The year was 1966, and Renton High School (Indians) was celebrating its first state championship since 1960 and third in school history.
Junior Dave Willenborg was emerging as a star and inside a packed Renton High gymnasium, he was the talk of the town, especially after he sank a jump shot with 20 seconds left against Richland inside at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
About 59 years later, that team and the state champion 1967 team were enshrined into the Renton High School Hall of Fame. Players, sons of players and even non-players from that 1967 graduating class were in attendance for the Renton High School game against Oakland High School (California) on Dec. 3.
“Their recognition was long overdue,” current head coach Rashaad Powell said.
Willenborg is in rarified air as far as Renton High School is concerned. And if not for his involvement in his community, this might have never happened. Willenborg has supported his alma mater from afar since leaving Renton. During Renton River Days in 2023, Willenborg saw Powell and the two talked about their time at Renton, and Powell suggested inducting the 1966 and 1967 teams into the school’s hall of fame.
“I was walking down the street and I saw him (Powell) and I said ‘Hey Coach, I’m from ‘66 and ‘67, the royalty of basketball down here.’ He immediately remembered, and we started talking. … We kept in touch and I started getting a hold of some of the ball players and we had a good turnout. It’s a special time for us,” Willenborg said.
Powell, due to being at the time the athletic director, assistant principal and various other administrative roles, just couldn’t find enough time to organize the event to honor the team. But this summer, the Renton School District expanded their athletic department by hiring Jesse Snyder as district athletic director and put specific athletic directors at each high school.
With the freed up schedule, Powell found the time to bring back one of the best teams in school history and even plan on doing more hall of fame inductions for a school with such a rich basketball history.
“We have a rich tradition in basketball and sports that a lot of people don’t know about. I always point up at the wall, since it’s the last time we won a state championship. It was really cool to get a chance to honor them,” Powell said.
During halftime, Willenborg and his teammates, as well as his teammates’ sons went to midcourt and were honored with two state championship banners that will be hung inside the gymnasium. Each banner has every player’s name on it, with Irv Leifer as the coach.
Referred to as the “feistiest player to wear a Huskies uniform” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer’s Dan Raley in 2009, Willenborg still showed that spark when watching his now Redhawks play some of the state’s best. When asked if he ever thought he would be in the hall of fame: “Hell yeah,” Willenborg said.
“We had a hell of a team. We were tough,” he said.
The current Renton team sits in front of the 1966-67 team, honored at halftime. Ben Ray / The Reporter
His fondest memory was in 1967, his senior year. Renton took on Ballard in the state quarterfinals at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion and the Beavers had 20-point scorer George Irvine on their team. Willenborg made his mark with two early steals in the 57-41 win.
“I stole the ball from him two times in a row. He scored four points. … We just got in this groove and just went nuts,” Willenborg said.
Renton has changed a lot since 1967, but one thing that has yet to change is the building. It’s the same gym, same structure that Willenborg’s teams filled every night they took the floor. Renton got a taste of that this season when they hosted Rainier Beach and the nation’s No. 1 recruit in Tyran Stokes.
It took Willenborg back to the days of yore and really showed the type of basketball intrigue that resides at Renton High.
“Every game, for the three years I was here, Tuesdays and Fridays, it was filled. Fans, dances afterwards, and the whole community came out,” Willenborg said. Willenborg played right smack dab in the middle of legendary coach Irv Leifer’s tenure at Renton. Leifer coached for 30 years at Renton and the Redhawks won every state title in school history during his reign.
Leifer impacted countless lives, and Willenborg still remembers him to this day.
Willenborg and Powell remain in contact, and there might not be many more connected people to Renton basketball than the two of them. Powell wants to make an effort to connect alumni back home, something that has been missing.
“A lot of previous alumni don’t necessarily identify with the current community of Renton just because things have changed. But I don’t think there has been a lot done to bridge the gap to make that happen. So I think it was cool we had a unique opportunity to bridge that gap,” Powell said.
Willenborg, his teammates and classmates were taken on a tour around the school, introduced to the team and even showed the current Redhawks their yearbooks in the library from those two championship years. The photos inside gave insight to a different era of not only Renton, but basketball as well.
Nearly four generations separated the current players and the class of ‘67. But the discussions between the players transcended that generational gap.
“Hearing them tell stories about the Renton loop and after they played the game they go to the cafeteria and there is a dance. Then they’ll cruise the loop. All those kinds of things were cool to hear, it was like a time capsule,” Powell said.
Renton had 3,300 students and Willenborg said his senior class had 700. Renton currently has around 1,100 students in their entire school. But at that time, Hazen was yet to open (1968), and Lindbergh (1972) undoubtedly took students from Renton.
Next year Powell plans on honoring Leifer and the legacy he left at Renton with his son, Irv Leifer Jr.
“I’m glad we got to make that happen for them (the ‘66 and ‘67 teams), and we plan to honor coach Leifer as well. We plan to honor him next year. His son Butch was here tonight. We want to honor him and his family next year,” Powell said.
