EWU timekeeper Steve Spacek dies

The Associated Press

CHENEY, Wash. – Steve Spacek, who was the timekeeper at Eastern Washington University basketball games for nearly three decades, has died after a long battle with prostate cancer.

Spacek died Sunday at the age of 77.

Spacek, an education professor at EWU, was the timer at about 600 men's and women's basketball games, dating back to the 1979-80 season. His wife, Jan, operated the scoreboard by his side since 1989.

Both also served two decades as timers at EWU track meets. Steve was a charter member of the Eagle Athletic Association and was on the selection committee for the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame.

He spent more than 40 years as a professor in the Eastern education department after coming to Cheney in 1958, including nearly 10 years as director of student-teachers.

Spacek was born in 1928 and raised in Tekoa. He graduated from Eastern in 1950, served in the Korean War and received his masters degree from Northern Colorado (1963) and his doctorate from the University of Idaho (1976). His first teaching job was in Ephrata, and then he spent three years at Coulee City.

He retired in 1997, but continued to help EWU supervise student-teachers until March 2005.

E-mail article Print view