Warrior Fans, on Friday, October 8th, at Reed Field, please join us for the recognition of the first WHS football team to make it to the state playoffs and help us honor the legacy of Bill Reed. Coach Reed became the head coach of the Warriors in 1974, after a two-year hiatus from being an assistant coach due to suffering a heart attack. In 1974, he led the Warriors to the first state playoff appearance in school history. In the late ’70s, Washington’s football field was respectfully and endearingly named after Coach Reed, who unexpectedly passed away from another heart attack at the young age of 41 years old on December 24, 1975. His motto was, “Don’t coach to win; you coach to learn.” His legacy still lives today as each team, year after year, runs on the field. Bill Reed is responsible for developing the football field that now carries his namesake. The field the Warriors play on was once an uneven, rough, and rocky cotton field that stretched all the way to where the Warrior softball field sits today. Many community members brought their tractors to shape the field; dirt and grass were brought from local farms with the players' hay trucks, that were later used to haul concrete blocks to build the first field house. Coach Reed and his two young sons at the time, Mike and Darwin, plugged the field with sprigs of grass by hand. Reed also had each player line up in one end zone with buckets, and each player was responsible for walking every yard of the field and filling their buckets up with rocks. It has been told that the players were not afraid of the other team tackling them; they were afraid of hitting rocks when tackled, so they did their very best to stay on their feet! This is the team we will recognize Friday night. Coach Reed and his labor of love was the catalyst that helped make Warrior football what it is today. How fitting that the football field was named Reed Field. Thank you, Coach Reed, your legacy will be forever appreciated and remembered. Go, Warriors!