Football and Family Don is the first to admit he was not the “partying guy” while


growing up in Renton, Wash. While others were pushing the en- velope in some not-so-constructive ways, Don was playing football and keeping his head in the books all throughout high school. After graduating, Don received a football scholarship to the University of Washington, where he played on the Huskies’ 1960 national collegiate football champion team. He also played in two Rose Bowls. “We had to go both ways — offense and defense,” said Don during a din-


ner conversation at the NAPT Summit in Portland this past November. “You had to be tough and you had to be dedicated. You had to have heart to stick with it.” He was even featured in a local paper, an article that included a photo of his family, one


that has seen him through all his triumphs and heartbreak. Mostly recently, the latter was the passing of his wife Sharon, whom he first met while attending Renton High School. Don had received an invitation from a friend to attend a birthday party that coincided with a church dance. It was there that he met Sharon. “Her friend introduced us and we liked to dance, so we danced,” Don fondly


remembered. In re-telling that life-changing evening he recalled every detail, including the make,


model and paint job of his friend’s car that drove Sharon home. In a true gentlemen’s fashion, Don and his two friends sat in the front seat and allowed Sharon to have the backseat all to herself. “I got her phone number and was going to give her a call and never really got around


to it,” recalled Don. Luckily, Sharon took the next step and invited Don to her junior achievement club picnic, and


the rest is a history that Don keeps closest to his heart. Te next chapter in their story came quickly, as the two were married by his freshman year in college, and they welcomed daughters Shari, Kimberlee, and Tamara before Don graduated.


Getting Closer to the School Bus After graduating college, Don was offered a job teach-


ing at his old high school, which he gladly accepted. Te position included teaching biology, physical education and traffic safety education. He also coached football, wrestling and track. Somewhere in between his job and home life, Don ended up with a federally-funded research project from Michigan State University to develop performance- based curriculum and learning activities for beginning drivers. Students were required to attend class as well as put in time behind the wheel, which consisted of three stu- dent drivers and an instructor in one car for one hour. Don decided there was a better way to give each student the most out of the experience. “We set up a driving range with a roadway network


painted on the asphalt,” said Don, explaining that each stu- dent was given a car and a radio so that an instructor could communicate with them while overseeing the group. “You end up with one teacher giving 12 hours of on-the-road teaching all at once.” He soon became the director of the program. But, in or-


der to have all three high schools use the driving range, they needed school bus transportation to and from their respec- tive campuses, and Don was tapped to schedule the buses.


Te Motorcycle Safety Foundation saw what Don had


created and wanted him to develop a learn-to-ride pro- gram that was performance-based as well. But, this wasn’t Don’s first experience with only two wheels. “I rode dirt bikes and did some flat-track racing,” said


Don. “I was busy coaching and teaching and had three daughters and couldn’t afford to move from the novice to the amateur by going out and buying a 650 CC, which was a $10,000 motorcycle back in those days.” Instead, he would compete with a bike that he also rode


in the desert on the weekends, eventually earning enough points to move from novice to amateur, but he never really had time to go pro. “I weighed about 240 pounds and my head could barely fit in my helmet,” laughed Don.


Taking it to the State and Beyond At around 34 years old, Don was recruited into the


Washington Department of Education’s traffic safety and transportation division. After only one year, he was pro- moted to director of transportation because the agency needed someone who could work with the state legislature on the reimbursement system. “It was a big argument. We had a reimbursement system


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