| School: Jefferson | Graduation Year: 1969 |
Year Inducted: 2019
Sports Played: Football, Wrestling, Baseball
High School Honors: 3 Football letters. 1st Team All-PIL Linebacker as Senior.
2 Wrestling letters.
3 Baseball letters. 2nd Team All-PIL Catcher as Senior; North/South All-Star Team as Senior.
Post High School Career: Grays Harbor JC, 1 year of Football. Pacific University, 3 years of Football, 1st Team All-NWC and Little All-NW as Senior. 4 years as Baseball Catcher, 3 years All-NWC, 2 years All-District and POY and MVP as Senior, and 1st Team NAIA All-American. Drafted by
St. Louis Cardinals; St. Petersburg/Sarasota, 1973. BA Degree Pacific; MA Degree from Central Washington University. Taught PE K-12 from 1975 to present. Athletic AD for 25 years. Coaching records: Baseball 145-100, Basketball 296-105, Football 51-20-1. In 28th year of
K-5 PE at Cle Elum-Roslyn Elementary in Washington.
Commentary:
Growing up as a poor inner city kid in north Portland, with 3 little brothers and a mom that worked hard to support us, we did not have much. With this in mind, the one thing that my mom made sure was available to us was sports. My mom had a love of sports but not a love like most people have today. Her love of sports for us was simple; it gave us an opportunity to be around good male role models, make friends, challenge ourselves but mostly, her love of sports was because it gave her the mental security that she needed while she tirelessly worked to know that we were in good hands, making good decisions and not running the streets.
My mom made sure to meet all of our coaches, knew the practice and game schedule like the back of her hand and did not give us an option whether or not we would play. The only choice we had when it came to sports was which sports would we play for the entire year. In a way, sports kept the life of my mom and our family organized. For this introduction and the impact that athletics has played in my life, Mom, I thank you.
While playing year long sports, I had the opportunity to play for a lot of great coaches that not only challenged me, they also inspired me to go into the profession of teaching/coaching. Although they all had different styles and personalities, they were all important in developing the athlete that I was.
All of these men with their individual techniques and motivation styles helped me make my lifetime decision to become a teacher and a coach. The inspiration and lessons that these role models taught me as a young kid gave me the direction to make me want to say, "When I grow up, I want to be just like them." I am incredibly proud of my 47 year teaching and coaching career and I hope that I have measured up in some way to my mentors.
It would be hard to reflect upon my playing and coaching career without mentioning and thanking the people that have played such a critical role. With this being said, it is easy to thank the one person that personally saw my playing and coaching careers, rain or shine, home or away, she was there. She was my most devoted fan in high school and my greatest supporter at Pacific University. As a young married couple with two small children to raise, she did not hesitate to take on the responsibilities of our lives alone as I pursued my dreams of playing pro ball. Later, as I became the head coach of 3 Varsity sports, this woman gave up all of her free time and slowly became the family’s #1 fan. Not only could I count on her to be in the stands for all of my events, she was also able to master attending our three children’s sporting events in the same day with a coach’s mentality and ease that impressed many. Gwen, thank you for letting me play as a player and play as a coach. I would never have been able or capable of being here without your +37 years of love, help and standing by me.
In the end, athletics has taught me that HARD WORK = SUCCESS. Whether that is on the field, in the gym or in the office, if one works hard and commits himself to excellence, in the end, good things will come. Essentially, sports has been very good to me.