Former Enumclaw High basketball coach Bill Hawk, who led the Hornets to nine state tournaments, is slated for induction into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.

The ceremony takes place the evening of July 24 at the Tacoma Elks Club.

While many coaches were hoop stars during their high school years, that was not the case for Hawk, a graduate of Clover Park High School. The only varsity sport he played for the Warriors was football, which he continued to play at Western Washington University. But Hawk knew he loved sports and wanted to get involved in the coaching end, so he became a serious student of both football and basketball and started his coaching career during his first year of teaching.

Forty-three years later, he’s still at it.

During his first 17 years, Hawk was either the freshman or voluntary varsity assistant basketball coach as well as the defensive coordinator for the football team at Enumclaw High. Then, after Hall of Fame basketball coach Gary Radliff retired, Hawk took over the Hornet reins and had a hugely successful 15-year run. During that time, his teams amassed eight championships and nine state appearances with five placings. He earned seven league coaching honors and, along the way, compiled a 276-95 record.

Career highlights include third-place state finishes in both 1990 and 2002.

In 2002, Hawk and his wife of 32 years, Mindy, and sons Jeff and Kevin moved to the Vancouver, Wash., area where Hawk coached the Battle Ground Tigers for four years before he lost his retire-rehire job to a series of levy failures. He then returned to the Plateau for a two-year stint at White River High.

Opportunity knocked once again with a chance to start a program from the ground up at the Muckleshoot Tribal School. Hawk and athletic director Tim Tubbs relished the challenge of making the Kings a competitive program that would be a source of pride to the community. All four of his teams have at least made it to the district playoffs and two of the teams played in the state tournament, which culminated in a sixth-place finish for the 2012 team.