Laurie Niemi, left, as an All-Pro with the Washington Redskins, and at right in 1966 as WSU's offensive line coach. (Photos: Getty Images/Denver Post & WSU Libraries)
OUR STORY EARLIER THIS year on the legend of Turk Edwards, who hailed from Snake River country before going on to stardom at Washington State and in the NFL, prompted a missive from an astute follower of the crimson and gray: "Don't forget about the other great Cougar and NFL tackle from Clarkston High School."
To which we respond: Right on, brother!
The legend of Laurie Niemi is compelling. And while he and Edwards played at Washington State nearly two decades apart, their resumes are eerily, startlingly similar. Consider that both ...
started tackle at Washington State for three seasons, Edwards from 1929-31 and Niemi from 1946-48
earned first-team all-conference, All-Coast and All-America honors
played in the East-West Shrine all-star game
became All-Pro performers with the Washington Redskins, and
entered the coaching profession after their playing days
Related: Rediscovering the lost legend of WSU and NFL icon Turk Edwards
Niemi's coaching career included two stops at his alma mater. He served as the Cougars' line coach under Jim Sutherland from 1957-60 before joining the staff of the Philadelphia Eagles, who were coached by his former Cougar teammate Jerry Williams. In 1964, Niemi returned to WSU as offensive line coach for Bert Clark, and remained in the post through 1967.
In early 1968, shortly after new head coach Jim Sweeney retained Niemi on staff, he died of cancer. He was 42 and left behind a wife, Maxine, and their children Steven and Sharon.
By all accounts, "The Big Finn" was a beloved figure. The Spokane Daily Chronicle described him as "one of the all-time favorite Washington State University players and coaches."
More than 500 people attended Niemi's memorial service in Bohler Gym.
One of those attendees was WSU receiving legend Hugh Campbell. He played for the Cougars in Niemi's first stint on staff.
"Everyone who knew him was devastated by his death," Campbell told Cougfan.com in a recent interview. "Everybody respected and liked him. As a coach, he was very special, striking a great balance between discipline and teaching. He was good person, a kind person — what I would call a quiet giant, tough but fair. I know the linemen loved him ... He was also great in the community, a great personality."
As fate would have it, Campbell met Sweeney at Niemi's memorial service and the new coach shortly thereafter offered Campbell a job — to become the first-ever receivers coach in the Pac-8. Campbell accepted and spent a season coaching the Cougs before playing one more campaign for Saskatchewan in the CFL.
Garner Ekstran, a standout lineman who played with Campbell at WSU and in the Canadian Football League, told Bud Withers in the new book on the history of the Apple Cup, that "I played for the best line coach I've ever seen in Laurie Niemi."
NIEMI HAD BATTLED CANCER FOR 12 years. WSU athletic director Stan Bates said at the memorial, "Niemi demonstrated to the campus that he loved so well that he played the game of life the same way he taught football, with courage."
Following Niemi's passing, Cougar team captain Dick Beard wrote a glowing tribute in the Daily Evergreen. Here are passages from that salute:
Niemi was probably the most loved of all people in the athletic department. His soft spoken good nature was characteristic of one of the finest Cougar sportsmen ever.
As a student under Niemi, I can represent all the players I know in saying that he was one of the finest individuals one could hope to meet. He was popular with all players and possessed a true and sincere love for WSU.
No, WSU will never forget Laurie Niemi. He was more than a coach. he was an inspiration. He emphasized the honor of the school and this alone is indicative of his feeling for WSU.
He will go down in history as one of the greatest Cougars ever. His is a memory which will be cherished by many a person. His dedication to his job and to his players as individuals was reflected in their high esteem for him.
NIEMI WAS THE 18TH OVERALL selection in the 1949 NFL draft, taken by Washington. Cougar teammate, and future head coach of the Eagles, Jerry Williams, went to the L.A. Rams with the 63rd overall pick.
Since 1968, the Laurie Niemi Award has been presented each year to the WSU senior who most exemplifies Niemi's courage, spirit and humility. Winners have included such notables as River Cracraft, Vince Mayle, Dom Williams, Taylor Taliulu, Scott Davis, Hamza Abdullah, Jeremey Williams, Dave Minnich, Steve Gleason, Leon Bender, Lewis Bush, Ron Childs and Paul Wulff.
WSU great Dale Gentry from L to R: With the L.A. Dons in the late '40s; as a WSC coach in the '50s; and as the leading rebounder on Cougs' legendary 1941 basketball team. (Photos: LA Dons and WSU Libraries)
ANOTHER WSU HALL OF FAMER FROM the 1940s who, like Niemi, would return to his alma mater as an assistant coach also died in his prime. Dale Gentry, out of Walla Walla High, was an All-Coast and All-American end for the Cougars in football, a starter on the Cougar basketball team that played for the 1941 NCAA Championship, and a three-time letterman in baseball.
His nickname was "Pig," an appellation from his youth in Walla Walla because he was pudgy as a boy. He is said to have used that name as motivation to sculpt his trademark barrel chest.
Following graduation from WSU, Gentry earned five battle stars in the South Pacific while serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he spent three seasons, 1946-48, with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference and earned all-league honors twice. The Dons would later merge with the Los Angeles Rams.
Gentry returned to Washington State as an assistant football and basketball coach from 1952-55, and then entered the insurances business. He died from a heart attack in 1968, at age 50, at his home in Portland moments have making funeral arrangements for his 16-year-old son, who had died in a car accident the day before.
Related: Babe Hollingbery led a golden age in Cougar athletics