| School: Madison | Graduation Year: 1983 |
Year Inducted: 2017
Sports Played: Basketball, Softball
Featured Member of the Month ~ November 2024
High School Honors: 4-year Basketball letterman. 2nd Team All-PIL as a Junior and Senior. Multnomah Athletic Club Scholar Athlete, 1981.
4-year Softball letterman. 1st Team All-PIL as a Sophomore, Junior and Senior; League Champions all 3 years.
Post High School Career: Graduate of Pacific Lutheran University; 4-year Softball letterman, All-Northwest Conference as a Junior and Senior; Regional Champs and National Playoffs as a Junior and Senior. Teacher and Varsity Softball Coach at Madison from 1988-97; Champions 1992, Co-Champions 1988, 1993, 1997; PIL Coach of the Year, 1992 and 1997. Also coached Freshman and JV Volleyball.
Currently a Real Estate broker (20 years) and on various boards for Friends of the Children (10 years).
Commentary:
Community. Character. Growing up playing sports was simply a way of life for me. A wonderful way of life. Some of my earliest and favorite childhood memories are of hanging out in gyms and parks around the city while my brothers played sports, or going with my mom & dad to Erv Lind Stadium for softball under the lights on summer nights.
Once girls sports became organized when I was 10… it was a natural fit! The Madison neighborhood was such a great place to grow up. My softball pals and I would finish a game at Rose City Park and rush up to Glenhaven Park to catch the end of the Babe Ruth Baseball games. There was a sense of community I felt in and around Madison because of sports. Dear friends. Supportive parents. Caring coaches.
Upon returning to Madison as a teacher and coach, I realized that at the core of this sense of community was the solid character of the coaching staff at Madison High School. (Pretty sure Bill Wittala had something to do with that!) Dave Gasser, Dave Peake, Christie McFarlane, Bill Franske, Jeff Erdman, Bill Smith, Kurt Krohn, Pam Yoder, … the list goes on and on.
The respect and support we had for one another was rare. Our student athletes could see the camaraderie which allowed them to be a part of something larger as well. These relationships definitely played a huge role in shaping how I coached—respecting athletes’ individual skills, allowing each to grow authentically and keeping sound fundamentals as the guide.
Coaching was the pinnacle. For 10 years I had the privilege to pass along all of the rich history I had experienced to remarkable young girls as they explored volleyball and softball. I truly enjoyed coaching, knowing and watching each of them grow as athletes and into amazing young women. What an honor!