Milus was 73.
Milus coached future NFL stars Lawyer Milloy and Jon Kitna at the Tacoma high school during the 1990s.
Kitna recently returned to fill the same role his mentor Milus had years ago as head football coach for the Abes.
Milus was 41-38 in nine years at Lincoln.
His wife, Helen, said he had a chance to talk to Kitna about taking the job before slipping into a coma recently.
“He found about Jon being the head coach at Lincoln and he was so pleased,” Helen Milus said. “He was just a dedicated coach, and always said that the players felt like his own sons.”
Milus worked for 23 years in the Tacoma School District.
But his true love was coaching, starting at Eastside Boys and Girls Club and eventually working his way up to the head coaching job at Lincoln.
His oldest son, Ron, played defensive back at the University of Washington and is the secondary coach for the Denver Broncos.
“He influenced a lot of people,” Ron Milus said. “A lot of guys looked up to him and how he carried himself as a coach and as a man. And I think that people respected that.”
A memorial service will be held in Lincoln High’s gymnasium at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437 eric.williams@thenewstribune.com
