Football | 11/22/2017 1:26:00 PM

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Nov. 22) – Tom Parry, a Central Washington Athletics Hall of Fame Football Coach, passed away Tuesday night at the age of 94.
 
Parry, a 1941 graduate of Queen Anne High School in Seattle, coached football for 20 seasons at CWU and is the winningest coach in school history.  But, more importantly, he had a profound impact on thousands of students.
 
"We lost a great man and leader of men," CWU Head Football Coach Ian Shoemaker said.  "Every year we award the Coach Parry Award to an outstanding student-athlete, and this year will be especially powerful. He will be dearly missed."
 
Parry's teams won 95 games, lost 91 and tied four during two different stints as head coach (1966-82, 1984-86).  His 1984 team won a school-record 11 games and reached the semifinals of the NAIA Division 1 national playoffs.
 
He won six conference titles and was selected the NAIA District 1 Coach-of-the-Year five different times.
 
He was also very active at the national level.  For 15 seasons, he was a member of the NAIA Division 1 rating committee and he supervised the 1980 Division 1 championship game.  He is also a past president of the NAIA Football Coaches Association.
 
"The Central Washington Wildcat family mourns the loss of a legendary coach and an even better man," CWU Director of Athletics Dennis Francois said.  "The impact Coach Parry had on the young men he coached during his tenure at CWU is immense and his legacy continues to live on in the lives of those who had the fortune of knowing him."
 
Following his retirement at Central, Parry remained active in football, coaching a year with Dennis Erickson at his alma mater Washington State.  He also came out of retirement to coach Yakima Valley College in 1989.  In the spring of 1991, he served as an assistant under Mike Price at WSU.
 
Parry, who is also a member of the Washington State Coaches Hall-of-Fame, came to CWU from Wenatchee Valley College where he compiled a record of 30-22-3 in six seasons.
 
A native of Seattle, he graduated from WSU in 1949 where he was a standout lineman and was selected to play in the 1948 East-West Shrine all-star game in San Francisco.
 
Parry, who earned a master's degree from WSU in 1962, coached at Langley High School (1949) and Clarkston High School (1950-55) before moving to Wenatchee in 1956.  After two seasons at WVC, he served as an assistant for one year at Montana and two at WSU before returning to WVC in 1961.  He also spent one year as an assistant to Hugh Campbell with the Los Angeles Express in the USFL following his retirement from CWU in 1982.
 
He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Jane.
 
The family asks in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Tom and Mary Jane Parry Endowed Football Scholarship, c/o:
 
CWU Foundation
ATTN: Tom and Mary Jane Parry Endowment
400 E University Way
Ellensburg, WA 98926-7508
 
Online donations can be made via the Wildcat Club donation page, and selecting the Tom and Mary Jane Endowed Football fund, after clicking contribute and selecting your amount.