| School: Lincoln | Graduation Year: 1957 |
Year Inducted: 2014
Sports Played: Football, Basketball, Track and Field
High School Honors: 2-year letter winner in football, All-PIL as junior & senior; All-State as a senior. 2-year letter winner in basketball, All-PIL as junior & senior; all-tourney on ’57 State Champion team. 2-year letter winner in track & field, shot put and discus champion in PIL as senior.
Post High School Career: Played football at the University of Oregon four years. Graduate from University of Oregon Law School; practicing attorney in Portland for 45 years.
Commentary:
(Because Ron died in May, 2012, these remembrances are the words of his wife Patti)
I think Ron first fell in love with sports at age 5 when he won the bean bag throw for distance in kindergarten. Growing up in the l940’s and early ’50s before computers and television it was "go outside and play/entertain yourself." …and this usually involved a ball. It was hoops in the driveway, baseball and football in the backyards and vacant lots. Sports were fun and an easy way to make friends and stay fit without even trying.
He had found a path for his boyhood exuberance. Throughout all of grade school and high school, he played football, basketball, baseball and track. Basketball became his favorite sport — he was 6’5". He led two teams in two states to championships; Scottsbluff (Nebraska) as a sophomore in 1955 and Lincoln in Portland in 1957. (On the move to Portland, Ron’s Catholic family applied to Central Catholic but was told that they had no room for him at Central. He enrolled at Lincoln and two years later he was a State all-star as the Cardinals prevailed in the State Championship over Central Catholic — much to the regret of the CC coach!)
Ron earned a scholarship to the University of Oregon where he played basketball and defensive end/offensive tackle on the Duck football team that reached the Liberty Bowl in 1960.
His love and participation in sports transferred to all aspects of his life and gave him a "can do" attitude whether it was in starting his own law firm, designing and helping to build two of our homes, or coaching his two children in their school sports.
A highlight in his later years (around his 60th birthday) was riding his bicycle with a friend across America from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine: many of his days included 100+ miles of riding. Ron met every life challenge with optimism and strength. His last challenge occurred during the final three years of his life while dealing with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He never gave up and although he lost his ability to speak, he remained positive and mobile until the last day of his life.
Ron left a sporty family ages 12-74 where we cheer each other on while participating in skiing, kite boarding, bicycling, tennis, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, cross country, and paddle boarding. Every time I’m bicycling up a long or steep hill, I hear him saying "come on, you can do it!"