Eastern Washington University Athletics

A 1971 graduate of Eastern, Rousseau earned honorable mention All-America honors in 1970 as a record-breaking pitcher. He later helped the Eagle Athletic Association break fund-raising records as well. In 1970 he earned All-Evergreen Conference and All-District 1 honors, and was team MVP and Scarlet Arrow Award recipient. He was team captain as both a junior and senior. He had five shutouts in 1970 to rank as the school record for both a single season and career. His 1.09 earned run average in 1970 ranks second in school history as he finished 6-2, with both losses coming to future major league baseball pitcher Dave Heaverlo from Central Washington (including one game by a 1-0 score). Rousseau started eight games and had seven complete games in 1970 when he pitched 58 innings and allowed just nine runs, only seven of them earned. Five of the earned runs he allowed came in one inning, as he had streaks of 31 and 18 consecutive scoreless innings. He gave up only 40 hits and seven walks, and had 36 strikeouts. “Curly” won three games by 1-0 scores, including an 11-inning win over Whitworth in which he retired 24 batters in a row. In another of his 1-0 victories on the mound, he had Eastern's only hit and scored the only run of the game on a wild pitch. Statistics from 1971 are unavailable, but at one point he was 2-2 as a shoulder injury limited him most of the season. From 1969-70 he had an 8-10 record, and at one time held the school record with 79 career strikeouts and 11 complete games. He also has the school record with 13 strikeouts in a single game in 1971, which was followed by another game with 12. After playing one season at Spokane Community College, he was 2-8 with a 3.19 earned run average for Eastern in 1969. Of the eight losses he suffered, Eastern didn’t score in seven of them. Ligaments in his throwing arm were so loose that during games he sometimes dislocated his shoulder and had to have a teammate snap his shoulder back into place. Later, he spent five academic school years (2002-06 and 2007-08) as president of the Eagle Athletic Association, the fund-raising arm of the athletic department. He was a driving force in helping the organization raise a record $371,476 in pledges in 2005-06, breaking the previous record of $321,603 the previous year. He has served as co-chair of all of the record-breaking fund drives, and served in the same position for a fifth-straight year in 2006-07. The 2009-10 drive was his 11th participating in the annual fund drive, and he was an “All-Star” each of the previous 10 years as one of the top 10 producers. He also served as the host of the weekly EAA luncheon for seven years. In 2006, he was presented the EWU Student Life Alumni Excellence Award and he is also a former winner of the EAA Booster of the Year Award (2007) and a recipient of the EAA Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also affectionately known as the “Candy Man” at EWU sporting events for his custom of giving out candy to staff and fans before games. Kim DeLong, a former teammate, had this to say about Rousseau in a letter of nomination for the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame: “Curly is the embodiment of the character of Eastern Washington baseball complete with grit, tenacity, determination, courage and love of the game. By honoring him you honor all who are a part of Eastern’s baseball heritage. It was Curly who made sure the pitchers were in shape and it was Curly who held the team together when times were tough. He commanded the respect of every player on the field, including his opponents. He didn’t win that respect through rhetoric or bravado, he won it by leading through example. He was the most dedicated, best prepared and mentally-tough athlete I have ever met.” Said another former teammate, Tommy Thompson, a couple of years later: “Curly was a very smart athlete, very mature, and very dedicated to baseball, his performance and the team’s success . . . the rest of us were just having fun . . . and that is not to say that Curly wasn’t having fun. Curly was the leader and we did pretty well . . . no championship, but we attained respectability. I think Curly truly understands the student-athlete connection and the work that he is doing now (for EAA) is outstanding. He got me involved after a lot of years of zero involvement . . . and I will continue to be involved because he got me to believe in Eastern again.” Added Monte Pittz in 2007: “I can’t think of anyone that is more deserving (of being inducted into the EWU Athletics Hall of Fame). He was not only a great baseball player, but the work he has done for Eastern over the last few years should not go unnoticed. It would be a great honor for him.”Added Don Walker in May 2010: “Every couple of decades we find a deserving EWU alumni that leaves a mark on our university both as a student-athlete and alumni supporter. Curly Rousseau qualifies as one of these rare individuals that excelled as an athlete and then continued to contribute to Eastern Athletics at all levels. Curly’s on-field baseball career has earned him consideration and his lifetime effort and commitment to EWU Athletics deserve this recognition.”