WWU Remembers.....

Battle ends for revered coach whose passion defied cancer
Erwin Ellis helped Western place third at NAIA national baseball tournament in 1959
June 21, 2006

By Greg Bishop, Seattle Times staff reporter

After three decades coaching and teaching in the Mukilteo School District, Erwin Ellis retired in 1991. He never missed a day of work, not even a practice.
And on the first day of the following school year, almost at the very minute that school started, Mr. Ellis suffered a heart attack on his morning walk. Those who knew him saw more than a coincidence.
They saw a man who lived to coach, who later battled bone cancer and still returned each spring to volunteer, who kept WesCo track statistics even in retirement.
"That's the story of his life, really," said Bill Costello, a longtime friend and track coach at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo. "He had the ability to make an absolute commitment and just will himself through."
In 2001, doctors diagnosed Mr. Ellis with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. They told him he might live only one year -- three years tops.
Coaching helped as much as chemotherapy. Mr. Ellis returned year after year, practice after practice, even getting a blood transfusion a week before each season so he could train Kamiak's sprinters and they, in turn, could help him.
The cancer worsened before this past season, the first that Mr. Ellis missed since starting in the school district in 1961. He decided to go to a hospice about a month ago, lapsed into a coma and died last Wednesday (June 14).
He was 68.
"His life's passion was coaching high-school kids," said Jeff Ellis, one of Mr. Ellis' four children.
"And he got so much out of that. It was more than coincidental that he died shortly after basically coming to the conclusion that he was no longer able to go out to the track and coach the kids anymore."
Mr. Ellis was born July 10, 1937, at Providence Hospital in Everett. He played baseball and basketball at Everett High School and graduated in 1956.
He went to college at what's now Western Washington University, where he played baseball, batting .391 in 1959 when Western went to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships and finished third. Only Mr. Ellis couldn't hit a curveball, which ended any dreams of playing professionally.
But he could coach, and not just baseball. Mr. Ellis coached gymnastics, football, wrestling and track in the Mukilteo School District. Always track.
He worked closely with Kamiak's sprinters until cancer would not allow it anymore. The group included three-time state champion Heather Hetzer, who now plays volleyball at California State University, Long Beach.
She remembers the workouts Mr. Ellis would devise, the e-mails and support he gave her even after she went to college, the way he never let on just how sick he was.
"Before every race, he'd say, 'You go, girl,' " Hetzer said. "I can still picture him saying that. And I still laugh every time."
Mr. Ellis is also survived by his wife, Peggy, and his daughters, Jodi Ellis and Amy Swanson, both of Issaquah, and Anne Scott of Marysville. A celebration of his life and memorial service are scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Lions Hall, 802 Mukilteo Blvd., Everett.
The family is setting up a scholarship in Mr. Ellis' honor, and there are plans to have a dedication at the WesCo South track championships next year.
"I suspect that on some level he felt that fate dealt him a cruel blow," Jeff Ellis said. "What it allowed us to see was that spirit. It allowed us to see more clearly what was always there -- his love for coaching and his love for kids."
After a track meet at Oak Harbor a few years back, Mr. Ellis offered to give Costello a ride home. They hopped in Mr. Ellis's pride and joy, an old Lincoln Town Car. Mr. Ellis rolled down the windows and opened the glove compartment, revealing two cigars.
He told Costello that was the way he liked to end each season -- blowing smoke out the window on a long drive home. That stayed with Costello. That after thousands of volunteer hours, after the entire season, this "fantastic man would allow himself only a singular moment of satisfaction for a job well done."
"I miss him so much," said Costello, his voice cracking. "We just went through a wonderful season, with tremendous kids, and I have absolutely no complaint about anything except that I just had a hollow feeling every day when we walked out on the track. That's because Erv wasn't there."









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