Former Ferris, Washington State grad George Yarno gives Spokane a Buccaneers tie
Spokane’s closest tie to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the late George Yarno, a Ferris High and Washington State grad who played eight seasons for the Bucs.
Undrafted out of Washington State in 1979 after being named second-team All-Pac-10 his senior year, he signed a free-agent contract with Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers advanced to the NFC championship that rookie season, losing 9-0 to the Los Angeles Rams.
Yarno started on the defensive line throughout his WSU career then switched to offense his rookie season at Tampa Bay. He stayed with the Bucs through 1987, except for a stint with the Denver Gold of the USFL in 1984 and ’85. After Tampa Bay, he spent a year in Atlanta and another with the Houston Oilers. In all, he played in 135 NFL games, with 73 starts.
After retiring as a player in 1989, he was far from done with football. He spent several years as an assistant coach in college, twice joining the staff at his alma mater. He worked on the offensive line for head coach Mike Price at WSU before leaving in 1995 on a trek that took him to Idaho, Houston, Arizona State and LSU.
He returned to Pullman in 2003, joining the staff of Bill Doba.
“I’m a Cougar,” he said at the time, “and you have that special feeling being a Cougar.”
After Doba was dismissed in 2007, Yarno signed on as an assistant coach with the Buccaneers for one season under Jon Gruden. He then spent four years in Detroit and joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2013, but coached just one season before he was diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer. The Jaguars kept him on the staff through his absence for medical treatment.
Yarno died in August 2016, the end of a three-year battle with his disease. He was a few days shy of his 59th birthday.
Yarno’s older brother, John, was an All-American at Idaho and five-year starter for the Seattle Seahawks. They were teammates with the Denver Gold.
Portions of this article are from an obituary written by John Blanchette in 2016.