Diedrick will enter Eastern Hall of Fame
Bill Diedrick Jr., an All-America quarterback who guided Eastern Washington into the NAIA national championship football game nearly 40 years ago, will be inducted into the EWU Athletics Hall of Fame Oct. 28.
The Spokane native, a graduate of North Central High School, will be honored as a highlight of EWU’s homecoming festivities.
A reception will take place at 11 a.m. at Reese Court. The public is invited. (RSVP to (509) 359-2463.) A football game against Northern Arizona at Woodward Field starts at 2:05 p.m.
“Spending 36 years in coaching have given me a lot of wonderful honors and opportunities,” Diedrick is quoted as saying in a release from the school. “But none compares to the three honors I received as a player – playing for a national championship, being named an All-American and now being selected into the Hall of Fame at Eastern.”
Diedrick led Eastern to the NAIA Championship game in 1967, earning second-team All-America honors for a squad that was the inaugural team inducted into Eastern’s Hall of Fame in 2001. Established in 1996, it includes three teams and Diedrick will become the 35th individual member. He was selected for induction in 2005, but was unable to attend the semi-annual induction ceremonies because of his coaching commitments.
Diedrick has had coaching stops at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. He is currently, coaching quarterbacks and wide receivers for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League.
In 1967, Diedrick guided the school to an 11-1 record, losing 28-21 to Fairmont State (W.Va.) for the NAIA title. He had a 30-8-1 record at Eastern.
College scene
Two Gonzaga freshmen helped the Canadian Junior National team win the bronze medal at the World Junior AAA baseball championships last week in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba.
Cory Hall, a 6-foot-2 right-handed pitcher from Regina, Saskatchewan, earned the win in a 6-2 victory over Mexico in the third-place game with seven innings of eight-hit relief. Hall, who came on in the first inning, gave up Mexico’s two runs but struck out five. Hall had a 2-0 record and 1.13 earned-run average with 15 strikeouts in 16 innings in the tournament.
Mark Ellis from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada’s starting third baseman, hit .207 for the tournament, going 6 for 29 with one double and two runs batted in.
It’s the fifth time Canada has earned a medal in the event but the first since 1997 when it also won bronze.
“Steve Martin, a Puget Sound senior from Lewis and Clark, played a key role Sept. 23 when the Loggers recorded the school’s first football shutout in 20 years.
Martin led UPS (3-0) with eight tackles, including 1.5 for loss, as the Loggers shut out Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 21-0 for their first shutout in 180 games since a 25-0 win over Oregon Tech in 1986.
“Ellie Brophy, a Yale University junior from Gonzaga Prep, led the Bulldogs with nine birdies and claimed third place to help the Elis rally to tie for second place in the 14-team Penn State Invitational last weekend. Brophy finished with a 2-over-par 74 for a 54-hole score of 232.
Tennis
Audrionna Farr of Spokane, an eighth-grader at Chase Middle School, won the consolation finals in Girls 14s at the USTA’s No Quit Level 3 national tournament in Las Vegas last weekend.
Farr, 13, No. 4 in the latest sectional rankings, lost only to the No. 1 seed in compiling a 5-1 record in the tournament. She defeated the No. 5 seed in the consolation semifinals.