Dick Kunkle

Have you ever run in the Sound-to-Narrows, or watched high school track & field athletes perform at Star Track? If you’ve ever been involved in or seen either event, you now know that both were the brainchild of Dick Kunkle.

Kunkle, born the son of a Pennsylvania coal miner on May 1, 1935 in Indiana, Penn., graduated from Waynesburg College. After four years with the Army in Germany, he returned to his alma mater, taking the sports information director job. He and his wife, Leah, eventually came to the Puget Sound area where he became sports information director at Pacific Lutheran College. He went back east for a time, but at the urging of friends returned to the West Coast to take a job as a sports writer with the Tacoma News Tribune.

Her served the paper as sports copy editor and sportswriter, covering professional teams such as the Sonics and the one-year wonder Seattle Pilots, as well as the Huskies and area small college programs. He also edited the weekly leisure-time magazine for eight years.

While a sportswriter with the paper, he founded the Sound-to-Narrows. The annual road race started with 350 runners but now attracts upwards of 20,000 runners. Kunkle’s other legacy is Star Track, the state high school track & field event which he co-founded that draws athletes from several divisions to one location for the state championships. The “super meet” was held for many years in Tacoma on the Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, though it has moved to other locations in recent years.

In 1981, he received the Distinguished Citizen Award given by the Municipal League of Tacoma-Pierce County in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the community. Kunkle passed away in 1996 at age 61.