Former Washington basketball coach Tippy Dye passed away Wednesday at the ripe old age of 97. Dye coached the Huskies to their only Final Four appearance in 1952 with a team led by UW legend Bob Houbregs.
Dye's ultimate goal was to be an athletic director rather than a basketball coach. He was blocked by Jim Owens at Washington in that pursuit. He moved on to Wichita State as a first time AD in 1959.
Dye moved on to Nebraska in 1962 and hired Bob Devaney as the head football coach. Dye and Devaney built the Cornhusker football program into a national power. He also hired Joe Cipriano who was one of his former players at UW as basketball coach.
He moved on to Northwestern in 1966 at the age of 51 for an estimated salary of $20-$25,000 per year. He stayed on with the Wildcats until 1974 when he retired at the ripe old age of 59.
"He was gentle and kind," Penny Carnegie (Dye's daughter) said. "He loved people. He really taught me what living was and he taught me about dying. He and my mother really gave me my faith. They were people who gave self-esteem to other people."