Snohomish Coaching Legend Dead At 69 -- Armstrong's Football Legacy Extends Far Beyond His 279 Career Coaching Victories

Three decades since Keith Gilbertson played football at Snohomish High School, his memories of Coach Dick Armstrong remain crisp.

"As vivid as if it were yesterday," said Gilbertson, now an assistant football coach at the University of Washington. "He was a great coach. He was demanding, he was tough and he was fair."

A toughness that made players believe in themselves and earned Armstrong the most victories of any high-school football coach in state history. His legacy of tough love produced a soft spot in his players' hearts, and Gilbertson cried when he learned Armstrong died yesterday.

"I'm really sad, and this is just awful," Gilbertson said. "What a great coach! And he was great for young people."

Armstrong, 69, died yesterday morning of an apparent heart attack. He collapsed outside a bank in Sedro-Woolley. Paramedics arrived minutes after he collapsed. The Skagit Valley coroner's office said he was pronounced dead at Skagit Valley Hospital.

"It was shocking," said Luke Armstrong, Dick's grandson. "He kept himself in pretty good shape. We were all shocked."

Funeral arrangements will be announced today. Armstrong is survived by his wife, Dolores; sons Jeff and Tim, and grandsons Luke and Adam. Jeff coaches the sophomore football team at Snohomish High; Adam is a senior for the Panthers.

Armstrong retired from Snohomish in 1994 with 279 career victories. In 32 seasons at Snohomish, he compiled 245-74-3 record. His teams won two state championships and won or shared 16 league titles, including 13 straight from 1976 to '88.

Practices were hard, his plays were simple and his opinions blunt. It wasn't always easy to play for him, but Gilbertson said Armstrong brought out the best.

"He had a way of making you want to play well to please him, seeking his approval," Gilbertson said. "Probably a lot of great coaches have that ability, and guys played hard as hell for them."

Armstrong was even willing to coach for free. In 1994, he gave back his $5,000 coaching stipend to keep the sophomore football program from being cut.

He commanded respect from his players and earned the admiration of his peers. Jim Adams was hired to coach basketball at Snohomish in 1977, and he remembers the first time he met Armstrong.

"I was just in awe of him," Adams said. "That's my memory of him, just being in awe."

Armstrong passed good friend Glenn Rickert for all-time wins in his final season at Snohomish. Rickert retired in 1989 from Burlington-Edison with 272 career victories.

After retiring from Snohomish, Armstrong became an assistant coach at Concrete High School in Skagit County. He graduated from the school in 1948 and began his coaching career there as an assistant in 1954.

"He had told me for years and years that when he retired he wanted a whistle," Concrete Coach Ron Rood said. "We were more than happy when we heard from him."

Armstrong was a teacher at heart, his students never too old to hear his lessons. He visited Gilbertson in Berkeley, Calif., when Gilbertson was head coach at Cal.

"He ended up thinking about things I could try different," Gilbertson said. "He would say, `Did you ever try . . .?' "

"The guy was a football coach, OK?"