Longtime Kent coach Burrell dies

Apr 27, 2003

By Seattle times staff

Jack Burrell, a three-sport coach and administrator in Kent for 40 years, died Wednesday.

Burrell, 80, earned the nickname "Jackie Royal" when he coached at Kent-Meridian High School, posting a 197-80 record in basketball (1955-86, including three Puget Sound League championships and two third-place finishes in the state tournament) and a 38-22-5 mark in football (1953-59, including back-to-back PSL titles in 1954-55).

Burrell also posted a 407-190 record as coach of the Kent Post 15 American Legion baseball team (1961-75), winning 10 league titles and six top-three finishes at the state tournament.

Voted to the WIAA Hall of Fame, Burrell retired as Kent Schools athletic director in 1989.

An urn committal service for Burrell, a 1940 graduate of South Kitsap High School and a World War II navy veteran, will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow at Tahoma National Cemetery in Maple Valley.

Notes

• Marie Beasley, a Boise State senior from Holy Names where she won two Metro League golf titles, has been named second team all-Western Athletic Conference. Beasley finished third in the WAC tournament in Hawaii, shooting 77-75-76 on the par-72 Kapolei Course.

• Seattle Prep alum Erik Bond, a redshirt freshman on California's basketball team, made the honorable-mention Pac-10 all-academic team with a 3.29 GPA.

• Seattle Prep alum Brian Gattis is 3-0 this season as a pitcher on the Dartmouth baseball team.

• Julie Gabelein, who competed in four straight Class 2A state cross-country meets at South Whidbey High School, has signed a national letter of intent at Santa Clara.

• Mark Morris High of Longview canceled the remainder of its baseball season after players were found to have violated the school's athletic and drug policy during a weekend trip to Yakima in late March.

• Gary Gagnon, who formerly served as an assistant football coach at Washington State and Stanford, has resigned after three seasons as football coach at Yelm High School. He will be replaced by Bob Shaw, a Yelm assistant last year and a former head coach at Ellensburg.

Also at Yelm, Ryan Gerrits has resigned as boys basketball coach after leading the Tornadoes to the Class 3A state tournament this past season — Yelm's first state trip in 19 years. Gerrits coached Yelm for six season.