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closeClifton nabs induction into the WIBCA Hall of Fame
Puyallup coaching legend adds another top notch honor to his beefy resume
Shaun Scott
A pillar of the Puyallup basketball landscape recently was honored for his host of successes on the hardwood.
Former Puyallup High School boys basketball head coach Jim Clifton was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on July 24 at the Tacoma Elks Club.
Clifton won more games than any other coach in the history of Puyallup boys’ basketball compiling 271 wins (290-206 career record) during a 19-year career from 1978 to 1997. Clifton had 15 winning seasons during his tenure and saw his team advance to the state tournament eight times as well. Clifton’s recent inducted in the WIBCA Hall of Fame wasn’t the first time he’s garnered a troupe of accolades. Clifton was inducted into the Central Washington University Hall of Fame as a player in 1993 and also was inducted into the Pierce County Athletic Hall of Fame in June. Clifton is a 1960 alumnus of Puyallup High School.
“I feel so fortunate to be inducted into (WIBCA) Hall of Fame,” Clifton said. “The other two Hall of Fames I was inducted to were primarily for my high school and college playing days. This one (WIBCA) was for my coaching career. I think this is my favorite of the three because it was the profession I chose to go into.”
After arriving on the coaching scene in Puyallup in the 1970s, Clifton never left his post in Puyallup before hanging up his coaching whistle in 1997.
“People don’t usually stay in one place but I love Puyallup,” Clifton said. “I grew up in Puyallup and always felt like I owed it to everyone to stay here. I really felt like I belonged here.”
Cascade Christian Cougars boys basketball head coach Jerry Williams was a former player who learned the finer aspects of the basketball under the guidance of Clifton in 1979 and 1980.
“Jim coached me my junior and senior year. He was a great X’s and O’s guy,” Williams said. “When he coached, he had a great demeanor on the court at all times. He never got too excited or too upset too easily and was a great example for me during my coaching career. I’m glad and very thankful I got the opportunity to play for him.”
Williams isn’t the only local resident with an assortment of fond Clifton memories.
Rogers legendary boys basketball head coach Rod Iverson, who retired from coaching at the end of the 2007-08 season after 43 years of service in the Puyallup region, nominated Clifton for the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in February of 2007. Ironically enough, Iverson coached against Clifton from 1988 to 1997 during a multitude of heated battles between Puyallup and Rogers for city bragging rights. Prior to Iverson taking the head coaching gig at Rogers in 1988, Iverson was Clifton’s head assistant coach at Puyallup High School from 1978 to 1988.
“My years served as Jim’s assistant coach helped mold my own coaching philosophy in many different ways. Jim was very much a “players coach” and an important legacy which he left with me is to place more trust in my players to execute fundamentals, and rely on myself less, particularly in pressure situations,” Iverson said. “John Wooden (former UCLA coach) said that the most common mistake by basketball coaches is that they tend to over coach in game situations instead of preparing players in practice, then showing confidence in them during competition to do the right thing. Jim’s players always played with great confidence because of this principle and many of his career 290 wins could be directly attributed to player execution in pressure situations.”
Iverson said Jim Clifton coached-teams always played with more confidence than most basketball programs they competed against.
“His players openly expressed the joy of competition and playing basketball, instead of the grim uptight demeanor displayed by many teams,” Iverson said. “The principle was, I believe, a tribute to his positive reinforcement and motivation philosophy-which also became a model for me to practice with my own players.”
Clifton’s high school coach Dean Nicholson, who ironically enough had the most wins as a coach at Puyallup High School with 192 wins from 1950 to 1964 before Clifton broke the mark in 1991, said Clifton had the physical tools to go along with the cerebral approach needed in order to succeed as a player and a coach.
“Jim was a smart player who understood the game,” Nicholson said. “He’s a people person and I think that was one of his keys to success as a coach. I think the world of Jim and not only as a player and a coach, he’s a great friend and a good family man.”