Husky Legend: Junior Coffey
October 31, 2015 | Football
By Shon Purdy
For plenty of Husky fans attending Saturday's game, it's hard to picture what football was like back in the 1960's. Heck, some of us, including myself, weren't even born yet. With spread offenses and quarterbacks throwing for over 400 yards a game these days, smash-mouth football has become a thing in the past. But every once and while it is nice to remember such a time when defenses won championships and running for 500 yards in a season was a feat. For former Husky running back Junior Coffey, those were the days in which he thrived.
Coffey spent his childhood in Dimmitt, Texas, a small town located in the Panhandle. Growing up Coffey never played organized sports, but when he came to Dimmitt High School things quickly changed. Understandably, Coffey's experience level was a little behind his fellow teammates. He never truly knew his ability to play football, but he continued to put his faith in his coaches.
“My coaches in high school kept telling me that 'You are going to learn. You are a couple years behind in football, but you have the ability, just keep working at it,'” said Coffey. “And that was my big effort; to listen to the coaches and try to make myself a better player.”
The college recruiting process back in the 1960's was very different than it is now because not every school was integrated. At that time the Southwest Conference, which included all the majors schools in Texas, was one of the biggest conferences is the nation and it was where Coffey wanted to play.
“At that time when you are talking about recruiting out of high school, there were only some schools that had African Americans,” said Coffey. “You have to remember that the Southwest Conference, where I thought I would go and my coach in Dimmitt told me I would be able to go, wasn't integrated at that time. So I had to choose a school out of the area.”
Only a few conferences were integrated back then, including the Pac-8 that was home to the University of Washington. But making the leap to Seattle, Washington was a big change for a small town boy from Texas.
“You have to remember even after getting out of high school and going to a school like the University of Washington, was a huge move for me.” Coffey explained. “Being in a small town where the population was very small, then coming to a large city. I dedicated myself to try to do the best I could with my ability.”
Coffey's ability proved to be more than he had ever imagined. While at Washington, Coffey led the team in rushing and total yards in both 1962 (581 yards) and 1964 (638 yards). He finished his career at the UW after achieving many accolades that included three All-Coast selections, two All-Pacific-Coast Conference team selections, and multiple honorable mention All-American selections. Though these achievements did not come easy.
“I was never exposed to football as it was at the University of Washington,” remembered Coffey. “It was a regiment. The coach had us in condition, the best condition we could have possibly been in.”
Coffey played under future College Football Hall of Fame head coach Jim Owens, who was unlike any of the coaches he had in the past at Dimmitt High.
“The one thing he believed in was conditioning.” Coffey noted. “He convinced the players that when it came to the fourth quarter, we were going to be in a competition with most teams that probably had two or three better athletes, but we would wear them down.”
They were pushed to their limits. If one thing was for certain, they were not going to let the other teams beat them physically.
“In the conference, I don't think the other schools were trained like the way we were,” said Coffey. “This was the idea by our coach. Being confident that we would be able to come back, kept us in the game at times.”
Coffey was part of the Washington football team that made it to the 1964 Rose Bowl game. The 1963 season proved to be an up-and-down year for Coffey. After missing nearly half the season with a broken bone in his foot, he finally became healthy in the weeks before the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, Coffey re-aggravated the same foot injury during practice and in the bowl game. He was forced to miss the second half of the game because the pain was just too much to handle.
“You always want to know the question 'why did this happen at this time?' because I thought we would have had a good team that year,” said Coffey.
Coffey played with many future Husky Hall-of-Famers, including quarterback Bill Douglas, linebacker Rick Redman, congressman Norm Dicks, and Dave Williams.
“Playing with those guys made you realize that you have to sacrifice and give whatever you had in order to be successful,” said Coffey. “You can't always be the best player on the team. You have to be able to reach down and play a lot harder or play a little bit better than the God-given talent that you have.”
After his time at the UW, Coffey continued his football career into the NFL. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1965, which was the year that they won the World Championship. He ended up being one of only two rookies that made the team that year. Coffey played in the NFL for seven seasons with the Packers, Atlanta Falcons, and New York Football Giants.
After he retired from football Coffey took what he learned and loved, and brought it to the horse training business.
“After I retired I decided to take up the training aspect of it because I had trained my body to be in the best condition I thought I could get in so I thought maybe I can bring that to the thoroughbred industry,” said Coffey.
Coffey has been training horses for over 30 years now, but times are changing. He has had a wonderful career and left his stamp on many walks of life, but most certainly the University of Washington. Coffey is honored today for the mark he made on Husky football. It is a chance for us to reflect on his historic career. He was a truly a 'legend' who played a brand of football that is becoming more and more a distant memory.
