Jack Sonntag Jr., coach of first WIAA football champion from Tacoma, dies at 89

Sonntag guided third-year Foss to 1975 state championship over Richland in Seattle's downtown Memorial Stadium

Jack Sonntag, second from left, coached the first Tacoma city high school program - Foss - to win the WIAA championship in 1975. He recently died at 89. (Scott Sonntag / Courtesy)

His achievement in Tacoma high school football stood as tall as the castle from which he hailed from.

Jack Sonntag Jr., who guided Foss High School as the first city school to win the WIAA football championship, died March 5 at his home in Tacoma. He was 89.

In just its third year of existence, playoff-newcomer Foss got on a roll in the 1975 Class 4A playoffs, defeating Central Kitsap, Federal Way and Sammamish to advance to play Richland in the WIAA championship game.

Behind a stifling defense and a physical run game, the Falcons beat Richland, 17-7, at downtown Memorial Stadium in Seattle.

Foss has only been to the WIAA playoffs one other time in its school history - in 1979, losing to eventual state champion and fellow city brethren Mount Tahoma.

Sonntag also coached at his alma mater - historic Stadium - and later became the Tacoma Public School athletic director.

In 2010, Sonntag was inducted into the Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame.