Chuck Bechtol, Former Quarterback For Huskies, Paccar Executive
If you're a longtime Seattle resident who knows anything about Husky football, you've heard of Charles "Chuck" Bechtol, a starting quarterback at the University of Washington in the late '30s.
Mr. Bechtol was not only known for his prowess on the football field but also as a fixture on local golf courses and as a labor negotiator. He died July 5 at Providence Hospital in Everett.
When Mr. Bechtol was told a year ago that he had pancreatic cancer and only two months to live, the 73-year-old started making a list of things he had to do.
Topping the list was getting in six months more of golf, and seeing the Huskies in the Rose Bowl. He accomplished both.
"He always had goals to keep him looking toward the future," said Gretchen Bechtol, his wife of 51 years.
The two met at the UW in the late 1930s. She said she fell in love with him because of his honesty and integrity.
"He was true blue, you could always depend on him," she said.
Although he also earned letters in baseball and basketball, Mr. Bechtol focused on football and track, while earning a business degree. He was the Huskies' top shot-putter for three seasons and captained the football team in 1939.
After graduating in 1940, Mr. Bechtol married in 1941 and joined the Marines in 1942. During World War II, Mr. Bechtol was shot in the leg while fighting in the Battle of Saipan. He received the Purple Heart.
Mr. Bechtol credited his football experience with helping him during the war and in his life.
"(Football) helps anybody, anywhere in the ability to put out when you have to," Mr. Bechtol, then 28, told The Seattle Times in 1944.
His oldest daughter, Chris Gabelein, 46, said her father was her hero.
She said she loved being known as Chuck Bechtol's daughter.
"I would always go into places and people would say, `Bechtol. I know Chuck Bechtol.' They knew him as a Husky quarterback or for his golf or for his work at PACCAR," Gabelein, said.
After the war, Mr. Bechtol was hired by the UW as assistant athletic director. In 1953, he was hired by PACCAR Inc, as personnel director of the Kenworth Motor Truck Corp.
He was eventually named vice president of industrial relations and was involved in hiring and labor negotiations.
"Chuck Bechtol was admired by business and union leaders alike as a tough no-nonsense labor negotiator; with his fair and straight-forward style he developed good friends on both sides of the negotiating table," said David Hovind, president of PACCAR Inc.
"In the 23 years at PACCAR, Chuck showed a superior ability in recruiting, a talent he also shared with the University of Washington in bringing outstanding players into their football program," Hovind said.
After retiring in 1976, Mr. Bechtol divided his time between fishing at his beach house on Whidbey Island and playing golf at his home in Palm Desert, Calif.
Mr. Bechtol is survived by wife and two daughters, Chris Gabelein and Ann Green of Whidbey Island; brother Robert Bechtol of Sequim, Clallam County,, stepsister, Jane Argo of Mill Creek, and six grandchildren.
Memorial Mass will be 11 a.m. Monday at St. Joseph's Church, 732 18th Ave. E., Seattle. Donations are suggested to Memorial Endowment Fund, John Flynn Cancer Center, c/o Providence Foundation, Providence Hospital, Everett.