Executive Director – Marc Blau
A 1969 graduate of Tacoma’s Stadium High and a 1973 graduate from the University of Washington, Marc spent 31 years with the Pierce County Parks & Recreation Department. A volleyball official since 1974, he has also been the assignor during that same time for 11 colleges and 49 high schools in the greater Tacoma-Pierce County area. A member of the Tacoma Athletic Commission since the mid-80s, Blau co-founded the Shanaman Sports Museum of Tacoma-Pierce County with Clay Huntington. Marc has been chairman of the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame since 2005 and assumed the position of Executive Director for the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame upon the passing of founder Clay Huntington in 2011. Blau co-authored the book, Playgrounds to the Pros: An Illustrated History of Sports in Tacoma Pierce County in 2005 with Doug McArthur; and is the author of Baseball in Tacoma-Pierce County which was published in 2011. He is a longtime collector of sports memorabilia with an emphasis on baseball.
Assistant Executive Director – Gary Brooks
Gary is a lifelong Washingtonian who graduated from Battle Ground High School in 1990 and played baseball at the University of Puget Sound. Gary was a sportswriter at the Tacoma News Tribune from 1992 through the end of 1998 and then the Major League Baseball senior editor at CBSSports.com for two seasons. He shifted to investments and personal finance, first at Russell Investments and then by becoming a Certified Financial Planner. He is currently a partner at Mission Wealth Management. He has written a monthly personal finance column for The News Tribune since 2008. Gary has been an official scorer for Tacoma Rainiers games since 2006. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and has earned the SABR Level One Analytics Certification. He is a member of the board of directors for the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Museum and a lifetime member of the Tacoma Athletic Commission.
Executive Committee / Nominating Members
David Eskenazi, Northwest Sports Historian
Seattle native Dave Eskenazi attended Franklin High School and the University of Washington. He entered the financial services industry in 1982 and is the principal of the investment advisory firm Allied Asset Management, Inc., which he co-founded in 1985. Dave works with numerous media outlets, publishers and organizations on Washington state sports history projects, amongst them the Seattle Mariners, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Museum of History and Industry, ESPN and SABR.
Jim Scoggins, Retired Sports Editor, Yakima Herald-Republic
Sports editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic for 27 years starting in 1971, Jim Scoggins got his start as a sportswriter at the Centralia-Chehalis Daily Chronicle in 1969 and then worked at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane before landing his job in Yakima.A 1957 graduate of Kennewick High School and from the University of Washington in 1964, Scoggins taught English and coached basketball at Zillah High School for three years before jumping into sports writing. Raised in Plainview, TX, Jim moved to Kennewick in 1954. Jim has been married for over 45 years and has three grown children.
Bill Knight, Retired Sports Editor, Seattle P-I
Knight was hired by the legendary Royal Brougham in 1961. His Post-Intelligencer career included stints as sports writer, executive sports editor, national sports correspondent, and sports editor. P-I assignments took him to Super Bowls, Rose Bowls, NBA, NFL and MLB playoffs, World Cup soccer, America’s Cup sailing, NCAA championship basketball, the Henley Regatta rowing with UW crews, NFL and NBA all-star games and the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.
He was the Seahawks beat writer when the Seahawks made their first trip to the AFC title game in 1983; he covered what still stands as the Mariners’ most significant post-season accomplishment, beating the Yankees in the 1995 playoffs.
Knight’s 45 years in journalism started at the Vancouver Columbian, then four years as sports editor of the Daily Olympian before moving to the P-I. He is a graduate of the University of Washington journalism program and attended Queen Anne High School. After retiring from the P-I, Knight wrote a book with ex-UW athletic director Mike Lude; taught a writing class at the University of Washington’s Bothell campus; he has done consulting work with the Seahawks and Emerald Downs.
Knight has received various national and regional journalistic achievement honors, including the Jim Murray Outstanding Sportswriter Award (1999).
Todd Milles, Sports Writer, SportsBook Live Washington
A Foss High School and Washington State University graduate, Todd Milles has worked as an award-winning sportswriter for The News Tribune and SportsBook Live since 1994. And in tune with his “ManyHatsMilles” Twitter handle, he’s covered just about everything for the newspaper, ranging from University of Washington football to being the lead writer for the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. But, most dear to his heart is the coverage of local athletes at the high school and collegiate level (“if you’re not looking after your local scene, what are you really covering?”).
Craig Smith, Retired Sports Reporter/Columnist,The Seattle Times
Craig Smith started working at The Seattle Times in 1976 and is now retired after having spent 32 years as a sportswriter with the newspaper. He is a 1963 graduate of Bothell High School and was editor of the University of Washington Daily, graduating in 1967. Before joining The Times, he worked as a news reporter for The Charleston Gazette in Charleston, W. Va., The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Associated Press and The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska. Smith used to write the “Sideline Smitty” column in The Times. He lives in Kirkland with his wife, Julie, and they have two adult sons.
Chuck Stark, Retired Sports Writer/Editor, Kitsap Sun
Chuck Stark retired from the Kitsap Sun in 2012 after 36 years as a sports writer/sports editor and is well connected to the West Sound community, serving on the boards of the Kitsap Athletic Roundtable, Elton Goodwin Foundation and Chuck Semancik Foundation, organizations that support youth athletics in Kitsap County. The West Bremerton HS grad played baseball and basketball at Olympic College, and studied journalism at OC and the University of Texas. He was a standout fastpitch player and inducted into the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. He’s now the head softball coach at Olympic College, and writes a weekly column for The Sun.
Jim Price, Retired Spokesman-Review Sports Writer
A lifelong love of information has led Jim Price to a six-decade career in a variety of media-related fields that included daily newspapers, horse racing, professional baseball and collegiate athletics. He covered baseball teams in Stockton, Calif., Yakima and Spokane and spent 14 years as publicist and track announcer at Spokane’s Playfair Race Course, along with several seasons at Portland Meadows and tours of duty in California, Arizona, Nevada and Illinois. After nearly a decade as Eastern Washington University’s sports information director, he spent 14 years as a copy editor and reporter for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane. Also a former Pacific Coast League play-by-play announcer and publicist for the Spokane Indians, he has contributed to several books on both baseball and jazz history. In retirement, Price has served two terms on the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission. He is recognized as the city’s baseball and horse-racing historian and as an authority on downtown history. He continues to write profiles and feature stories for The Spokesman-Review.
Rich Myhre, Retired Sports Reporter, The Everett Herald
Rich Myhre began working at The Herald in Everett in 1976 while still a student at the University of Washington. A lifetime resident of Snohomish County, he has lived in Edmonds for more than 50 years. His primary beats at the Herald included the Seattle SuperSonics and the University of Washington, and he also did considerable work covering the Seattle Mariners, the Seattle Seahawks, golf and high schools. The last several years of his career were spent primarily as a sports feature writer. He retired in 2017.
Gail Wood, Former Sports Reporter, The Daily Olympian
Growing up in Tacoma, Gail Wood worked as a sports writer for The Olympian for 24 years, covering everything from the Seattle Sonics in the 1996 NBA finals to the Washington Huskies Rose Bowl wins to the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh to Tumwater winning another state football title. In over 30 years in newspapers, he earned 30 awards, including Gannett’s columnist of the year. In a career that included freelance writing, he wrote for over 60 publications, including USA Today, Athlon Sports and Guideposts. He’s written a book titled Saved Twice that’s about 13 local Christian athletes and is available online.
