Roy McKasson

Roy McKasson, born on Aug. 23, 1939 in Kellogg, Idaho, attended Clover Park High School, where as a football standout he drew the interest of the University of Washington coaching staff.

McKasson, who played center for the 1956 championship CPHS team, as well as the 1957 squad, was such an outstanding player that The News Tribune named him to its all-time Washington Dream Team in its Dec. 5, 1996 edition. The football program retired his jersey, which hangs in the Clover Park High trophy case.

At 6-1 and 205 pounds, McKasson was considered undersized by the standards in 1960 when he piled up numerous honors as the center on the Huskies’ victorious Rose Bowl team. He earned all-conference and was a unanimous All-Coast honoree. He also was a consensus All-America, receiving recognition from the Associated Press, Look Magazine, the American Football Coaches, Newspaper Enterprise Association and ABC Sports. He also received the 1960 L. Wait Risening Award as Lineman of the Year.

In 1959, McKasson was selected as Big Five Lineman of the Week three times, and in 1960 he was United Press International and Sports Illustrated lineman of the week in a 29-10 Husky win over Stanford.

He appeared in Washington’s back-to-back Rose Bowl victories in 1960 and 1961 and was selected by coach Jim Owens as a game captain during his senior season. McKasson went on to play in the Hula and All- American Bowls and was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1987.

McKasson played for one year with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League, but retired to join the staff of Young Life. He worked with the Christian ministry in Dallas and Chicago until 1980, traveled and spoke for the Educational Reform Foundation for seven years, then brought his family back to the Puget Sound area in 1987. He passed away on Jan. 23, 1998.