Columbia Basin College announces 2018 HOF Class

Columbia Basin College will honor two men and the 2001 baseball team Jan. 26 at the 12th annual CBC Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet at the Byron Gjerde Center on the CBC campus in Pasco.

The social hour and silent auction will start at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. Individual tickets are $75. Contact Scott Rogers at srogers@columbiabasin.edu or (509) 542-4834 for additional information.

Leading the 2018 class is Pasco native Wally Brown, who is joined by Walla Walla native Mike Monahan, and the 2001 baseball team, which won the NWAC title and set a few league records along the way.

Wally Brown

A three-sport letterman at Pasco High, Brown lettered in football and baseball at the University of Idaho. Returning to Pasco, he was named the head coach for the baseball team, while coaching the offensive and defensive lines for the Bulldogs.

Following Dwight Pool to CBC in 1962, Brown continued to coach interior linemen on both sides of the ball, helping guide the 1962 team to the Junior Rose Bowl in Pasadena. In five years on the CBC football staff, the Hawks posted a 40-5 record.

Brown also coached the baseball team for two seasons, leading the Hawks to a 43-17 mark. Brown left CBC for the University of Montana in 1967, coaching interior linemen and coordinating all recruiting efforts for the football team. After several positions away from football, Brown returned to the game he loved, working as the Director of Business Operations for the upstart United States Football League.

Mike Monahan

He graduated from Wa-Hi as a first team All-State quarterback and a third team All-State basketball player. Taking his talents to football powerhouse Columbia Basin College, Monahan led the Hawks to an overall No. 2 national ranking and an appearance in the 1962 Junior Rose Bowl.

A first team All-Junior College and honorable mention All-American, Monahan later starred at the University of Idaho where he was voted by his teammates as the recipient of the Hec Edmundson Most Inspirational Award. This was the only award recognized for the football program in this era.

While at Idaho, Monahan led the Big Sky Conference in total offense, finishing first in the conference in passing yards. Monahan was inducted into the Walla Walla High School Hall of Fame as a member of their inaugural class.

2001 Baseball Team

The team enters the CBC Hall of Fame as the sixth team inducted since its inception in 2009. The Hawks became the first East Region team since 1989 to claim an NWAC Championship, setting multiple NWAC records along the way.

The 2001 champions set records for team ERA (1.65), shutouts (19), and consecutive wins to start a season (21). They also set a new standard for wins by the NWAC champion (39), consecutive team batting titles (3), and became just the second team in the history of NWAC baseball to claim a team batting title and team ERA title in the same season.

The 2001 team was the first NWAC baseball team to ever be nationally recognized when the Hawks were ranked No. 9 in the country following the 2001 season.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Columbia Basin College announces 2018 HOF Class."