The Frank Inslee Service Award
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SPS High School Athletic Hall of Fame • Seattle WA
King County Councilmember Larry Gossett serves on the Metropolitan King County
Council representing many Seattle neighborhoods, including the Central Area, Capitol
Hill, Beacon Hill, the Rainier Valley, Seward Park, UW, Fremont, Ravenna, Laurelhurst
and the Skyway neighborhood in unincorporated King County; his district represents an
area where he has lived and worked his entire life.
Larry Gossett grew up in West and Central Seattle, and graduated from Franklin High
School in 1963. After two years at the University of Washington, Gossett became a
VISTA volunteer in Harlem (1966-1967) and worked with poor youth and families. On his
return to UW, he was active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
in 1967, and co-founded the University of Washington Black Student Union (UW BSU) in
1968. Through the BSU, Gossett helped push UW to create a Black Studies Program. He also helped
organize nearly a dozen high school and middle school Black Student Unions throughout the city.
Gossett fought to eliminate racial discrimination and increase the enrollment of African Americans and other
students of color at UW. After graduation, he became the first supervisor of the Black Student Division, in the
Office of Minority Affairs and helped found some of the key institutions for promoting and sustaining racial and
economic diversity at UW. Gossett developed a close relationship with activists for racial justice outside the
black community, and, along with Bernie Whitebear, Bob Santos, and Roberto Maestas, founded the Minority
Executive Directors Coalition (MEDC) in 1982. Gossett served as Executive Director of the Central Area
Motivation Program (CAMP) from 1979 to 1993, after which he was elected to the King County Council.
Councilmember Gossett is extremely proud that in 1999, 13 years after the 1986 change of the County’s name
to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he spearheaded the campaign to change the county logo to an image of
Dr. King. In 2007, the King County Council unanimously adopted the change, becoming the only governmental
entity in the nation to have as its logo the likeness of Dr. King.
In the summer of 2008 the University of Washington Alumni Association gave him the esteemed honor of
being selected as one of the “Wonderous 100,” one of the most influential UW graduates over the past 100
years.
Larry Gossett is a highly respected community leader who has advocated for the underrepresented and
underprivileged in King County for his entire career. He is an advocate for programs that help inner-city youth
and reduce racial and class disparities in our local criminal justice system. He has the ability to motivate and
inspire people of all races and walks of life. He is dedicated to the cause of equal rights and economic
freedom for all people.
2018 Recipient: Larry Gossett
