Road to 1991 Perfection: Long After Title Run, Rongen Got Shot, Wounded

As a state Department of Corrections officer, Kris Rongen's job previously required him to take to the streets and chase down bad guys.

It made a Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium look awfully tame by comparison.

As a starting offensive guard for Washington's 1991 national championship team, Rongen back then simply had to fend off opposing 300-pound defensive linemen who might want to twist off his arm. Or he had to know where Steve Emtman, his All-American defensive tackle and overly aggressive Husky teammate, was at all times in practice.

In his post-football profession, Rongen has shot two people and been shot.

In 2016, he was working a case with an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms task force when he took rounds to the knee and shin while serving a warrant in Auburn, Washington.

"I'm very fortunate," he said. "If it was in my face, I wouldn't be here today."

Rongen, 51, works at the DOC main office at the state capital in Olympia, Washington, after he was encouraged to take a planning and training position that would keep him out of harm's way.

The thinking was he had been involved in enough gunfire. He had to come to grips with the workplace change, and he has.

"As much as I loved my job and doing it, and didn't like the fact I didn't volunteer to leave, I'm also thankful, and my kids are thankful, I'm in a safer position at headquarters," he said, who talks about getting shot in the video here.

This is the third in a series of articles and videos that will replay the UW's 1991 national championship season, which is the apex of Husky football. We don't have a 2020 season, so we'll use '91 as a conversation piece.

As a Husky football player, Rongen was a 1991 starter alongside tackles Lincoln Kennedy and Siupeli Malamala, fellow guard Pete Kaligis and center Ed Cunningham. Kennedy, Malamala and Cunningham each played in the NFL. Kaligis is an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming.

Rongen was drafted in the 11th round by the Seahawks, didn't stick and turned to law enforcement once football ended. At 6-foot-6 and 300-plus pounds, he was a little smaller than Kennedy and Malamala, but still a wide body who opened up huge holes.

The Federal Way, product started just his senior year at the UW, but that was enough. He remembers getting away with a blatant leg whip in the California game that led to a big gainer.

He likes to tell about a bathroom break that was improvised, which will be explained in a later dispatch. He used to see his parents at every road game -- they drove to all of them, including Nebraska.

Mostly, Rongen enjoyed the camaraderie with that 1991 team, of watching it jell and come together. He credits one man, the offensive coordinator for that group of Huskies, in particular for making that happen.

"Really when Keith Gilbertson got there, the transformation that started occurring and the brotherhood just tightened up," Rongen said. "It didn't matter if you were offense. It didn't matter if you were defense. It didn't matter if you were from California, Texas or Virginia. We all just united in one big family. That was a really cool experience to be a part of."

(Editor's note: Any fans who want to offer a video memory of 1991, just shoot it wide angle with a mobile phone, a minute or two in duration, and send it to danraley580@gmail.com. We'll run it.)

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