Tumwater High School football coach Sid Otton hugs his son, Tim, and grandson, Cade, as the final seconds of the Thunderbirds’ state-quarterfinal loss to Archbishop Murphy on Nov. 19 at Tumwater District Stadium. Otton retired that day after 49 years of coaching with the most wins in Washington state high school football history. This weekend he’s going to the Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
Tumwater High School football coach Sid Otton hugs his son, Tim, and grandson, Cade, as the final seconds of the Thunderbirds’ state-quarterfinal loss to Archbishop Murphy on Nov. 19 at Tumwater District Stadium. Otton retired that day after 49 years of coaching with the most wins in Washington state high school football history. This weekend he’s going to the Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Tony Overman toverman@theolympian.com
Tumwater High School football coach Sid Otton hugs his son, Tim, and grandson, Cade, as the final seconds of the Thunderbirds’ state-quarterfinal loss to Archbishop Murphy on Nov. 19 at Tumwater District Stadium. Otton retired that day after 49 years of coaching with the most wins in Washington state high school football history. This weekend he’s going to the Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Tony Overman toverman@theolympian.com
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Tumwater High legend Sid Otton will join seven Seahawks at Pro Bowl this weekend

By Gregg Bell

gbell@thenewstribune.com

January 23, 2017 05:04 PM

Tumwater High School football legend Sid Otton will be among the world’s best football players and coaches this weekend.

As he should be.

The Seahawks announced on Monday the retired Tumwater High coach will join players Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Bobby Wagner, Doug Baldwin, Jimmy Graham and K.J. Wright at the NFL’s Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida, this weekend.

Punt, pass and kick national-championship participants Casey Canonica from Tacoma and Brynna Nixon from Bonney Lake will be there, too.

Otton retired in November at the end of his 43rd season coaching Tumwater, where he began as a head man when President Gerald Ford was steering our nation out of Watergate. Otton is the most successful high school football coach in Washington state history, with a career record of 394 wins, 131 losses and six state championships.

He is the Seahawks’ 2016 nominee for the Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year Award. Otton is the 2016 High School Coach of the Year for Washington.

The Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year Award honors an exemplary football coach at the high school level who displays the integrity, achievement, and leadership demonstrated by the former Miami Dolphins coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer. This weekend will be the first time in Pro Bowl history all Shula Award nominees will be honored and participate in Pro Bowl week events. The winner of the national award will be announced during the Pro Bowl Sunday in Orlando (ESPN television, 5 p.m.).

Otton was a head coach in Washington for 49 years in all, starting in Coupeville then Colfax. He began leading Tumwater in 1974.

Five of his state titles came at Tumwater. His most recent one was in 2010. In 43 years leading the T-Birds, Otton went 361-112 with 27 appearances in the state playoffs.

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About the Seahawks Insider Blog

@gbellseattle

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.