| School: Franklin | Graduation Year: 1994 |
Year Inducted: 2015
Sports Played: Football, Basketball, Track and Field
High School Honors: 4-year Football Letterman, 2nd team All-PIL, soph., 1st team All-PIL, junior & senior; 2nd team All-State, junior. As senior, 2nd team defense, 3rd team QB, All-State; PIL Offensive player of the year, Shrine All-Star, team captain, and led PIL in passing, total offense, and TD’s. 3-year Baseball Letterman, 2nd team All-PIL, junior; 1st team, senior and PIL offensive player of the year, batting .576 to lead the PIL. 2nd team All-State outfielder; State Metro All-Star. 3-year Track & Field Letterman, hurdles and javelin; 2nd in javelin, senior in PIL championships. Multnomah Athletic Club Scholar Athlete. National Football Foundation Scholar-athlete winner.
Post High School Career: Quarterback at Southern Oregon; graduated Portland State. Coached football at Tigard (2003 State Champions), Franklin, Oregon City, Lake Oswego (2008 runner up) and Zionsville high schools (Indiana); and Lewis & Clark College. Coached in 2004 & 2009 Oregon Shrine Bowls. Co-founded Brand Athletics in 2002; acquired by Lids Sports in 2010 & became Executive VP of the company. Founded Athlete Packs and GS Sports Ventures both in 2014 in Indiana. Volunteer Boys and Girls Club, Autism Speaks, Lids Foundation, and World Bicycle Relief.
Commentary:
The lessons I learned while at Franklin High School are recalled daily, in my life. Whether the lessons are applied to my family, my business, coaching or my faith I can confidently say that without the strong basis of traits I learned in my formative years I would not be where I am today. Competitiveness, dealing with success and failure, leadership, teamwork are thrown around as “lessons” frequently but these traits live their daily lives out in the real world. I can recall times where I thought we had experienced a “tough” moment that pales in comparison to what is experienced in adulthood, but the building blocks for overcoming obstacles and persevering were no doubt forged as a teen on those grass fields in SE Portland.
Learning and improving never stop. The basis and thirst for enhancement are typically formed early on and I was lucky enough to be around some amazing teachers and coaches. The strong influences I had at Franklin helped me develop an attitude towards self evaluation and an unwavering confidence in myself and my team.
The ability to always seek improvement in every aspect of my life and to not loose faith while trying to attain our goals are a direct reflection on those influencers I was lucky enough to have. My coaches; Richard Lex, Scott Santangelo, Tom McCarthy, Rick Holte and Kirk Huffstetler helped me form my view of the world and I am ever thankful to them.
As far as the most influential coach and mentor I have ever had I would like to thank my father, Frank Geske for giving me the coaching when I needed it, parenting when I didn’t, friendship when I sought it and being a great role model for my life. You taught me to seek proper balance in life, how to work extremely hard and above all else to take care of the people around me. I appreciate everything you have done and continue to do.