‘This is the biggest honor of my career’: Former Colfax volleyball coach Sue Doering, others inducted into Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame

Sue Doering is the classic inductee for a hall of fame.

The retired Colfax volleyball coach impacted hundreds of girls during her career. She coached for 33 years, 29 at Colfax.

Doering coached in more than 1,100 matches, posting a 834-195 record – an .810 winning percentage at Colfax and 902-232 overall.

Equally impressive is the fact she coached Colfax teams to 14 state championships.

Essentially, half of her teams won state titles.

She also had five state runners-up and 19 consecutive top-four finishes.

For Doering, it was never a matter of if she would be inducted into the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame, but when.

That became reality Tuesday when Doering was honored in a ceremony before a standing-room-only crowd that exceeded the expected 200 at the Arena.

Joining Doering in the 2024 class are Jen (Stinson) Greeny, Stacy Clinesmith, Isaac Fontaine IV, Dennis LaRue and Bud Namek. Scroll of honor inductees are Hal McGlathery, a high school and college softball and basketball official, and Chuck Stewart, retired Spokane Chronicle and Spokesman-Review sportswriter.

Doering said the best part of her career was the people.

“My life is the sum of many relationships,” Doering said.

Before the ceremony, Doering shared about how much she appreciated the induction.

“It’s such a big deal in the Inland Empire to be inducted into this hall of fame,” Doering said, fighting back tears. “This is huge. This is the biggest honor of my career.”

A Wyoming native, Doering is a Bonners Ferry High graduate and played volleyball for Pam Parks at Eastern Washington University.

She started her coaching career at Deer Park, but when she left for Colfax, she landed where she believed God wanted her to spend the bulk of her coaching and teaching career.

She retired following the 2017 season. Appropriately, her final team won a state title.

In her 33-year career, just two teams didn’t qualify for state – one each at Deer Park and Colfax.

Colfax won six straight state titles during one span.

Doering coached both of her daughters and each played on state title teams.

Her youngest, Kinsey, played on what Doering calls her best team in 2008. That team finished 34-2.

The year Colfax won a 10th state title, Doering’s oldest daughter, Megan, won her first state title at St. John-Endicott.

Megan is in her third year as head coach at Colfax. Mom pops in at practice occasionally.

Doering survived breast cancer in 2004. She waited until late in the season to start chemotherapy. That team rewarded her with a state title.

• Greeny – the former three-sport star from Davenport High, Washington State University standout athlete and highly successful Cougars volleyball coach – is in her first year as head coach at West Virginia. She was the first inductee to speak because she had to get to the airport to grab a 7 p.m. redeye back to Huntington, West Virginia, where the Mountaineers have a match Wednesday. Greeny guided WSU to eight straight NCAA Tournaments before leaving Pullman last year. Her final WSU team climbed to a program-best No. 4 ranking and reached the Sweet 16. Greeny was inducted into the WIAA Hall of Fame in 2023.

• LaRue had a 26-year career as an official in the National Hockey League. He’s often called the best referee in U.S. hockey history. He retired in 2016 and came back to Spokane to help mentoring young officials. A Gonzaga Prep grad, LaRue played hockey in Spokane before starting his officiating career. He officiated his first Stanley Cup in 2009 and was only the second American referee to do so. He officiated 1,222 NHL games and worked four Olympics. He was ranked eighth on the all-time list of hockey officials in the world upon retirement.

• Clinesmith, the former Mead standout, became the first Spokane native to play in the WNBA. She led Mead to the 1996 State AAA championship and was the state’s player of the year. Three times she was named All-Greater Spokane League and twice was the GSL’s Player of the Year. She also was the league player of the year in soccer, scoring 60 goals. She went on to be a standout basketball player at UC Santa Barbara, where she was three times All-Big West Conference and led Santa Barbara to four conference tournament titles. She was selected by the Sacramento Monarchs in the 2000 WNBA draft and later played for the Detroit Shock. She then transitioned into coaching and is beginning her 11th season as an assistant for Lisa Fortier at Gonzaga.

• Fontaine is still playing basketball at 49. A tax accountant, he mixes it up against players some 20 years younger in a weekly 30-and-older league. A 6-foot-4 guard, the Sacramento, California, native scored 33 points in his second game at WSU. When he was through in Pullman, he was the all-time men’s scoring leader with 2,003 points and remains the school’s career leader in 3-point shooting (45.7%). In his final year at WSU, Fontaine was a John R. Wooden Award finalist and WSU’s Pac-10 medal winner.

• Long after retiring from TV, Namek continues to work in his field in his 10th year as the radio voice of Whitworth football and men’s basketball. He joined KXLY as sports director in 1982. He has twice been named sportscaster of the year by the National Sports Media Association and is a charter member of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He was the radio voice of the WSU men’s basketball team and on football broadcasts for 22 years.

• Among a handful of passions, Stewart was a fastpitch and slowpitch umpire for more than 60 years and mentored dozens. He umpired in three national tournaments. A North Central grad, Stewart started at the Chronicle in 1962, retiring from full-time work in 1993. He worked part time at The Spokesman-Review until 2023.

• A high school and college basketball referee for 30 years, McGlathery worked by day as the Spokane Parks and Recreation director. He worked on the campaign to build the softball stadium at Franklin Park. He was ahead of his time promoting girls and women’s sports. He’s been a volunteer at Hoopfest since its inception.