William Johnson Sewell (April 11, 1916 – February 7, 1989) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. Sewell was born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and moved with his family to

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, in 1925. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Washington State Cougars football The Washington State Cougars football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Washington State University, located in Pullman, Washington. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the FBS and is a member of the Pac- ...

team. During the 1940 season, he led the country in passing with 86 complete passes for 1,023 yards. He also set a Washington State career record with 2,522 yards of total offense from 1939 to 1941. He was selected by both the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

as the third-team quarterback on the

1941 College Football All-America Team The 1941 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1941. The nine selectors recognized by the N ...

. Sewell was also a pitcher for the Washington State baseball team. Sewell became Washington State's baseball coach in 1947 and an assistant football coach in 1948. In 1949, he became the athletic director and athletic coach at

Wenatchee Valley College Wenatchee Valley College (WVC) is a public community college in Wenatchee, Washington. The college provides students with adult education classes, certifications, associate degrees, and four bachelor's degrees. WVC's primary service district is ...

, From 1956 to 1976, he was the athletic director and coach at Coast Union High School in

Cambria, California Cambria () is a seaside village in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles along California State Route 1 (Highway 1). The name Cambria, chosen in 1869, is the Latin name for Wales. Cambria ...

. He was inducted into the Washington State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Bill 1916 births 1989 deaths American football quarterbacks English players of American football Second Air Force Superbombers football players Washington State Cougars baseball coaches Washington State Cougars baseball players Washington State Cougars football coaches Washington State Cougars football players Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Junior college football coaches in the United States Players of American football from Tacoma, Washington Baseball players from Tacoma, Washington People from Egremont, Cumbria Sportspeople from Cumbria English emigrants to the United States