Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 4, April 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Boone takes over as Hale football coach

By JAMES BUSH

Eleven years ago, Stan Boone went back to high school.

In 1993, the attorney and 1971 Nathan Hale High School graduate decided to rearrange his life so that he could join Hale's football coaching staff and have the opportunity to coach son David (class of 1997).

His youngest son, Stanley (another football player at Hale), is set to graduate this June, but Dad's staying put: Boone has taken over as the Raiders' head football coach.

Boone, the junior varsity coach at Hale for the past six years and the head varsity assistant coach, takes over for former head football coach Ronnie Cunningham, who left after eight years to complete work on his Ph.D.

Boone will be joined on the new Hale staff by offensive coordinator Dave Foster, defensive coordinator Evan Smitheman, and JV coach Fred Rodgers.

Boone hasn't just served Hale as a football coach. He's also put in six years as an assistant coach for the girls' basketball team, three years as a track coach, and numerous hours as a volunteer teacher in his "Law and Society" class.

"I consider it more of an exercise in critical thinking that a substantive look at any part of the law," Boone says.

But, while it may not help his students pass the bar, he finds the class to be a lot of fun. "I go in once a day and engage in interesting and thoughtful conversations with young minds," he says. "It's quite energizing."

While he only coaches football now ("Three seasons [a year] is too much," he says), Boone is still the field announcer for Hale track meets.

Being both a coach and teacher to his sons could make for a little too much togetherness, but Boone says he lives by a simple rule when dealing with them. "You've got to keep school stuff at school, home stuff at home, and team stuff on the team," he says. "Otherwise, it's like double jeopardy for the child."

Boone, who received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Washington, formerly had a law office in Lake City, but moved his practice into his home office when he decided to cut back on lawyering and concentrate on coaching.

Although he hadn't played football as a high school student, he was able to make the transition to coaching with the help of three factors. "Part of its getting involved, part of it is having read a lot on the game, and there's a lot of clinic hours to stay on top of things," he says.

Ironically, mandatory continuing education courses are an element of both the coaching profession and the legal profession. "Between the two of them, they keep me busy," says Boone.

Among the changes that have taken place during his tenure is the construction of the school's sports complex, which recently added lights for night-time play. "It's a wonderful facility we have there," says Boone, who recalls that his first teams practiced across the street at Summit School on a "hard, hard field" without painted lines or goal posts. Nathan Hale is also about to open a new fitness center. "We've come a long way," he says.

Hale hasn't had great success on the field in recent years (the Raiders are coming off seasons of one win/nine losses and two wins/eight losses), but Boone raves about both his returning players and the supportive atmosphere created by an active group of parents.

As head coach, he plans to strengthen the school's ties with area junior football programs (he's added George Hughes, the vice president of the Lake City junior football program to his coaching staff) in hopes of encouraging students to come out for the team as freshmen. "We always get a lot of kids as juniors and seniors that come out and say they wish they'd done it for four years," he says.

Boone lives several blocks from the school with his wife of 32 years, Linda, who works as the resident care manager at Park Ridge Care Center.

His eldest child, daughter Jennifer Richardson, actually played football for Hale before her father's tenure (she went on to play basketball and volleyball for Summit).

The designated family gridiron star of the future is Richardson's son, Jon.

Coach Boone offers this scouting report: "He's going to be a big one."