Eastern Washington University Athletics

A fixture in the Eastern athletic department from the 1930's to 1960's, Reese coached in almost 1,000 Eastern athletic events, winning more than 70 percent of them. In 31 seasons as basketball coach, Reese was 473-298 with 12 conference titles and berths in three NAIA Tournaments. As football coach for 13 seasons, Eastern won 66 of 100 games with six conference championships. In 31 seasons as track coach, his squads won 23 league championships, and at one time won 43 consecutive dual meets. In addition, Reese served as athletic director at Eastern from 1938-62 and was instrumental in the founding of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. He served as NAIA president in the 1952-53 academic year and was an NAIA board member for 12 years. His only years away from Cheney came during World War II when he served as physical fitness officer and football coach for the Second Air Force. He came to Eastern from highly- successful coaching stints at Cashmere and North Central High Schools. At Cashmere, his hoop teams were 44-7, and at North Central his 1930 team won a state championship. Formerly from Pullman, Wash., Reese was selected to the Inland Empire Hall of Fame in 1972, and is also a member of the Hall of Fame at Washington State University where he graduated and competed in basketball.