Whether it was practicing or competing in a national track meet, the Seattle Pacific University relay quintet of Chuck Byers, Ben Moring, Denton Palmer, Eugene Peterson and Wes Thompson did it together.

So it’s only fitting that the members of the school’s successful relay team from the mid-1950s were inducted together into the Falcon Athletic Hall of Fame in a recent luncheon and ceremony held on the school campus.

The 1953-55 relay team joined shot put and discus standout Lynette Matthews, gymnast Barbara Anne Elliott, basketball star Dave Wortman, and baseball and basketball star E. Dale Parker as the latest inductees into the school’s Hall of Fame, which boasts 37 members since its beginning in 2003.

“The induction of the relay team was supposed to happen a year ago,” said Byers, the former Mark Morris High School track and field coach. “They had talked for awhile about selecting the relay team because it was one of the groups that really got the track program started at Seattle Pacific.”

A 1950 graduate of R.A. Long High School, where he lettered in basketball and track, Byers later participated in both sports while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, before enrolling at what was then Seattle Pacific College. He lettered in both sports from 1953 to ’55 at SPC, but eventually focused exclusively on track.

“In the middle of my senior year, the coach (Dr. Ken Foreman) told me if I went back to the Drake Relays and did well, I wouldn’t be playing basketball any more,” Byers recalled. “That was the end of my basketball career. I missed it, but we knew we had something special.”

Four members of the quintet led the Falcons to a fourth-place finish in the two-mile relay at the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1953. The group also grabbed a second-place finish in 1954 and was fourth in 1955.

“Dr. Foreman also coached the U.S. Olympic team, and was an outstanding coach who knew how to motivate us,” Byers said. “We would’ve won the Drake Relays one of the years, but one of our runners came down with mono and we had to run a second kid. That made a lot of difference.”

In addition to their success at the Drake Relays, Byers, Peterson, Palmer and Moring won the 1954 state NAIA finals in the two-mile relay, the mile relay of Moring, Peterson, Palmer and Thompson were third in the 1952 NAIA nationals, Moring won the 1953 and ‘54 NAIA national crowns in the 880-yard run, and Byers qualified for the nationals in the 440 in 1955.

The Falcons also set records at the Washington State Intercollegiate Invitational indoor meet, the Willamette University Relays and the Vancouver Relays.

After college, Byers began his teaching and coaching career in Sequim, Wash., and later had stops in White Salmon and Castle Rock before returning to Longview and a stint at Mark Morris. He also coached at Rainier High School, and is currently an assistant women’s basketball coach at Lower Columbia College.

He has coached high school track for 27 seasons and was an assistant coach for 15, mentored girls basketball for 15, community college women’s basketball for 14, football for nine, boys basketball for eight, diving for two and softball for one.

In addition, Byers coached five years of community college track, as well as six years of junior high track.

Byers has coached eight individual high school champions and six runner-ups at state, along with one community college champion.

In addition, Byers was inducted into the Washington State Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2004.