Troy Berry
High School Honors
Football: 3-year letter winner; 1st Team All-PIL as a senior; All-PIL Honorable Mention as a junior; QB on 1980 PIL Championship team.
Basketball: 4-year letter winner; All-PIL Honorable Mention as a senior; played on 1981 PIL and State Championship teams.
Baseball: 3-year letter winner; All-PIL as a sophomore, junior and senior; 2nd Team All-State as a sophomore.
Track & Field: 1-year letter winner.
Post-High School Career
Drafted by the Philadelphia. Phillies in the 9th round; played three years pro baseball. After being released by the Phillies played two years of basketball at City College in San Francisco the one year at Oregon State.
Graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Speech Communications.
Has coached 20 years in the PIL including:
Five years (1993-98) as an assistant (and three as head JV coach) at Benson;
Five years (1998-2003) as head coach at Lincoln, including 2003 PIL championship;
10 years (2003-13) as head coach at Benson, including PIL titles in 2011 and 2012.
Winner of North Portland Salvation Army Community Pride Award in 2004.
Commentary
Perseverance. Sometimes you lose in an athletic contest but you have the ability to come back. You may experience tough losses in life and that's when those lessons in athletics become beneficial.
Best HS baseball player I played against was Darryl Motley. Best HS Football player I played against was David Lewis. Best HS basketball player against was AC Green, daily in practice.
Greatest inspiration in life? My mother, Mary Berry. My greatest belief? It is better to be humble, than humbled. Count your blessings and utilize them to the fullest. One of Life's true purpose is to help others. Greatest HS athletic accomplishments was winning the 1981 State Basketball Championship on my 18th birthday. HS coach with the greatest influence on my life? Bill Ranta, my HS Baseball Coach. He still teaches me the true meaning of humility.
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