- Hey everybody, I'm Doug.
That's Connor. And this is a very special episode
of the Bethel School District Presents podcast.
We are celebrating 75 years of the Bethel School District
with Bethel legend, ed Neil.
You might recognize Mr.
Neil's name from the Bethel High School gymnasium,
and we are so proud to have him join us on the show, along
with his son, Bob Neil.
Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here.
- Glad to have you. - So, Mr.
Neil, you've lived in our area since 1951
and worked at Bethel High School when it opened its doors.
Talk to us a little bit about the changes you've seen in the
school and around the district since then.
- I just had the opportunity the other day with Bob
to travel out to Graham, which I haven't seen for many,
many years, and up the Graham Hill.
And I couldn't believe the growth in the Bethel District
when I was here started, we had six elementary schools.
We had, uh, teams formed from the six schools for intramural
and recreational basketball and baseball.
And now I understand there's 18 elementary schools
and maybe six or eight, uh, junior high schools.
And I was fortunate to see the
fourth high school groundbreaking
since I've lived in the Bethel District.
And that's amazing to see four high schools in a lifetime.
- . It absolutely is.
Your lifetime spans a lot
of history across this district, across this country.
You came to Bethel by way of Pittsburgh,
the United States Army and Washington State University.
It's a lot of ground to cover in your early years
that I'm sure folks are gonna wanna know about.
So let's start in the steel city
where I am also from Pittsburgh.
I lived there till I was 12.
You lived there a little bit less time than that.
I heard you left when you were about six months old.
- We left there when I was six months old.
My dad and mother and Aunt Mary
and my older brother Ted headed west.
I don't remember much about the trip,
but I do have some stories that I was often told later.
The main one was Aunt Mary who was coming out with us
to help with my older brother, Ted and me.
She always got scared coming over high road passes
and, and different roads that we took.
And dad and mom used to tell me Palm Mary always wanted the
inside of the car to sit on when we came over some of those,
uh, rugged passes in those days.
I don't know if there were guardrails or not,
but it kind of scared all
of us when she started screaming about Look down there,
way down there. Yeah.
- And, and Ed. Ed, I understand you're
a hundred years old, correct?
Yes. So you've seen a lot in your life.
Your, your formative years stretched from the Great
Depression to World War ii.
That's an unparalleled experience.
How did that shape you as a young man
and what lessons did you learn
that stayed with you all these years?
- I think the big biggest thing that I learned
after graduating, I quit high school in my senior year
after the football season, and I joined the Army
because I was afraid they would draft me into
the Navy .
And I didn't like water at that time,
and I'm still not a favor of water, but I did join the army
and, uh, I think the two
and a half years that I was in did a lot for my life.
I was kind of a character in high school.
I understand .
I didn't like school too well, but I liked sports.
And the army took that out of me
and, uh, gave me a lot of, of foresight
to continue my life.
- And I found an article about you online.
It said you actually played football
for the Army. Is that true
- ?
I did. I I was going to Fort Sill, Oklahoma
and uh, we brought a artillery team from Camp Swift
to Fort Sill to play football.
And I think there was, uh, six
or eight different teams that came there, a real remarkable,
uh, place to go.
And I don't know what I learned militarily, ,
but I, I did have a, a good time, uh, playing football
for the artillery at Fort Sill .
- I bet I was actually also in the Army.
I was a broadcast journalist
and served with a FN in Belgium.
I don't know what I learned militarily
either, but it brought me here.
. Yeah. So you also played football at WSU,
if I'm not mistaken.
A any memories from that time?
- Yes. I remember when a guy knocked on a coach,
knocked on my door one day when I was living in Seattle
and asked me if I wanted to go
to school at Washington State.
Kind of surprised me
because I had no intentions of going to school.
I was ready to go to work, uh, and I said yes, and mom
and dad a few weeks later packed me in a car
and took me over to Pullman and dumped me off .
And there, from there on it was, uh, Washington State
cooker football from, from that day on.
I never was a real Husky fan ,
but I I, I do appreciate the program that they
have had so far.
I'm a cougar. My two sons are cougars.
My grandson is a cougar.
So we, we have respect for Washington,
but not, not as a cougar
- , but not too much, - Not too much respect.
- uh, and, and sports, you were,
you were also very involved with sports
at Bethel High School.
But before we get into that,
let's talk a little bit about your time as a teacher there.
If my sources are correct,
you taught shop, what was that like?
And what kind of projects did students
work on back in the fifties?
- I have to say that your sources were wrong. Oh, no,
- , - I taught shop for one year.
Uh, when I got the job at Bethel, uh,
I was assigned to World History shop, metal shop, wood shop.
Uh, I graduated from Washington State in physical
education health.
So the first year I was at Kason High School, which had a,
uh, earthquake destruction in 1949.
Uh, destroyed their swimming pool
and part of their gymnasium.
So I got these other
different teaching positions than I would have normally
than when Bethel opened.
I did get, my position that I wanted was in the gymnasium
to physical education for 15, 15 and a half years.
- That tracks with the coaching thing.
Um, we'll have to fire the intern
that did our research on that.
. So I have a follow up question.
That date, 1949, when you taught at Kapaun High School,
that is the year that Bethel School District was founded
75 years ago.
Do you remember anything about that consolidation
of the 30 some school districts that were brought together
to form this one big gigantic megalith that we now Connor
and I now proudly serve?
- No, I, I don't remember much about it.
I do know that there was a lady, uh, Pierce County, uh,
educator, Ruth Bethel.
And uh, what I know is they named the name after her.
But, uh, I do understand there were just many, many
consolidations in the Bethel School District.
Uh, the last one being high school, being Roy and,
and Alun, which were, I don't know how far apart,
but they're quite a ways apart.
- Yeah. And, and you were a football
and baseball coach at Bethel
and as a new district with a new high school,
it was your job to get the athletes from Kapaun High School
and Roy High School, like you just mentioned,
to come together as one team being so far away.
I've read that you actually drove the bus
that took the athletes from Kapa de Roy for practice.
What was that time like for you?
- Actually, the two schools, now I remember were
16 miles apart.
And when they consolidated,
they played 1950 season was played as Roy
and as Kaen.
And in 1951, uh, we brought the two teams together.
When I got the job, my wife
and I came early on Spring break
to look at the two schools we were going to be involved in.
And, uh, things didn't look good at that time,
but I knew they were building a new Bethel High School, so
I was really excited about that.
But our facilities at Roy, uh, is where we chose
to turn out for football.
Uh, we rented a field in Breman Park,
which is now Spanaway Golf Course,
and that's where we turned out for baseball.
But, uh, I had to take the kids from Kapaun,
loaded them on a bus, take 'em over to Roy and turnout.
And then after turnout I would take some
of the Roy kids home and then backtrack over to Kasen
and take the Kasen kids home.
And fortunately the school district let me take the bus home
when I lived in Parkland.
But it was, it was, it was a long day, but it was a fun day.
- Is it true you played games at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma?
- Yes, we played our football games at Cheney Stadium,
which was up on 11th Avenue there somewhere.
Yes, we played there a couple years until we got our Bethel,
uh, facilities going.
- Dad, why don't you tell him the story about you
and Art Crate and how the football
field got in its location?
- You'd have to know Art Crate first.
Art Crate was a member of the Bethel District.
He was a power
and light manager for Elmhurst Light and Power.
The district went from Parkland way out to Hart's Lake.
And Art became very, uh, concerned about our high school
and our athletic program.
'cause he had two boys coming up knowing Art Crate.
He used to come and ask me what I needed.
Well, we needed a lot of things
and Field was the main thing.
And I can remember one day he came when I was out with my,
uh, high school, uh, PE class and Art came over
and he said, where you went to football field?
And I said, art, I've, I've got a I class here.
I can't leave you. I can't leave them.
Well, knowing art, it was then, or now, or not at all.
- . - So I, I told the my student leader
to take over what I went over and helped Mr.
Crate out. And I had looked at the areas
where a field might be, but I had no idea it would be.
But we walked over there, I was kind of upset
and I walked over there and, and, uh, I put my foot down
and I says, art, I want the corner right here.
And I said, I wa I'd like to have it parallel
with 38th Avenue.
And, uh, that was it.
He, he , he pounded a stake .
And that's where the Bethel football field is
nowadays at the same place.
- That that is amazing though.
That a, a kind of snap decision like that
so many decades later.
And here we are still playing there.
- Still there. And to look at the timeline of
how long it went from, okay, where are we gonna put it
to it being there was amazing.
H how how quickly did the machinery show up
after that meeting that you had with Art?
- Probably the next weekend ,
because art, art was a, he was a go-getter
and he had lots of help in the Bethel District.
He got the senders and the whole thing
and put the ribbon around for the track and,
and put up goal posts.
He did, he did a lot. And I can't say enough for Art Crate.
I appreciate everything he did.
- Things move a little slower these days.
- Things do move a little slower these
- Days.
We, we just attended the groundbreaking
for the new Bethel High School
and they talked how that started 17 years ago. It
- Did - A little bit different than what they were able
to do to the football field and the grandstand both, they
- Should have just had Ed come over and put a stake down and
- Good to go art net out there with a stake
and put the school in.
- Yeah. Something tells me the permitting process
wasn't as rigorous back
- Then. it was.
- Yeah. So at Bethel High Ed, you spent 15 years
as a football coach, five years as a baseball coach,
and seven years as a basketball assistant.
When it came to athletics, what did Bethel do?
Right, and what were some
of the things that you had to work on?
- I think we worked on things as they came.
There were problems that came up daily, turnout wise,
fields, transportation, getting the kids home
and, and back.
We had to work on everything as it came along.
There was no, no planning ahead. We had no money.
I did go to Del House in Tacoma
and Scott said athletic supply
and, uh, ran up a credit bill there.
, they gave us uniforms at first.
We had uniforms from both ALS and, and Roy.
Uh, not enough for a full team at a consolidated school.
So we did have to go in debt a little bit.
And we borrowed and begged from different people
that we knew that that had something.
And the district, Bethel district was super,
they were like the old timing days when somebody needed
help, there was people there to help them.
Uh, so it was a great district
and just went from grassroots up to where they are now.
- , I I've heard that once, once
you're a coach, you're always a coach.
Let's put that coaching hat back on for a minute.
If you could step into the locker room
and give a pep talk, what would you say
to today's student athletes?
- I don't know what I would say today.
I, I hear too much restriction on what ,
what a coach can do and can't do.
But I would impress on the kids that we're playing this game
as a team and as a team.
We, we don't want anyone to embarrass our team or yourself.
Uh, we want, don't want
to embarrass the Bethel School District.
So adhere to the laws and the rules of the game.
Carry out your assignments and do the best you can.
And above all have some fun doing it.
- I love that Connor gave me
that same pep talk before he came in here.
Don't embarrass me and don't
embarrass the district. .
- I say that before every interview. Again,
- .
It's very wise advice.
Uh, ed, today you serve as a key member
of the Bethel School District Athletic Hall of Fame.
Tell us a little bit about that organization
and why it's so important for our community.
- It gives us a chance in the Bethel School District
to bring kids back together as a
group receiving awards.
I think Bob could answer this better than I do.
Bob is the president of the Bethel Hall of Fame,
and he does a good job of it, better than I, I know
that it's been just a great thing
because a lot of my former athletes have come by
and congratulated us on the job that, uh,
this group has done.
- I think one of our main goals is to preserve history, uh,
to learn from what past athletes have done,
to learn who those people were.
Just the abilities of people
that have come out of Bethel High School.
I, all of us have kind of a timeframe
that we know the school.
And my timeframe was probably from birth
until I graduated from high school, you know, and the day
after I graduated from high school, I was a cougar.
But I look back now on the,
and get to see people that I sat in the stands
and saw as heroes be recognized for
what they had done back in those days,
the high school games were so important
because you did couldn't see
every protein play every night on TV like you can today.
So that was a lot more of the community focus.
And the thing that I have learned
about 1970 on is we have produced a huge number
of great athletes, people
that have been on the pro golf tour, uh, people that have,
have played some pro football, people
that have done all sorts of things
and gone out and be successful.
- Absolutely. We didn't have a former
Mariner come out of Bethel High
- School.
Yes, we did Mike Laus,
and he was, uh, I think it was the first ceremony we had.
He was our guest speaker or, or was he induct?
Maybe he was inducted the first one
and spoke at the second one.
Yeah, I think is what he probably did. That was
- It. Yeah.
- Dad, why don't you tell us a little bit about your 1955
and 56 football teams, the
- 1955 team?
I wish I could list some of the players,
but I would miss something, so I better not.
But it was went undefeated
and we won the state championship.
This was a mythical championship at that time.
We voted in by sports writers
and peoples throughout the state.
And then in 56, most of the same kids came back
and we went undefeated that year.
And if I recall right, we, we were unscored on
for 16 ball games.
- Wow. Which is truly incredible.
I, I would love to get back in the record books
and see if that's ever happened again.
That I, I can't imagine it has.
- That's quite a defense. Yeah. Ed, you were born in 1924.
I'm gonna go through a little list I made here of some
of the things that were invented after you were born.
And that includes bubblegum, penicillin, scotch,
tape, jet engines.
So many different things that Connor
and I take for granted were invented.
After you entered the world for you,
is there a single greatest invention
that America's produced?
- I think probably the television.
I know I, at, at my age now, I enjoy television
as it's a good pastime and I do enjoy it.
I know that, uh, when I was going to high school,
there was no Sea Tac airport.
Wow. There was no interstate five.
There was no Spanaway golf course.
Pacific Avenue was very bare of
businesses like it is today.
Mainly construction has taken over, I think, which is good.
- A lot of new infrastructure around.
That's, that's a good answer. I think television
is a, that strong answer.
Connor and I have chosen podcasting
because we have faces for radio, we're told.
So we're happy to sit behind the microphones here. Yeah.
Bob, with your father turning a hundred,
I'm sure over the years he's probably told you a couple
solid pieces of advice.
Is there any that you could share with the listeners
that really stuck with you, made a big impact in your life,
you've been a pretty successful man yourself?
- Well, I don't know if they were direct things
that he said, here's the advice, but to follow his lead.
He spent his life in coaching
and so many times I've seen articles about him
and it has the quote, do it for the kids.
And he was, his whole career, he was about the betterment
of student athletes, both in the classroom
and on the, the football field or basketball court
or baseball field.
But it was always about what's best for the students and,
and what's good for their life and what can they learn
and take with them as they go on.
And, and I followed his footsteps, as I say,
a physical education degree at, at, uh,
WSU played basketball.
I was never a football player, but I did play basketball
and, and sports were really important in our household
as just kind of a centerpiece.
We still watched the Mariners almost every night.
We watch all the Seahawk games.
We just loved watching the Cougars this
last year in basketball.
And I think just the guidance that he gave me towards
how he lived his life.
I look back and, and so many times now you see parents
that are, uh, the helicopter parents that are always there
and right involved with the kids in everything they do.
He never once said, let, let's go out and do this.
Let's go do that, play a sport.
But if I said, Hey dad, I'd like to go play catch.
He had the ball in a couple gloves.
Hey, will you rebound for me? Yep. He's out there.
Love that. And, and was always there, but never pushed.
But I, I think like any young person, you're going to ex
look at what the important people in your life are doing
and you emulate that.
And I, I think that I did that and I'm glad that I
- Did.
I think that's fantastic. Great,
great answer and great advice.
Do it for the kids. I love that quote.
- Absolutely. And, and one last question for you, ed.
And we all aspire to live a long,
meaningful life like yours.
Do you have any good advice for the people listening on how
to stay active and engaged in their retirement years?
- I've been asked that many times, ,
- .
- And since I got a hundred anyway, I never had any problem
as far as eating,
sleeping, keeping active.
And that's all I can say is that keep going,
just keep active, eat the right things,
stay away from drugs,
and do the best you can with what you got.
- It's just that simple. - Just love it. Fan.
Fantastic advice. Bethel Institution.
Ed Neal and Bob Neal, thank you
so much for joining us today.
We're really excited to have you here
to celebrate the 75th anniversary of our great district.
Gentlemen, thank you very much.
- Thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed.