HOF CLASS of 21-22

Dan grew up here in Washington, Edmonds, Seattle and finally Snohomish in 1960 with one year spent in Austin, Texas in 1965. He attended Snohomish High School graduating in 1970, participating in football as a freshman, then cross country, basketball and track. His family wasn’t all that athletic as far as my parents, although they played baseball on a regular basis as a family. Three of Dan’s sisters participated in track which at that time was one of the few sports available to girls. He went to the College of Idaho his first year but transferred to The University of Washington graduating in 1975, majoring in History and English Literature He has remained a proud Husky ever since. Go Dawgs! Dan didn’t participate on any of the college teams but regularly participated in intramural sports playing pickup basketball games at the IMA against guys like Detlef Schrempf and lived and ran with members of the UW cross country and track teams. Dan became a teacher late, in 1988, first teaching World History at the Snohomish Freshmen Campus and the US. History and AP U.S. History at Snohomish and then Glacier Peak High School. He got involved in coaching as a result of running from Snohomish High School and using the track for speed work. He began running with the athletes at SHS and became a volunteer assistant coach for a couple of years in the early 80s.

In the late 80s, the coach at Snohomish died of brain cancer and he was replaced by a teacher who didn’t really want the job. Dan started writing the workouts and running the practices. That carried into track season as well. In 1988 he applied for the head coaching position at Snohomish and the rest is history. Dan coached at Snohomish from 1988 to 2007 before moving to Glacier Peak from 2008 through 2019. The most rewarding part for him was the ability to convince athletes they could do what they never thought they were capable of doing and then to have them continue to apply that confidence to all aspects of their lives. Dan was also able to consistently field competitive teams that ran honest races, bought into the pack running mentality, and valued team achievement over individual glory.

Dan’s coaching statistics are phenomenal with 43 league titles, Boys -16, 11 at Snohomish and 5 at Glacier Peak, Girls – 27, 17 at Snohomish, and 10 at Glacier Peak. His teams won 37 district titles. The boys had 12, 9 at Snohomish and 3 at Glacier Peak, and the girls had 25, with 14 at Snohomish and 11 at Glacier Peak. They won state meet 9 times, all with the girls’ teams, 4 at Snohomish, in 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, and 5 at Glacier Peak, in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018. Probably the most memorable (well they were all memorable but…) were the first, the last, 2003 when we scored 31 points, and the Glacier Peak team that scored 41. It was a fantastic feeling when we won when we weren’t supposed to but on the other hand, we sometimes lost when we were picked to win. On any given day… Laura Snipes was state champion with the Snohomish team in 1995 and, of course, Amy Eloise Neale was state champ for Glacier Peak in 2009, 2010, and 2012. Overall he had nearly 50 individuals on the podium at state with the highlight being 5 in 2003. Dan was also the distance coach in track at both Snohomish and Glacier Peak, and spent 4 years as head girls track coach at Snohomish, winning the state titles in 2001 and 2002, finishing 2nd in 2003. He also coached all his kids in Snohomish Junior basketball.

His wife of 42 years is Kris and was his biggest supporter, totally enabling Dan to do something for which he had a passion while getting the real work done along the way. He and Kris have four children, Erin, Nate, Savannah, and Shea all of whom ran cross country and track for Dan at Snohomish which certainly was a highlight of his life.

Dan’s long-time involvement in our sport, his incredible success, and his support of coaches and athletes are among the many reasons that the Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association welcomes him into our Hall of Fame.