Skip to content

Seattle’s Most Influential People 2018: UW Football Head Coach, Chris Petersen

The best coaching Chris Petersen does for his University of Washington Huskies occurs off the field

By John Levesque October 16, 2018

UWFB1819_SeattleMagazine-091918-5-of-7

This article originally appeared in the November 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.

This article appears in print in the November 2018 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe.

Chris Petersen knows football. But the best coaching he does for his University of Washington Huskies may occur off the field. Long before #MeToo was a thing, Petersen was inviting real-world speakers to give his players hard advice on what constitutes sexual assault and what its repercussions are. Each season, other speakers deal with myriad topics, ideally turning Petersen’s student-athletes into responsible adults. “At the end of the day,” Petersen explains, “we just need to be good people and do the right thing.”

 

Follow Us

The Explorer: Tessa Hulls

The Explorer: Tessa Hulls

Her graphic novel won a prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

People who know Tessa Hulls won’t be surprised by her initial reaction to learning she’d won a Pulitzer Prize for her first book, the graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts (Macmillan, 2024). “I think I was in shock for a couple of months,” Hulls says. “I went into the backcountry for as long as I needed until…

The Jazz Man: Thomas Marriott

The Jazz Man: Thomas Marriott

The musician inspiring the next generation of jazz aficionados.

When Thomas Marriott was 15 years old and a student at Garfield High School, he would sneak into the now-defunct New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Pioneer Square to catch a glimpse of some of the local jazz legends. Over 40 years later, Marriott, a longtime trumpeter and composer, is reinvigorating the scene with Seattle Jazz…

The Connector: Kiesha B. Free

The Connector: Kiesha B. Free

A former tech star using her skills—and her voice—to connect the region’s Black community.

In 2021, Kiesha B. Free was at a crossroads in her life. She had left her job at Microsoft to pursue public speaking and was finding her way as a mother after a divorce—all while navigating a world emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was nowhere near my family,” says Free, who grew up in…

The Helping Hand: Nikki Gane

The Helping Hand: Nikki Gane

The nonprofit leader using her life experiences to help other women.

Nikki Gane wasn’t trying to start a nonprofit that winter day in 2011. She was just trying to buy a pair of shoes. But when she saw a woman standing alone outside the store, she recognized someone in need—and she knew just how to help. Gane went into a drugstore, bought some essentials, and handed…