SEATTLE – He has his bachelor's degree in physical education from Seattle Pacific. And his master's in athletic administration, also from SPU.
If there was such a thing as a PhD in basketball coaching …
… Ken Bone figures he probably earned one of those, too.
Furthermore, his studies in hoop-ology went way beyond X's and O's.
"At other places, we had a manager and grad assistants working on the scout with me and helping me figure out things with recruiting and where to go and on what day," Bone recalled. "At SPU, it was strap 'em up every day and figure it out for yourself. When it came time for a game, you would get the vans and fill them up with gas and pick up the team … and then sweep the floor.
"It was endless. But SPU prepared me in a lot of ways," he added. "You get to do it all."
In four years as an assistant coach followed by 12 years as head coach of the Falcons, Bone did do it all. And the many things that might have gone unnoticed behind the scenes ultimately added up to plenty of notice in the standings:
· More than 250 victories and a .723 winning percentage (253-97). That included seven seasons of 20-plus victories.
· Outright conference championships twice, plus four co-championships.
· A total of eight trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament, including the program's first-ever Final Four appearance in 2000.
On Saturday, Feb. 7, Bone will add another accomplishment to his already-impressive list when he is inducted into the SPU Falcon Athletics Hall of Fame. The ceremony in the on-campus Bach Theatre begins at 10:00 a.m.
It is the leadoff event of a day-long schedule that also includes a basketball doubleheader (women vs. Saint Martin's at 2:00 p.m.; men vs. Western Washington at 4:15).
Bone – the first Seattle Pacific player and alum to serve as head men's basketball coach – is one of seven members in this year's induction class.
"It's a real honor. I spent a lot of time there as a little kid," said Bone, now 67 and living in Mukilteo, about 35 miles north of Seattle. "When my dad was teaching and coaching at Queen Anne High School, he used to drag me and my brother (Len) to basketball games and practices. Then my brother and I ended up going to school there. SPU is a special place (for me) to be recognized."
MORE WINS … AND MORE FANS, TOO
After serving four years as an assistant coach under Claude Terry, Bone took the reins ahead of the 1990-91 season. His first team went 17-10 overall and tied with Alaska Anchorage for the championship of the Great Northwest Conference (not related to the present-day Great Northwest Athletic Conference). Those wins included one on the road against No. 2-ranked Tampa and one against Anchorage in the conference opener.
"At the time, that was a huge upset," Bone remembered. "Anchorage was really dominant in the mid to late 1980s. They were really good, and we knocked them off in the first (league) game of the year."
Things just got better from there. Bone's next two teams topped 20 wins. Finally, in 1994, he and the Falcons made it to the NCAAs – starting a stretch of eight berths in nine seasons.
And people were paying attention.
"There were a few games when we had really good crowds," Bone said. "When we hosted the West Region championship game against Central Washington (in 2000), that place was packed 30 to 45 minutes before it started – it was a tough ticket. The local media jumped all over it. That place was hopping. (The Falcons won
, 85-72).
Scores and stats and NCAA tournaments weren't the only part of his SPU tenure.
For Bone, who called the shots through the 2001-02 season before moving on to Washington (assistant coach), Portland State and Washington State (head coach), Montana (associate head coach), Gonzaga (special assistant), and Pepperdine (associate head coach), the people part was just as important.
"I felt so fortunate to have (assistant coach and future SPU head coach) Jeff Hironaka by my side and to continue to have day-to-day discussions about the program and what direction we were going and what was needed was extremely valuable," Bone said. "I thought we continued year in and year out to piece together a good, balanced team that fit what we were trying to from an X's and O's standpoint, With Coach Hiro, more often than not, we were able to identify the right guys who would be a good fit for SPU, not only on the court, but in the classroom, too."
Bone always figured his life would revolve around sports. But initially, he thought he would be writing about them or talking about them on the radio as a journalist.
Then, while he was a student at SPU, he got better acquainted with Claude Terry, "and I thought it would be cool to go into coaching." Subsequent class-project interviews with legendary Washington coach Marv Harshman and SPU's own legendary Les Habegger further served to solidify that particular ambition.
"The more and more I got into it, the more I was thinking that coaching might be a good route," Bone said.
Turned out to be a very good route. Now, Bone will be the seventh Hall of Fame member for men's basketball.
"Ken Bone not only elevated the program to national prominence but set a standard of excellence that still inspires us today," current Falcons head coach
Keffrey Fazio said. "As the first alum to lead this team, his legacy reminds our players what it means to be a Falcon—hard work, integrity, and competing at the highest level. We're proud to celebrate him in the Hall of Fame."
The 2026 SPU Athletics Hall of Fame Class will be inducted on February 7, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. inside E.E. Bach Theatre. This event is free to attend. The 2026 SPU Athletics Hall of Fame Class will be honored at halftime of both the men's and women's basketball games inside Royal Brougham Pavilion at 2:00 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., later that day.
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