He won a Rose Bowl. Now this former Tri-City football star is headed to his third Hall of Fame

When Chad Ward got a call a couple of months ago letting him know he was being inducted into the University of Washington Husky Hall of Fame, he thought it was a joke.

After the caller hung up, he waited for the phone to ring to tell him it wasn't real.

But the information was as real as the purple and gold Ward proudly wore two decades ago.

"I was so surprised when they called," said Ward, a 1996 graduate of River View High School. "It's an honor you can't describe. There are names there that I feel my name has no place next to theirs. It's a little weird.

"I'm pretty proud. It's something you did a long time ago, but your hard work pays dividends."

The Husky Hall of Fame is the third one for Ward, 41, who will be inducted Oct. 21. He was the first person inducted into the River View Hall of Fame in 2001, and he was part of the 2012 Hall of Fame class for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which governs the state's high school sports.

"They are all nice honors," he said. "The others made sense, but this one is pretty different."

Life in Finley

As a senior in high school, Ward stood 6-foot-5 and weighed 310 pounds. He was a mountain of a man in Finley who turned up on the radar of college coaches on both sides of the Mississippi, including Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Michigan and Nebraska.

Playing at a small school did not hurt his chances of playing big-time college football. When you are that good, coaches will find you.

And Ward was that good. He was a three-time all-state lineman for River View and a USA Today first-team High School All-American his senior year.

"I felt honored," Ward said. "I don't think it would have been any different had I been at Kennewick or Kamiakin. We were all 17-year-old kids. I don't think I missed out on anything. Finley has always supported me and I enjoyed my time there. I have lifetime friends from there."

His life in football began inauspiciously: He was turned down for Grid Kids youth football.

Too big, they said.

"I was 5-9 and 165 pounds when I was 9," Ward said. "When I was 12, I was 6-2, 225. When I was a freshman, I was 6-4, 290. My sophomore year, I was 301.

"In middle school, other team's parents wanted to see my birth certificate. I didn't know how to use my size yet. I just pushed people aside."

Ward also played high school basketball, but he knew if he was going to go anywhere past college, it would be for football.

Large and in charge in Seattle

Ward chose the University of Washington over all of the other suitors. The Huskies had a legacy of top linemen like Steve Emtman, Lincoln Kennedy and Bern Brostek.

Ward likened being a first-year college player to being in prison.

"There is a pecking order," he said. "You have to earn the respect of 80 alpha males."

So Ward took charge. He started 45 of a possible 48 games in college. He got his first start as a freshman against Arizona State when a teammate got hurt, and he never looked back.

As a guard, he learned from center Olin Kreutz, and assistant coach Keith Gilbertson helped guide him through some tough times.

Ward was one of the team captains for the 2000 season, and he earned first-team conference and national honors. That season the Huskies won the Rose Bowl and finished No. 3 in the final Top 25 poll.

That season also saw him win one of his most coveted awards, the Morris Trophy, which is given to the top offensive and defensive lineman in the Pac-10 (now Pac-12). Emtman, Kennedy, Brostek and Kreutz were previous recipients.

"The opposing teams' players votes on it," Ward explained. "There are no names to circle, they have to write in their choice. It means a lot that they know your name."

From college to the pros

The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Ward in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft, but he never played a down in the NFL. He spent time on practice squads, and also was signed and released by the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns. In January 2004, he was signed by the San Diego Chargers, who sent him to NFL Europe.

"The NFL was a big learning curve for me," Ward said. "I didn't know much. I was always hesitant as to if I was doing the right thing. I never had a coach who believed in me like Gary Everson (at River View) or Keith Gilbertson. They would yell at you, but still love you.

"College was way more fun than the NFL. My locker was next to T.O. (Terrell Owens) at San Francisco, but we didn't say one word to each other. They don't bother to get to know you until you stick around and are in their same tax bracket."

Ward played one season in Europe for the Scottish Claymores, but the highlight of that season was playing a round of golf at St. Andrews.

"Right after I got back, I had two-a-days with the Chargers," he said. "I was not enjoying my Chargers time. You get to your dream, but you are jealous because your friends are progressing in their careers, while they would do anything to be in the NFL.

"I was chewed up and spit out. I was done. I needed to get healthy. I have no regrets."

Life after football

Ward became an insurance agent in 2008 and opened his own office with State Farm in April 2010.

He lives in Richland and spends as much time as he can with his son Cooper, 6.

He's still close with a group of players from the 2001 Rose Bowl team.

"There are 15 of us who are pretty close," he said. "We text and call."

Ward will be inducted with a pretty amazing group: quarterback Mark Brunell (1989-92), softball player Danielle Lawrie (2006-07, 09-10), golfer Brock Mackenzie (2001-04), basketball player Brandon Roy (2003-06), volleyball player Courtney Thompson (2003-06), women's basketball coach Chris Gobrecht (1985-96), and the women's 1984 and 1985 eight-oared crews.

This story was originally published June 14, 2018 at 6:37 PM with the headline "He won a Rose Bowl. Now this former Tri-City football star is headed to his third Hall of Fame."