They started here.

Howard Robertson

1917 graduate; physicist pictured working with a group that included Albert Einstein (program cover caption).

Forest Kelsey

Basketball and track athlete; longtime auto dealer/owner of Whitney's; Chamber of Commerce president; created the Kelsey Foundation for student scholarships; died 2002.

Albert Guggenbickler

Top all-around athlete of the 1920s; four-year football letterman; football and track captain; won the Eldridge Wheeler Trophy; played football at Central Washington and Whitman. Deceased.

Robert Moch

Known as Bob Moch. By his own account he 'just barely' lettered in basketball at Montesano, but he had one of the most notable college careers of any Harborite: he was the coxswain of the University of Washington crew that won the gold medal in eight-oared rowing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He was later inducted into the University of Washington and U.S. Olympic Rowing halls of fame, coached crew for a time, and enjoyed a long career as an attorney.

Stuart Robertson

Edith Nuttall

Col. Nuttall served as an Army nurse through WWII, Korea and Vietnam; assistant chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps; the Army Reserve Center in Tumwater is named for her (first Army facility named for a servicewoman). Deceased.

Patricia Clemons

A former teacher and librarian in the Montesano School District, Patricia Clemons has long been active in community affairs. A charter member of the Chehalis Valley Historical Society and a longtime member of the Friends of the Library, she received the Montesano Lions Club Citizen of the Year award in 1994 and a similar honor from the Montesano Chamber of Commerce in 2008. She has also received service awards from the library, Olympic View Grange and Monte Health & Rehab. She received the Preser­ vation Award from the Chehalis Valley Historical Society in 2004. In July of 2011, for what was believed to be the first time in the town's history, Montesano officials awarded a "key to the city" to Pat Clemons-the local historian and civic activist who, communi­ ty leaders said, "embodies the town's spirit and is a symbol of its history." Clemons grew up on the Clemons Ranch outside of Montesano. Her grandfather owned and ran the Clemons Logging Co. She graduated from Montesano High School in 1944 and earned a teaching degree from Central Washington University in 1949. She earned master's degrees in education and library studies from the University of Hawaii. She taught seventh-graders for 20 years in Montesano and later became a librarian.

Elwood Sturdivant

A teammate of Fran Polsfoot in high school and college, he was co-captain of Bulldog football teams that won league titles in his final two prep years and earned all-league honors as a guard (he also played basketball, baseball and track). He started for 2.5 years on the line at Washington State College, then became a teacher and coach in Washington (Sedro-Woolley, East Bremerton) after an assistant stint at Humboldt State, and served on the Bremerton City Council.

Francis Polsfoot

One of the greatest football players in Grays Harbor history and also a standout in basketball (his 31 points in a 1944 rout of Shelton was then a Southwest Washington Conference record), baseball and track. He starred as an end at Washington State College (1947-49), played four NFL seasons with the Chicago Cardinals and Washington Redskins, then had a long career as an NFL assistant coach (Cardinals, Houston Oilers, Denver Broncos). He died of brain cancer in 1985.

Rose Papac

Dr. Rose Papac spent 43 years at Yale in medical oncology; a pioneering cancer researcher and among the first women admitted to St. Louis University Medical School; died 2008.

Marvin Tennefoss

Standout lineman; J.C. All-American at Grays Harbor College; lettered three years in football at Stanford (1952 Rose Bowl team).

Richard Brock

Ernie Furnia

A three-sport letterman at Montesano, Furnia was part of one of the greatest backfields in University of Washington football history. He was a starting right halfback (primarily a blocking back position) on a Husky team that featured All-American Hugh McElhenny and Don Heinrich, earning a varsity letter in 1951. At Montesano, Furnia was a three-year starter in football, basketball and baseball. He was also the class valedictorian. After earning a law degree, he worked in private practice and for Boeing and as an assistant attorney general for Washington before retiring in 1990. He died in 1997.

Archie McCallum

Known as Clem (from his middle name) at Montesano, McCallum excelled primarily in basketball. An all-league guard, he won the Central League scoring title by tallying 107 points in eight games. He was also a three-year letterman in football (earning second-team all-league recognition as a tackle) and .baseball and also served as student body president. He concluded his high school career by receiving the award as the Outstanding Senior Athlete. Mccallum made the Central Washington State College basketball team as a freshman and eventually earned a starting berth. He left Central to help his parents operate the family farm, but eventually returned to the Ellensburg school to earn a degree in education. He continued to play basketball and baseball until the age of 50 and was a member of an AAU basketball team that won the Northwest men's championship--beating an Oregon team that included future NBA standout Red Rocha. Mccallum then began a distinguished career in teaching and coach­ ing. He coached basketball for North Thurston and Timberline, directing the Blazers to a state runner-up finish in the early 1970s. The principal at Auburn High School for 18 years, he spent another two in the same capacity at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley. Retired from education, McCallum lives in Tumwater.

Betty Cox

Jack Rottle

Owned Rottle's Department Store; mayor of Montesano 1980-1983; PA announcer; helped found the Montesano Booster Club. The football field is named in his honor.

Marv Manley

Leading rusher; standout at Grays Harbor College and Univ. of Puget Sound; longtime teacher/coach and Beacon Elementary vice principal; died August 2015.

Jerry Frizzell

Regarded as one of the greatest basketball players Grays Harbor County has produced. The leading scorer and an all-conference performer on the 1954 Bulldogs, the first Montesano basketball team to qualify for state and an eighth-place finisher at the state Class A tournament (then the highest classification); he received second-team all-tournament recognition. After junior-college All-American status at Grays Harbor College, he started for the Seattle University team, led by Elgin Baylor, that finished second in the 1958 NCAA Tournament, and was later inducted into the Seattle University Hall of Fame. Drafted by the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, he instead played in the National Industrial and Eastern Professional leagues and was a member of Seattle's Buchan Bakers, a national AAU champion.

Robert Kiliz

Boeing designer for 37 years; worked on supersonic jets, ICBMs, the lunar rover, the B-1 bomber and the space shuttle; the company's spacecraft configuration designer.

Jim Adams

A football, basketball and baseball standout who shared the school's Athlete of the Year award in 1957 and co-captained the 1957 basketball team, the second Montesano squad to reach the state tournament. At Western Washington State College he set school records for rebounds in a season and career, won the inspirational award (1961), was a two-time all-conference and all-district performer and team captain (1962-63), and received Western's Athlete of the Year award in 1963 along with NAIA All-American honorable mention; he is in the WWU Athletic Hall of Fame and on its All-Century Basketball Team. He coached high school basketball for 31 years (27 as head coach) and was named state Coach of the Year in both Oregon (1975) and Washington (1987).

James O. Jonassen

Jim Jonassen is one of the nation's foremost architects in health care design. His designs have included major projects for the University of Washington Medical School, Virginia Mason and Children's Hospital in Seattle and the Mayo Clinic. He has won scores of awards in his profession and has published in scores of periodicals. He holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Washington and a master's from Columbia Uni­ versity.

Marv Zillyett

Zillyett was a key performer on league-championship football and basketball teams. A running back, he was the MVP on a Monte football squad that won the league title and upended state-ranked Shelton. He was a junior on a Bulldog basketball team that beat Chehalis in a district championship team and qualified for an allclassification state tournament. He starred in basketball as a senior and was also a four-year letterman in baseball. Zillyett still lives in Montesano and has been involved in community affairs. He coached Little League and Babe Ruth baseball for years and is a retired Montesano Fire Department volunteer

Clarence Hollingworth

Known as 'Mr. Lip.' PA announcer for MHS basketball (30 yrs) and football (25 yrs); began football stats in 1970; lettered in football and track.

Aldo Anderson

Aldo Anderson was an Aberdeen High School graduate, where he played basketball and baseball. He started in the same sports at Western Washington State College and was a stalwart for the Harborites' semi-pro baseball team. He spent only four years as Montesano's basketball coach in the early 1960's, but was notably successful in those seasons. He guided the Bulldogs to a 20-5 record and a state tournament berth in 1961. Relocating to Fremont, Calif., in 1965, Anderson was even more successful at Mission San Jose High School. His basketball teams won six league championships and had winning records in 14 of the 15 seasons he coached there. Anderson died in 1992

Paul Willis

Bruce Hooper

Played on the HOF 1963 basketball team; 21-year teaching career from 1983; XC coach 1984-1996 (six league, two district titles).

Darrel White

Fred Southard

Montesano's first state wrestling champion (Class A 157 lb, 1968) and first individual champ in any sport at MHS; student body president; wrestled and played football at Whitman College.

Dave Denny

Coach 1969-1976; led XC to the school's first state title (1974); 1975 Washington State XC Coach of the Year; later won state basketball titles at Longview; multiple coaching halls of fame.

Allan Mustard

U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan; senior USDA Foreign Service officer; five Presidential Rank Awards; degrees from UW and the Univ. of Illinois; class salutatorian.

Dan Davidson

Starting QB (1,000+ passing yards as a senior); basketball forward on the 1973 eighth-at-state team; state doubles qualifier in tennis; pediatric dentist.

Jerry Esses

State wrestling champion as a senior; standout distance runner; NCAA All-American wrestler in 1977 (Seattle Pacific / San Francisco State).

Phil Papac

Three-year letterman; set a three-year school scoring record and led the 1972-73 basketball team that placed eighth at state; football MVP; owns the Crow's Nest Restaurant.

Laurie Katzer

Member of one of Montesano's first modern girls basketball teams; school records in the 80-yard low hurdles and long jump; played basketball at Western Washington.

Dr. Louise Baxter

Neonatologist with Northwest Newborn Specialists since 1995; UW School of Medicine; former Seattle Children's chief resident; three-time 'Portland Top Doctor.'

Tim & Virginia Nelson

Tim Nelson directed band for 27 years (wife Virginia assisted in the classroom); award-winning Bulldog bands; Tim named Montesano Teacher of the Year and Citizen of the Year in 1991.

Wayne Ricarte

A three-year starter in basketball and the leading scorer for a 1977 Montesano team that won the Far West League championship and finished second in district; he earned all-league and all-state recognition that senior year. He went on to start at the University of Puget Sound (graduating in 1982) and later played professionally in Australia, appearing in the NBL All-Star Game as captain of his All-Star team.

Rick Johnson

Four-year wrestling letterman; state placer; 27-1 record at 108 lb as a sophomore; served four years in the 82nd Airborne.

Steve Alderman

Shaunne Howe

The most successful in a long line of Montesano distance runners of the 1970s-80s. As a sophomore she won the state Class A individual cross country title; the next year she was a member of the state girls cross country championship team (the boys also won state that year), though she could not finish the state meet because of a pulled hamstring; as a senior she won her third straight district cross country title. In track she twice placed second in the state 1,600 meters and was once runner-up in the 3,200.

Pat Johnson

Joely Eilers

Two-time all-Far West League basketball; held the single-season scoring record for 30 years; two national-championship softball teams at Central Arizona College; later Univ. of Oregon.

Kim Cokeley Farnsworth

11 varsity letters; member of a state-champion girls 4x400 relay; nationally ranked triathlete; certified physician's assistant.

Kurt Loertscher

Three-sport letterman; all-league football and two-time all-league basketball MVP; linebacker at Washington State (four letters); tryout with the Washington Redskins.

Todd Bridge

State Class A shot put champion (1987) and discus champion (1988); two-time all-league football lineman; football at Washington (1991 national co-champion Huskies).

Shelly Pascoe

One of the most versatile track athletes in school history, Pascoe earned 12 state medals-including three state titles. She was a member of a state championship 4 x 400 meter relay team as a sophomore and swept the 100 and 300 hurdles as a senior in 1990. Pascoe won the 300 hurdles in the prestigious all-classification Sammamish Invitational and still owns the school record in the I 00 hurdles. Pascoe utilized her all­ around skills in the heptathlon and pentathlon. She twice finished sec­ ond in the AAU Heptathlon and earned All-American recognition in 1989. She was later invited to the U.S. Olympic training camp in the heptathlon. She also played girls basketball for four years and lettered in cross country and volleyball for two years each. As a senior, she re­ ceived the Outstanding Female Athlete award. Pascoe participated one year in track at the University of Washington and set a freshman record for the pentathlon (which is no longer contested at the college level). She now lives in Portland.

Brent Hooper

Christine Nelson

Dawn Bennett

Ryan Fournier

Two-year starting QB; led 1991 unbeaten regular season; league MVP; Montesano Male Athlete of the Year 1992; QB at Central Washington (1995 NAIA Div. II champions).

Megan Prkut

12 varsity letters; state Class A 300m low hurdles champion as a senior; Grays Harbor County Track Athlete of the Year; standout at Central Washington.

Brian Winkelman

Co-captain of the 1994 state football champions; All-State defensive back and wide receiver; four-year baseball letterman; later a Special Forces commander (two Bronze Stars).

Julie Mattson

Three consecutive state Class A girls javelin titles (1993-95); school records in javelin, shot, triple jump and sprint relay; 1,089 career basketball points.

Laura Mattson

Career basketball scoring records (1,146 points); three-time First Team All-League; later worked for the Department of Justice.

Adam Bighill

Two-time all-state running back/linebacker and state 1A Defensive Player of the Year; all-state in soccer; CWU football; BC Lions (CFL); signed by the New Orleans Saints in 2017.

4x400 Relay Team (1988 State Champs)

The foursome of Shelly Pascoe, Tammy Bell, Shannon Holliday and Kim Cokeley won the state Class A 4x400 relay with a time of 4:10.0. Their 4:09.5 clocking earlier in the season remains a school record.

Al Heyntsen

Teacher/coach 1976-1984; led both boys and girls cross country to state Class A titles in 1980; Daily World co-Coach of the Year 1980.

Basketball Team of 1950

Although it fell barely shy of a state tournament berth, this 1950 team is still regarded as one of the finest in school history. Coached by Art Acuff, the Bulldogs swept their final eight games to capture the league championship. Archie "Clem" McCallum played in the title-clinching 40-21 victory over St. Martin's wearing a catcher's mask to protect a broken nose. Bud Hood scored 21 points as Monte closed out the regular season with a 47-42 win over Elma. Following a district victory over Raymond, the Bulldogs hooked up with Hoquiam in what was regarded at the time as one of the most exciting games in district history. Hoquiam scored with three seconds remaining in regula- tion and went on to earn a state berth with a 43-30 overtime victory. Team members included Archie McCallum, Bud Hood, Cecil Hampton, Bill Fosdick, Merv Clevenger, Rex Valentine, Darrell Crait, Barry McKeever, and Richard Willis.

Basketball Team of 1953-1954

The school's first-ever state berth. After an 18-2 regular season the Bulldogs won three district games, including a 53-43 winner-to-state win over Hoquiam, then earned a state trophy by beating South Kitsap (47-35) and Aberdeen (58-40), finishing eighth after a loss to Walla Walla. Head coach Art Acuff was assisted by Bob Scott.

Basketball Team of 1963

20-4 record; league and district titles; finished fifth at state; coached by Aldo Anderson; captain Bruce Hooper.

Bill Denholm

Came to Montesano in 1978 as HS principal (1978-1986), then superintendent; later elementary principal; retired 2000 after 22.5 yrs. Whitworth College degrees; superintendent credentials from WSU.

Championship Football Team of 1957

5-0 league record and Central League champions; coached by Rollie Robbins; closed the season beating Elma and Shelton.

Chuck Cook

Inducted as a coaching trio with Joe Ortolf and Les Bennett. Ortolf (head coach), assisted by Bennett and Cook, led Montesano football for eight years, going 61-15 with seven playoff appearances, including the 13-0 1983 state A championship (35-27 over Riverside in the Kingdome) and a 1981 team that started 12-0 before losing the title game 6-0 to Colfax.

Cross Country Boys and Girls Teams (1980 State Champs)

Coach Alan Heyntsen's boys and girls both won state Class 1A on the same day in Burien.

Cross Country Team of 1974

Coached by Dave Denny; school's first-ever cross-country state championship.

Diana Smith

Smith is in her 33rd year teaching elementary school in Montesano. After two years at Simpson Elementary, she spent two years as a kindergarten teacher at Beacon Elemen­ tary and the next 27 instructing first graders at Beacon (including five years in a combined first-second grade pro­ gram). Since last year she has served as a Title I reading and math interventionist at Beacon.

Eldridge Wheeler

An Iowa native who came to Grays Harbor in 1891. He led the Montesano School from 1896 until his retirement in 1935 and also served as Grays Harbor County Superintendent (1907-1909). He helped organize what is now Grays Harbor College and sat on the county Board of Education. From 1913 he oversaw construction of the new Montesano High School building, which was named in his honor. He died in 1936.

Football Team of 1944

Coached by Hunter Mock; 7-0 record, outscored opponents 220-26; regarded by many as the top team in its class statewide that year.

Herb Reiter

28-year science teacher from 1946; state pioneer in driver's education; assistant principal from 1969; longtime PA announcer; died 1974.

Joe Ortolf

Inducted as a coaching trio with Les Bennett and Chuck Cook. Ortolf (head coach), assisted by Bennett and Cook, led Montesano football for eight years, going 61-15 with seven playoff appearances. Their 1983 team went 13-0 and won the state A title 35-27 over Riverside in the Kingdome; the 1981 team won its first 12 games before losing the title game 6-0 to Colfax. Ortolf later became a successful head coach at West Valley of Yakima.

Les Bennett

Inducted as a coaching trio with Joe Ortolf and Chuck Cook. Ortolf (head coach), assisted by Bennett and Cook, led Montesano football for eight years, going 61-15 with seven playoff appearances, including the 13-0 1983 state A championship (35-27 over Riverside in the Kingdome) and a 1981 team that started 12-0 before losing the title game 6-0 to Colfax.

Lillian Fleet Bishop

Reuben Fleet's sister; married E.K. 'Ned' Bishop in 1913. Recognizing WWI demand for spruce used in aircraft, the Bishops founded a mill devoted to spruce timber and became involved in Consolidated Aircraft with Reuben Fleet. The mill made a fortune, and the couple became well-known Grays Harbor philanthropists who created The Bishop Foundation to benefit young people, particularly in Grays Harbor County.

Louise Rota

Nancy Whitney

Reuben Fleet

Born in Montesano on March 6, 1887. After Culver Military Academy (1906) he ran a real estate business and served as a state legislator. Called to active duty in 1917, he earned his wings as military aviator No. 74 and helped establish the first U.S. Air Mail route (Washington to New York). He founded Consolidated Aircraft in 1923 and built it into a leading manufacturer before retiring in 1941 as it was acquired. In his postwar years he devoted his fortune to philanthropy, including Culver Military Academy, scholarship programs, and the Fleet Space Theatre.

Rick Bergholz

31 years as a Montesano science teacher (from 1976); named Teacher of the Year in 2000; retired 2008, then substituted for five years.

Ron Bennett

Came to Montesano in 1978 as VP/athletic director; junior-senior HS principal from 1986; retired 1999 after 21.5 yrs.

State Basketball Team of 1961-62

State Championship Football Team of 1983

13-0 record; first-ever state football championship; beat Riverside 35-27 at the Kingdome on a goal-line stand. Head coach Joe Ortolf; assistants Les Bennett, Chuck Cook, Bo Griffith, Tom Mueller.

State Championship Football Team of 1994

State Championship Girls Softball Team (1998)

Coached by Pat Pace; the school's first of nine state softball titles; beat Kalama 3-2 in the title game at Selah.

Willis Rambo

Montesano school superintendent 1945-1963; Washington Education Association president 1948-49; later county school superintendent; died 1986.