EWU: Fact A Day

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Beginning Monday, Aug. 1st there will be one fact posted in this thread each day. We may run these in the future on a monthly basis as they were done in the past. This was a great idea started by a former owner, Ralph Wallace, and I also believe it was managed by our friend 89hen for a time as well.

I always enjoyed getting the little facts in these threads and any future ones will be done as this one has been done. This was a "roots up" effort with these facts being compiled and conveyed to yours truly by two of our upstanding EWU members.

On that note a big "thank you" to:

kalm
&
Screamin_Eagle174

Their efforts in putting this together are greatly appreciated.

A new fact will go up each day and you can click the EWU Banner at the top to easily reach this thread.

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The former mascot of the school was the "Savages", which was dropped in 1974 when the student body voted to change to the Eagles.

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Eastern's sports mascot is the Eagle, named "Swoop," and its colors are red and white with an accent color of black.

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Eastern is the only university in the country with a state crime lab and digital state archives building located on its campus. The Washington State Digital Archives building boasts 40,000 cubic feet of storage area for the archives of 640 governmental agencies, some going back to 1883. Eastern is also the only university in the nation that has a research facility in a national wildlife refuge (Turnbull).

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Eastern Washington Football is known for bringing in and developing top-notch QBs. Recent QB greats include Erik Meyer (2002-2005), Matt Nichols (2006-2009), and Bo Levi Mitchell (2010-present).

Erik Meyer:
-2005 Walter Payton Award Winner, 2004 WP Candidate
-Holds current Big Sky record for career passing efficiency 166.47: (42 games, 1,097-721-17,65.7%,10,261 yards, 84 TDs)

Matt Nichols:
-2007 & 2009 WP Candidate
-Holds current Big Sky records for career completions (996), attempts (1608), yards (12,616), TD passes (96-T) and total yards (13,308).

Bo Levi Mitchell:
-2011 WP Candidate
-Led EWU to first ever National Championship
-2010 National Championship Game MVP

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Eastern Washington University began fielding a football team in 1901, when the school was known at the time as the State Normal School and the team mascot was the Savages, and went 1-2 during their inaugural season against the likes of Spokane HS (twice) and Lewis-Clark St.

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Eastern competed in the NAIA until 1977, along the way advancing to the NAIA National Football Championship finals in 1967, losing to Fairmont State 28-21. This marked Eastern Washington's first appearance in a national championship game at any level of competition. In 1978, Eastern joined the NCAA participating at the Division II level as an independent. The Eagles stayed at the Division II level until 1983, when the Eagles moved up to Division I-AA (now known as the FCS) as an Independent. Eastern joined the Big Sky conference in 1987 where they currently reside today.

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The winning-est football coach in EWU history is Dick Zornes with 89 wins. All-time, he had a winning percentage of .57. Of his 16 seasons as head coach, Zornes had a winning record in 9 of them, with one season at 5-5. EWU has a 476-391-23 record all-time.

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In the last 10 years, 4 former EWU players have been drafted by the NFL, and 12 players have earned spots on professional football rosters (NFL, UFL, CFL, AFL).

NFL Draftees
2002: WR Lamont Brightful (6-23, 195) - Baltimore Ravens
2003: TE Dan Curley (5-13, 148) - St. Louis Rams
2005: LT Michael Roos (2-10, 42) - Tennessee Titans
2011: RB Taiwan Jones (4-28, 125) - Oakland Raiders

Pro Players
CB Isaiah Trufant - Philadelphia Eagles (NFL)
LT Michael Roos - Tennessee Titans (NFL)
TE Nathan Overbay - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL)
RB Taiwan Jones - Oakland Raiders (NFL)
QB Matt Nichols - Edmonton Eskimos (CFL)
DE Greg Peach - Edmonton Eskimos (CFL)
LB J.C. Sherritt - Edmonton Eskimos (CFL)
DB Ryan Phillips - B.C. Lions (CFL)
DT Dario Romero - Saskatchewan Roughriders (CFL)
DT Keith Grennan - Harford Colonials (UFL)
QB Erik Meyer - Spokane Shock (AFL)
WR Raul Vijil - Spokane Shock (AFL)

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LT Michael Roos was the highest ever draft pick for Eastern, going 42nd overall to the Tennessee Titans in the 2005 draft. Since then he has started every game for the Titans, including preseason and playoffs. In 2008, Roos was elected to the Pro Bowl and was first team All Pro. Roos earned All Pro honors again in 2009.

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EWU has had two Buck Buchanan winners in DE Greg Peach (2008), and LB J.C. Sherritt (2010), as well as a Walter Payton winner in QB Erik Meyer (2005).

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Consumers Digest ranked Eastern as a national Top 50 Best Value, and Newsweek magazine named EWU a "Best Value for the Tuition Dollar."

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Eastern Washington University resides in Cheney, WA, named after Benjamin P. Cheney, a former director of the Northern Pacific Railroad who funded a school there in 1882 with a $10,000 grant. That school, the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy, evolved into the Cheney Normal School (1889), Eastern Washington College of Education (1937), Eastern Washington State College (1961), and finally Eastern Washington University (1977).

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During the 2010 championship season, the Eagle Football team set school records in games won in a season (13), and total offense (5956 yds).

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Notable EWU alumni include:
-Todd McFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic book series and current co-owner of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers.
-Michael Roos, starting All-Pro offensive tackle for the NFL's Tennessee Titans.
-Rodney Stuckey, NBA player for the Detroit Pistons
-Lee Watkinson, professional poker player (As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,100,000. His 16 cashes at the WSOP account for $2,306,264 of those winnings.)
-Colin Cowherd, current host of The Herd with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio and SportsNation on ESPN2.

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EWU is a perfect 8-0 on their new red FieldTurf dubbed the Inferno. The Eagles will only have 4 opportunities to defend it during the regular season, playing 7 on the road.

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EWU returns 15 starters from the 2010 team, including 6 2011 Preseason All-Americans.

QB Bo Levi Mitchell (3496yds, 59%, 37TDs/15INTs) - Lindy's AA 2nd Team
WR Brandon Kaufman (76-1214YDs-15TDs) - Athlon AA, TSN AA 2nd Team
SS Matt Johnson (105TT-3TFL-5INTs-8PBUs-2FF) - Athlon AA, TSN AA 1st Team
DT Renard Williams (54TT-16TFL-6.5SACKS-2FR-4FF) - Athlon AA, TSN AA 2nd Team
C Chris Powers (6-2, 300lbs - Sr.) - Athlon AA, Lindy's AA 1st Team, TSN AA 1st Team
LB Zach Johnson (134 TT-18TFL-3.5SACKS-2FR-1FF-2INT-5PBUs) - TSN AA 3rd Team

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To kick off the 2011 Season on September 3rd, EWU will play instate big brother University of Washington for the first time. It will also be the first time UW has played a team from the FCS.

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Head Coach Beau Baldwin will begin his 4th year at the helm in 2011. Baldwin was the quarterbacks coach at EWU from 2002-2006. In 2007, Baldwin was hired for his first Head Coaching job at his alma mater, Central Washington where he went 10-3 including a trip to the D-II playoffs before losing in the quarterfinals. Since he was hired to be Eastern's Head Coach in 2007, Baldwin has compiled a 27-11 record overall and 18-6 record in the BSC, with 3 straight winning seasons and a National Championship.

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The most points EWU has scored in a game is 114 against Spokane University in 1914, and the most points allowed in a game by EWU was 84 by Houston in 1990.

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Twenty thousand teachers nationwide are graduates of Eastern's College of Education. A restored, authentic one-room schoolhouse located on campus symbolizes Eastern's tradition of teacher preparation.

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EWU first qualified for the I-AA playoffs as an independent in 1985, beating Idaho in the first round 42-38, before falling to UNI 17-14 in the quarterfinals.

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EWU has won national championships in Wrestling (1977-NAIA), Men's Cross Country (1982-D-II), and Football (2010-FCS).

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Eastern participates in NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference Athletics with six men's and eight women's intercollegiate teams.

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Five brigadier generals in the U.S. military graduated from Eastern - including Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, who negotiated the release of American naval aviators held captive in China in 2001.

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Eastern is one of just seven schools in the U.S. selected to join the 1+2+1 Sino-American Program, bringing Chinese students to Cheney to further their education.

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In addition to Cheney and the Riverpoint Campus in Spokane, Eastern offers degree programs statewide in Bellevue, Everett, Kent, Seattle, Shoreline, Mount Vernon, Tacoma, Vancouver and Yakima. A master's in social work is offered in Everett, Vancouver, and Yakima.

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Eastern offers more than 100 fields of study, 10 master's degrees, seven graduate certificates, 55 graduate programs and an applied doctoral program of physical therapy.

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11,302 students are enrolled at EWU, of whom 57% are female/43% male, 22% are ethnically diverse, and 2% are international students. There is a 21:1 student to faculty ratio.

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Eastern is a public regional, comprehensive university. With its first graduating class of physical therapy doctorate students in 2005, Eastern remains the only regional to offer the DPT in the state of Washington.

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All-time, EWU has had 8 playoff appearances (1985, 1992, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010) and holds a 9-7 record, with 3 of those wins against seeded/higher seeded teams.

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Eastern's original six buildings are classified as a National Historic District.

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That is the final "Fact A Day" for EWU.

Congrats on achieving the National Championship for 2010. Even with the best of teams it takes some good fortune along the way. So much has to work out just right along the way to have these kinds of things become a reality. EWU climbed that mountain and planted their flag there forever.

Good luck in 2011...it's gonna be tough out there.:)