Four Decades of Philanthropy

The Al and Linda Courter Story

Courter Baseball Field. The NorthWest Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET). The Early Childhood Center. The Courter Family Pavilion. The Margaret Courter, Courter Family Interior Design, and Courter Athletic Scholarships. The Bellevue College Foundation. The Willard Geer Planetarium. 

What do these great Bellevue College assets have in common? Support from Al and Linda Courter, past owners of Honda of Bellevue and other car dealerships, and decades-long contributors to education on the Eastside and beyond. 

For over 40 years, the Courter family has donated more than $1 million to help Eastside students learn and play, reflecting a deep commitment to youth, learning, and athletics. 

It all started when Mr. Courter, in his youth, received an athletic scholarship to Columbia Basin College, a community college in Pasco, Washington. There, he discovered the access and quality of a community college education. He knew from a young age that not everyone could afford to go directly to a university. After two years at Columbia Basin, he transferred to Portland University, where he met his future wife, Linda.  

After his college experience, he worked at several car dealerships and then went into business with partners to run Kia, Honda, and Buick dealerships. Over the years, Mr. Courter achieved great success, including stints as president of both the Puget Sound Automotive Dealers Association and Washington State Automotive Dealers Association, and winning Time Magazine’s Quality Dealer Award for Washington state.  

Because Honda of Bellevue was just around the corner from Bellevue College, Mr. Courter knew a bit about the benefit it provided in the Eastside community, offering training, education, and college enrichment activities for everyone. It helped the overall economy of the region by providing well-trained and educated employees. A mentor and friend was on the Bellevue College Foundation board and invited Mr. Courter to join in 1991. It was the start of a beautiful, decades-long relationship. 

Courter Field: A Stellar Asset Kicks off a Great Donor Relationship 

Since then, the Courters have looked for opportunities to make a difference in people’s lives through Bellevue College. Athletics has always been important to Mr. Courter, having played both baseball and basketball at the college level. It was his entry point to higher education, and sports influenced his value system. So, it made sense that the first of many of his large gifts to the college was in 1994 for Courter Baseball Field, considered today to be one of the top baseball facilities in the Pacific Northwest.  

The field includes raised bench-backed seating, two full-size artificial turf batting cages, and a covered bullpen on the third base side. The field also features a unique dirt-only infield tarp that reduces the number of rained-out games. The actual playing surface is considered by many as one of the truest fields around. 

Because of the large size, condition of the playing surface, and full enclosure, Courter Field has been a hotbed for major tournaments and baseball events such as the prestigious Area Code Games tryouts and Baseball Northwest Prospect Evaluation Camps. The field is not only home to Bellevue College athletes, but also to the Puget Sound Senior Baseball League and several U-18 youth programs such as the Seattle Premier League.  

Philanthropy: The Long Game

But Courter Field was just the beginning. Scholarships, building endowments, and other gifts followed, all in alignment with the Courters’ value system of giving back locally.  

“I was a product of the community college system, and wanted to give back to the community that helped make me successful,” Mr. Courter said. “A lot of people will donate to big schools. But community colleges are underrepresented in donor circles, and I think that’s where the biggest need and return on investment lies.”  

Mrs. Courter also has a personal connection with Bellevue College, having taken interior design classes. She and Mr. Courter also wanted to honor his late mother with a scholarship designed to help people returning to school after raising their family; hence their funding of the Margaret Courter and Courter Interior Design Scholarships. 

When the Willard Geer Planetarium needed a new projector, the couple donated the funding.  

When students needed childcare so they could attend classes, the Courters and Costco founder Jim Sinegal came up with the funds for a childcare center. 

More recently, in 2024, the Courters funded the Honda Auto Center of Bellevue Data Analytics Scholarship. 

Their philanthropy lives on, still to this day. Since Mr. Courter retired from the Honda Dealership, having passed it on to the next generation of Courters in 2019, the Courters watch with pride as their family’s legacy of giving continues. Daughter-in-law Courtney Courter joined the Bellevue College Foundation in 2019, taking Mr. Courter’s place on the board since he went to Emeritus status in 2007. She served on the board until 2024. 

Bellevue College is truly grateful for the Courter family’s generosity over the decades.