Hall of Fame basketball coach Donald Haynes dies at 91

Donald Haynes, a North Idaho Hall of Fame high school basketball coach and teacher, died Tuesday in Sandpoint at the age of 91, Sandpoint athletic director Kris Knowles announced on Wednesday.

Haynes had a 40-year head coaching career beginning in Kellogg in 1961, with stops in Moscow, Twin Falls, Meridian, Centennial and Coeur d’Alene along with stints in Oregon and Washington.

He retired permanently in 2001 from West Linn (Oregon), where he was coaxed out of retirement, won the league and eclipsed the 500-win mark.

Haynes coached at Lewis and Clark for three seasons in 1975-78, where he went 44-27 with first- and second-place finishes in the last two years of the City League.

His 1983 state championship team at Meridian was named the “Greatest High School Basketball Team Ever” for Idaho by MaxPreps.

Haynes returned to Coeur d’Alene to coach his alma mater in 1988 and made three consecutive trips to state his last three years.

Haynes won 510 career games with four Idaho state titles and was inducted into the North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.