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Summer 2024

History of University

Dick Fry with radio equipment in black and white photo
Summer 2023

WSU stories by and about Dick Fry on his 100th birthday

Richard B. “Dick” Fry devoted 70 years of his life, good humor, and storytelling skills to Washington State University. The Coug legend turned 100 on February 12, 2023.

Fry was WSU’s sports information director from 1957 to 1970, the university’s director of news and information services until 1985, and author of the definitive book on Cougar sports, The Crimson and the Gray: 100 Years with the WSU Cougars. He continued to write stories for Cougar football game-day programs well into the 2000s.

Here are some stories about Fry and a few of the stories he wrote about WSU sports.

 

Happy … » More …

Old crew shell from WSU hangs from ceiling
Summer 2023

Resurrecting the remnants

It might sound odd but the Winlock W. Miller and the 101 were sisters. They died together, on the same day, at Almota.

In early 1971, University of Washington head rowing coach Dick Erickson provided the newly formed Cougar Crew with two used Husky shells on a long-term loan. The Miller and the 101 didn’t row on the Snake River until December 4 that year. Just 37 days later, they were gone.

The second week of January 1972, winds on campus reached 75 mph. Gusts of 150 mph were recorded at Pasco. The recently built Almota shellhouse was designed to sustain winds … » More …

Newspaper clipping about Washington State College Spanish House
Summer 2023

A brief history of the Spanish House at Washington State College

During part of her time in Pullman, Anne H. Fornfeist of Deer Park lived at Spanish House.

A member of Sigma Kappa Phi, she would go on to graduate from Washington State College with a degree in foreign languages and literature in 1922 and raise a family in the fertile farmlands of the Yakima Valley. One of her sons, another Coug, would became a state representative, senator, and congressman before serving as secretary of the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Sid Morrison (’54 Hort.), featured in the Summer 2023 issue of Washington State Magazine, knew his mother went to college in Pullman and that she … » More …

Close up black and white profile of Rudolph Weaver
Summer 2023

Weaving a tradition: The architect behind the President’s House

Visions of the past still resonate from what former President Enoch Bryan, writing in his memoir, remembered as “that beautiful corner of campus.” Work on a new home for the Washington State College president began there in 1912.

Sprawled across a grassy knoll, its elaborate garden-side façade remains visible behind thick foliage. More than a century since its completion, the newly re-dedicated Ida Lou Anderson House remains the premier representative of a transformational moment in the planning and design of the college grounds.

Designed by architect Rudolph Weaver, the new house for the college president offered a distinct example of the Georgian Revival: a … » More …

Soldier from World War II who attended Washington State University
Winter 2022

Unforgotten: Fallen Cougars Project at Washington State University

The mission of the Fallen Cougars Project is to create a digital memorial to the 250 Washington State College World War II war dead. By researching and displaying short biographical portraits, the Fallen Cougars Project aims to reintroduce these largely forgotten WSC students into the 21st century Cougar Nation.

Through historical film footage and interviews, student researchers and project director Ray Sun, associate professor of history at Washington State University Pullman, explore the meaning of the project and what it means to them personally.

Visit the Fallen Cougars Project website.

 

Also read about the project, veterans, and some … » More …

Winter 2022

In praise of simple things

In a world that’s beset with huge changes, it is sometimes hard to appreciate small things.

Consider the mouse-ear cress, Arabidopsis thaliana, which grows by roads and sidewalks. Not much to see, the little weed has a very small genome and in 2000 was the first plant to be completely sequenced. Its very simplicity has made Arabidopsis a powerful research tool for plant scientists at Washington State University and around the world.

WSU scientists have used it to identify a gene that allows the elimination of trans fats from many cooking oils and fats, find ways to help plants adapt to climate change, and investigate many other … » More …