 1993, 1997 and 1999. His teams finished second four times and he won 23 league championships.
More than 80 of Pepple’s players went on to play in college and two played in the NBA. He was national coach of the year in 1988 and has been inducted into several halls of fame, including those of the National High School Coaches Association and Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association.
Other members of the 2012 class of inductees include jockey Russell Baze, quarterback Drew Bledsoe, soccer coach Cliff McCrath, and the late Seattle Rainiers owner Emil Sick.
The State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame was started by sportscaster Clay Huntington of Tacoma in 1960 and now has 178 members.
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I remember attending the famous Juanita-Mercer Island 1984 state championship game, in which Juanita, led by Steve Evenson and J.D. Taylor, beat Mercer Island by a hair. Back then there were some real big high-school basketball games, even during the regular season, and Mercer Island was as good as anyone. I remember when Quinn Snyder departed from those mid-80’s Mercer Island squads and went to Duke just when Duke was starting to come into its own. And then there was the famous Shadle Park–Mercer Island championship game from 1981. They used to televise that stuff on normal T.V. I don’t think they do that any more.