Seattle Pacific names Cliff McCrath, 32, as head coach and dean of students, effective July 1. McCrath comes from Spring Arbor in Michigan, where he guided the Cougars to the NAIA semifinals in his third season. He previously coached at Gordon (Mass.) and Wheaton (Ill.), was an All-America player at the latter.

Seattle's Bernadette Noonan, an Irish-born Capitol Hill resident, and Issaquah's Maj Surowiecki, a Swedish native living in Issaquah, are among 90 national finalists as "ambassadors of soccer" - foreign-born contributors to the game's development in the United States. Noonan has played and worked for the of the Washington State Women's Soccer Association at every administrative level, including president, during the association's expansion to the present 155 teams, making the nation's largest. In addition to playing for four teams, Surowiecki is also commissioner and treasurer of the WSWSA.

Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann narrowly escapes being hit by a missile at Turf Moor during a 5-2 win over Burnley. Hahnemann pulls off a string of fine saves in the first of five straight Championship wins for the Royals. Burnley face a heavy fine or a points deduction after referee Roy Pearson confirmed he had reported the incident. Hahnemann's first season with Reading ends in a playoff promotion loss to Wolves.

Mark Peterson scores the winner with just 1:40 remaining as the U.S. National Team opens the next stage of World Cup qualifying by beating Trinidad & Tobago, 2-1, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Peterson, out of contract with the Tacoma Stars and out of the national team for 20 months, gets the close-range winner on a feed from Erhardt Capp. Peterson's youth teammate from Tacoma's Norpoint Royals, Jeff Durgan, also starts. Neither plays when the U.S. is eliminated May 31 by Costa Rica.

After being held to a lone Larry Petersen goal in Week 7, Norselander Vikings run rampant on the attack in their final two games of the state league's first half. The Vikings tied Buchan, 5-5, the following week and now clinch the title by smashing Norden Club, 7-2. They go 8-0-1 to finish three points clear of the Bakers. Norselander wins five trophies plus the Five-a-Side prize for 1956.

Booth Gardner, founder and coach of the Tacoma Cozars and past owner of NASL and ASL franchises, is elected the 19th Governor of Washington. Gardner, 48, defeats incumbent John Spellman by 56 percent. It is the most expensive race in state history, with a combined $4 million spent by the two candidates. Gardner, a moderate Democrat who previously served as Pierce County Executive, does so despite Ronald Reagan winning the U.S. Presidency in an Electoral College rout (525-13). He founded the Cozars as a girls' youth team in 1974, and it is now a national power at the senior level. Gardner first owned the ASL Tacoma Tides before becoming part of the NASL Colorado Caribous ownership.