School: Merit Award | Graduation Year: 1962 |
Year Inducted: 2019
Sports Played: Coach
High School Honors:
Post High School Career: A very deserving historical sports researcher, writer and analyst, John M. Aust is a 1962 graduate of Jefferson.
His athletic career was launched as a Freshman in Football and Track at Jeff, but discovery of a heart valve problem caused him to shift emphasis from the playing field to record keeping, an interest ignited as a 7th grader in 1957. Jefferson honored him in 2009 as “one of a hundred” outstanding alumni for his documentation in detail of 100 years of Jefferson Football, Basketball, Baseball and Track.
In 1999 he turned his attention to the entire Portland Interscholastic League, spending countless hours transcribing from microfiche league standings and Boys’ All-Star Teams in the 4 sports dating back to 1901. He served 15 years as Jefferson’s representative to the PIL Hall of Fame Selection Committee. When he retired from that post in 2017 he left copies of his research for his committee colleagues from the other schools to assist in their documentation of future inductees.
John was able to play City League football from 1963- 1971 and coached 9 seasons in Pop Warner Football at the 6th through 8th grade levels in the Adams High and Whitaker Middle School areas. For 20 years he was a voting member of the State of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. He retired after 40 years with Northwest Packing Co. of the Port of Vancouver.