By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
Doug McClary was a physical education teacher and head baseball and assistant football coach at East Bremerton High School for just seven years (1965-72), but in that brief span he touched many life’s in a positive way and over the years his name would keep coming up even though he was no longer teaching but was an FBI agent stationed in Los Angeles.
After his 22-year career with the FBI, McClary retired to Sequim in 1994 where he was extremely active in the community and kept close tabs on his son Shane and five grandkids living in Spokane.
It was his grandson Brendan McClary, a junior reserve middle infielder with Gonzaga, that lured McClary last week to drive to Spokane to watch the Zags sweep BYU in a crucial three-game West Coast Conference series in Spokane that tied them with BYU for the conference title and advanced the 22nd ranked Bulldogs (31-18, 20-7) as the top seed to the conference tournament that starts May 25 at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, Calif.
McClary and his only child, 52-year-old Shane McClary, a detective with the sheriff’s department in Spokane, watched Saturday (May 20) as Brendan, played third base as a late inning defensive replacement and then celebrated on the field with his teammates as the Bulldogs won 6-2 to complete the three-game sweep.
Sunday morning, McClary started driving home, back to Sequim. He didn’t make it.
According to an on-line story, McClary’s 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck left Interstate 90 about eight miles east of George hit a cable barrier and rolled over and came to rest upside down. McClary, 77, died at the scene.
“He probably fell asleep,” said Shane, who talked by phone from Sequim. “He (probably) drifted to the left overcorrected and went back right across two lanes hit the barrier and rolled over.”
Shane has been dealing with the shock of his dad’s death and all the details that encompasses while numerous friends of McClary either called or stopped by the house in Sequim.
“People are pouring out of the woodwork,” Shane said. He was just a good guy. He moved up here (to Sequim) and tried to stay as active as he could.”
McClary provided security for the Hot Air Balloon (Festival), spent a week each year at the Sequim Lighthouse (New Dungeness Lighthouse Keeper program) and was involved with many other local activities, including a classic car club that involved Model T Fords.
He also was very passionate about sports, including Sequim High School football.
“The night of a football game he would park his car at the end of the end zone and eat a pizza with beer while watching the game,” said Shane with a laugh. “He loved this area and he loved his sports.”
Bruce Welling, retired teacher and coach at Central Kitsap, played for McClary at East High and recalls him as, “A very good coach. He was easy to play for. Just a super guy. He knew what he was soing and knew how to coach the skills and coach the ballgame.”
McClary was a quarterback at PLU before coming to Bremerton. Not just an ordinary quarterback, but a very good one.
“He as a tremendous athlete,” says Welling. “He held some passing records at PLU, and maybe still.”
McClary is survived by Shane and five grandchildren – Connor, Casey, Brendan, Lindsey and Jack, a six-foot-three sophomore at Mt. Spokane High School who works out once a week with former Gonzaga basketball player Dan Dickau and is hopeful of playing on the school varsity next season.