Don Paul
Even decades after graduating, Don Paul is remembered as easily
the greatest all-around athlete in the history of Fife High School.
A star on both the baseball diamond and gridiron, he enjoyed an
excellent dual-sport career at Washington State University before
embarking on a nine-year career in the National Football League.
Paul's greatest fame came on the football
field, where he could play both offense and defense and earned
All-NFL honors in 1955 while playing on the second of three
championship teams with Cleveland. He grew up playing for the 38th
Street team in the Tacoma City League.
On the baseball diamond, he started for Buck Bailey at WSU and
helped lead the team to a Northern Division title and a berth in the
Pacific Coast Championships while batting .365 on a team that
featured an All-Pierce County outfield of Paul, Gordy Brunswick and
Bobby McGuire. All three made the All-North Division team. The
following season the Cougars advanced all the way to the NCAA
Championship Game, where they fell to Texas. Both Paul and McGuire
received all-tournament honors, and Paul batted .300 that season
after switching to third base for WSU. He played shortstop in the
Oregon summer semi-pro league, joining McGuire to play for Bailey at
La Grande and earning All-Star recognition. |
