Longtime Spokane residents William D. Hyslop and Dwight Damon received Washington State University’s Alumni Achievement Award at a July 16 WSU wine tasting event at Wyvern Cellars in Spokane.

Hyslop, an attorney with the law firm of Lukins & Annis, served as president of the alumni association in 1991-92. Damon, a former two-sport athlete at WSU, maintains a practice in orthodontics.

During Hyslop’s tenure as alumni president, the association drafted and then adopted a “role and mission” statement and a list of 10 goals and objectives. Previously, Hyslop served as a volunteer alumni director in Spokane for eight years, and co-chaired WSU’s Legislative Network, which supports state legislation benefiting higher education and WSU. In 1998 Hyslop was co-chair of committee that planned the alumni association’s centennial celebration.

The 1973 WSU graduate completed his law degree at Gonzaga University’s School of Law and joined the Spokane office of Lukins & Annis in 1980. He became a principal in the firm in 1984. From 1991 to 1993, he was U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, then returned to Lukins & Annis. His practice emphasizes construction law and general business and civil litigation. A past president of the Spokane Bar Association, he currently serves on the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors.

“I really attribute any success I’ve had to the foundation I received at WSU, both working with people and getting my degree in political science,” Hyslop says. “I enjoyed taking classes from professors like Charles Sheldon [political science] and others who encouraged us to ‘do more than just your job—contribute to your community, and share your knowledge and expertise with others.’

“I always look at my days at WSU as the best time of my life. I want others to have a similar experience.”

Hyslop is a third-generation Cougar. His grandfather, Victor R. Hyslop ’12 and his parents, Tom and Catherine Cornehl Hyslop, both ’38, are graduates. His father is a former WSU regent (1983-85). His mother was national present of her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta.

Damon completed his degree in zoology in 1962 at WSU, where he was captain of the Cougar basketball team as a senior and played varsity baseball. His father, Howard ’31, and dentist brother, Floyd ’59, were Cougar baseball players.

Damon received the Washington State Dental Association Award as the outstanding graduate of the University of Washington School of Dentistry in 1964. Following two years in the U.S. Navy, including a tour in Vietnam, he completed his M.S.D. in orthodontics at UW in 1970.

During his WSU undergraduate days, Damon came under the tutelage of the late Herbert Eastlick. He remembers his zoology professor and advisor as a “brilliant, tough, no nonsense person, but very caring and helpful. He prepared me well for dental school.”

Basketball Coach Marv Harshman recruited Damon to WSU, where his afternoon science labs frequently made him late for basketball practice. His coach never criticized or singled him out for being tardy, he said.  “He told me that my preparation for a professional medical career should be my highest priority.”

Damon has practiced orthodontics in Spokane for nearly 30 years. For more than a decade, he has worked to develop the new Damon System II bracket system of braces (see WSM, November 2001). The system has increased patient comfort, shortened treatment times, and decreased the number of overall appointments, not only in his practice, but also in orthodontics as a whole.