In 41 years as a teacher and a coach, mostly at Highline High School in Burien, Bill Trowbridge has gained the respect of the entire state of Washington.
Fellow coaches and teachers, administrators, officials, players, fans and sportswriters all agree: no finer gentlemen ever coached the game of basketball.
The Washington State Basketball Coaches are honored to induct Bill into the State Hall of Fame, exemplifying all that should be honored in the game itself.
Bill began his teaching and coaching career at Touchet, Washington in 1938 and still remained active as Highline’s golf coach this past year. He now has retired but his influence on the hundreds of young people he taught and coached will not be forgotten for years to come.
He graduated from Goldendale High School in 1933 and attended Washington State from 1933 to 1935, transferring to the University of Washington that year and graduating from the UW in 1937.
After two years in his very first job at Touchet, Bill went to Forks until 1942, moved on to Kent for three years, and then was hired by Highline in 1945.
His Highline High basketball teams attested to his coaching skill and his dedication to the game by competing consistently at or near the top in the always-strong Puget Sound League race and six times representing that league in the state finals. In 1951; the Pirates reached the pinnacle, winning. the coveted state championship. In 1954, Trowbridge and his team took 6th place in the state finals. And in 1962, as part of an exchange program with Hawaii, Trowbridge became head coach at Punahou school in Honolulu where he won the Honolulu city championship; and took runner-up honors in the state finals.
The State Coaches salute one of the finest coaches in the basketball history our state, Bill Trowbridge of Highline High. They also wish Bill and his wife Merna every success as the begin his retirement.
