Washington State football fans can only dream of the kind of success the school’s football program enjoyed in the late 1920s and early 1930s when Babe Hollingbery ran the show.
Author: David Eskenazi
David Eskenazi
Many of the historic images on Sports Press Northwest are provided by resident Northwest sports history aficionado, David Eskenazi. A Seattle native, David has amassed an extensive archive of Seattle, Northwest, and West Coast historic sports photographs, artifacts and ephemera. We draw from this archive to illustrate stories in The Vault, and our weekly Rotation feature, The Wayback Machine. Youll see many unique and evocative representations of our sporting past, many of which have never been seen publicly. You are in for a treat! David enjoys sharing his collection and zeal for Northwest sports history. His historical showcase activities have included displays at numerous museums, historical societies, and community events, including an annual Northwest baseball history display at Mariners FanFest, and working on baseball-themed fund raising events for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Since the early 1990s, The Seattle Mariners have enlisted David to help recognize and illustrate Seattle and the Northwests 120-year baseball legacy. This collaboration has produced historical displays at Safeco Field, including seven 35-foot long historical storyboards surrounding the Safeco Field main concourse, Fred Hutchinson seat end stanchions, and classic early photographs on the suite level, all created for the opening of Safeco Field in 1999. From its opening in 2007 to the present day, David has provided thematic ideas, design elements, images, and scores of original historic Northwest baseball artifacts for the Baseball Museum of the Pacific Northwest at Safeco Field. David also contributed visual materials, historical consultation and on-screen interviews for documentaries on The Seattle Rainiers, The Spokane Indians, and the Seattle Pilots, and provided images and other inputs for a multitude of books, magazines, web-sites and other media focusing on Seattle, Northwest and West Coast sports history. Recent books he contributed to extensively include SABRs Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest, and Dan Raleys Pitchers of Beer: The Seattle Rainiers Story. David has a keen ongoing interest in sharing stories, expanding and enhancing his collection, and broadening his knowledge and archive of Northwest sports history and memorabilia. If you have questions, memories to share, stories to suggest, or would like to talk to him about selling or trading Seattle and Northwest sports artifacts, please contact him at (206) 441-1900, or at seattlesportshistory@gmail.com
Charles O. “Chuck” Carroll became the University of Washington’s second All-America running back in 1928, and went on serve for 22 years as the King County prosecutor.
Wenatchee native Sammy White blossomed into a basketball and baseball star at the University of Washington under one of the school’s most versatile coaches, Art McLarney.
UW football coach Jimmy Phelan (1930-41) ran afoul of athletic officials for a variety of offenses, including taking his players beer drinking at the Blue Moon Tavern.
Al Brightman could have gone down as one of college basketball’s greatest coaches, but a sideline tiff with John Wooden in the NCAA Tournament began his downfall.
Athletic Director Harvey Cassill had a profound impact on University of Washington sports from 1946-56, but ultimately departed the school on the end of a foot.
The only two-time All-America quarterback in UW history, Don Heinrich played eight years in the NFL, coached with numerous pro franchises and became a broadcaster.
When Bobby Balcena had a seven-game cup of coffee with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956, he became the first player of Filipino ancestry to play in the majors.
Ichiro’s 7-for-8 performance in a doubleheader for the Yankees reminds us of a similar twin bill performance by Seattle first baseman George Archie 73 years ago.
Jo Jo White arrived in Seattle as the result of the Rainiers’ 1938 sale of Fred Hutchinson to the Detroit Tigers and helped lead the franchise to three consecutive PCL championships (1939-41).