| School: Jefferson | Graduation Year: 1939 |
Sports Played: Soccer, Baseball
Year Inducted: 2023
High School Honors: 2 Soccer letters. 1st Team All-PIL Soccer honors as a Junior and Senior.
4 Baseball letters. 1st Team All-PIL honors as a Junior and Senior. PIL Champions in Baseball his last three seasons. (All-State teams weren’t selected in Chuck’s era.) Played on 1936 and 1937 American Legion Championship teams.
Post High School Career: Played Semi-Pro Baseball for the Portland Babes, 1938-1941, and named an All-Star. University of Oregon Baseball, 1940-1941. Northern Division champions in 1941 and Nor-Pac All-star in 1941. Played in the Chicago Cubs organization in 1942; Los Angeles Angels, Macon Peaches and Zanesville Cubs. Played for Tacoma Tigers in the Western International League (became NW League) in 1946, batted .308 and led league in fielding at first base with a .993 average. WWII in Pacific Theater’s 41st Infantry Division, 1942-1945. From 1947-1956 Semi-Pro Baseball with three teams, winning batting and all-star honors. Served 43 years with Packer Scott Co. as salesman, VP and Corp. Sec. Married 55 years with 11 children and 30 grandchildren. He and wife Lois both died 2001.
Commentary:
Chuck Clifford’s induction into the PIL Hall of Fame is a posthumous award. This reflection has been provided by his children. Chuck was a member of the “Greatest Generation” and would be 102 years old today.
As a young baseball player in Portland, Chuck benefited from connections with some local baseball legends.
Growing up in North Portland, our Dad often spoke of “”hanging out”” at Vaughn Street Stadium. The groundskeeper for almost four decades, Rocky Benevento, would allow the young ball players to help him with some duties and then got them into ball games for free. Rocky was a Portland baseball legend. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame for his Special Contribution to Sports. Rocky’s love of baseball was infectious and fueled many young boys’ dreams of playing the game.
At Jefferson High School our father played on three consecutive PIL City Championship teams (1937, 1938 & 1939). He would share with us the respect he had for his high school baseball and soccer coach, Lindsay Campbell. Mr. Campbell’s name was listed as an inspiration to Chuck on an American Baseball Bureau questionnaire he completed in 1946.
Lastly, there was a special teammate our father would speak of often-Don Kirsch. They were teammates at Jefferson and the University of Oregon. U of O was Conference Champion in 1941. In a feature article on Chuck in the Oregonian while he was playing as a Duck, Chuck was asked about playing with Don Kirsch to which he replied, “He’s the best player I’ve ever been teamed with.” Don Kirsch went on to become Head Baseball Coach at the University of Oregon for 24 years. He has been inducted into the PIL Hall of Fame, Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, University of Oregon Hall of Fame and the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.
Although Chuck’s baseball career was interrupted at a pivotal time by a World War, he would tell you he’d had quite a ride and considered himself very lucky to have played when he did, with the teammates he had.