sports _________
Berney brings experience to coaching
By Rob Conner
Of The Print
“Coaching is a lot like life,
it has its ups and downs,”
Norm Berney, head wrestling
coach and counselor, said.
The Norm Berney story
started some years ago. “In
eighth grade I played basket
ball, but I was too small, I only
weighed 89 pounds,” Berney
recalled, “We lived on a small
farm and mom sent us to a
private school (Portland Chris
tian)
During high school Berney
began to realize his potential as
a grappler. In his three years at
Canby High,the wrestling
team won two state titles.
Berney looks back on a high
school career that was plagued
with injuries.
“My senior year I broke
my thumb-but I did come back
to win the state title,” Berney
said. That same year Berney
also received a brain concus
sion. “It was actually an illegal
move,” Berney recalls, “but I
tried to take it like a man and
didn’t take the disquali
fication.”
After high school Berney
elected to attend Cascade, a
private Oregon college. After
just a year, he decided it was
too small and set out for
Portland State University. After
a year there, he decided he
didn’t like the atmosphere of
the big city. He headed back to
Cascade.
Berney red-shirted a year
at Cascade, so he was still eligi
ble for two more years of col
legiate competition. It was then
that his high school best friend
from Canby persuaded him to
come to Eastern Oregon State
College. While at Eastern, the
team traveled to Nationals both
years. “Because of financial
reasons, only four guys got to
actually take the trip,” Berney
recalled. “We took sixth that
year,” he added.
“It (wrestling) is a
challenging sport, definitely the
hardest sport I’ve competed in.
It got me through school, I
made some good friends, and I
got to do some traveling,”
Berney said.
After college, Berney got a
job. “Everyone was going into
business, but I deciced not to,”
Berney said. It was 1968 and
Berney didn’t want to join the
military, so he went into
teaching. For two years Berney
taught Political and social
sciences, while assuming the
role of athletic director. “I
never thought about coaching,
but they needed one at the
high school,” he said. The
school actually needed about
three coaches. Berney wound
up coaching volleyball, basket
ball and track.
A brief stint in the military
followed, but upon termination
of his service, Berney found
himself without a job. In 1972,
Norm Berney first arrived at
Clackamas Community Col
lege. He took a job as assistant
coach for cross country and
track, while working in the
locker room.
With strong support and
encouragement from former
Dean of Students Jim Roberts,
Berney went for his master’s
degree. A short time later a
part time counseling job open
ed up. “And here I am,”
Berney said.
“It’s exciting, challenging,
and tiring,” Berney said of
coaching. “We’ve had our wins
and losses. We’re just going
against some real tough teams,
mainly the four year schools.
Berney says that world or
international competition is
available for the college wrestl
ing graduate. “There are also
some real good clubs around
the area,” Berney pointed out.
The Olympics are the “biggie,”
however.
Grapplers dominate
16-team tournament
By Doug Vaughan
Of The Print
With two meets and a
tournament to be faced within
two days the Clackamas Com
munity College wrestling team
had their backs to the wall last
weekend. But when Sunday
came around they had done
their work and collected wins in
both meets and finished the
16-team tournament with the
championship crown.
“We had a lot better per
formance this weekend,” Head
Coach Norm Berney said. “We
came out and won the tourna
ment, and showed a lot of im
provement.”
The long weekend started
Friday night as the Cougars
hosted two meets. Pacific
University JVs and Big Ben
Community College from
Moses Lake, Washington, both
played parts in the Cougar
sweep, 27-18 and 25-20
respectively.
The competition only got
tougher from there as the
Cougs traveled to Salem the
following day to take part in the
16-team Willamette Invita
tional. Despite the fierce com
petition, none of the 16 teams
stood up to the Cougars as
they cruised to the tournament
championship burying second
place finisher Mt. Hood Com
munity College by 17V2 points,
85-571/2. Rounding out the top
five teams was Oregon Institute
of Technology (481/2), Pacific’s
JV (43V2) and Big Bend
(391/2).
Considering thé Cougars
were only wrestling at nine
weights, due to the loss of
Dave Hawk, 118 pounds,
Wednesday January 26, 1983
Berney thought that their per
formance was very impressive.
At 134 pounds Cruz Ur-
bini’s showing during the
weekend
was
marked
“outstanding” by Berney as he
made losers out of all six of his
opponents, grabbing the -tour
nament in Salem.
The same performance
was evident at 147 pounds as
Mike Bolf plowed his way
through the competition on his
way to a tournament cham
pionship and an undefeated
weekend mark.
In the 150 pound weight
class, the Cougars also con
trolled the competition as they
put two wrestlers into the finals
at the Invitational. Rick Hut
chinson came out, a winner to
keep his weekend record
unblemished as he handed
teammate Steve Peters his only
loss in the tournament cham
pionship.
At 158 pounds the Cougs
also hung tough as Mike Martin
captured second place in the
tourney despite having to
forfeit the championship round
because of a broken knee
brace. In only his second time
wrestling this year Martin’s per
formance was considered ex
cellent, Berney said. After los
ing to Big Bend’s national com
petitor, Mike Harrod, Friday
night, 13-8, he retaliated by
dominating him at Salem with
an seemingly easy 18-3 deci
sion.
Dan Martin, 167 pounds,
placed third in the tourney as
he also overcame a loss from
the night before. Big Bend’s
Dave Zamora got what was
coming to his after his decision
over Martin Friday night, as
Martin won a close 4-3 match
to grab the third place finish at
the Willamette Invitational.
In the heavier weights,
Doug Gunnels place fourth at
177 pounds, while at 190
pounds Tom Baker placed se
cond for the College.
“I really felt good that
some of our guys did not ac
cept losing and came back and
won Saturday,” Berney said.
“We are not at North Idaho’s
level but if we keep improving
we can compete against them.”
Berney feels that the
North Idaho team is the top
team in the Cougar’s region.
Looking ahead towards
the Regional tournament Fe.
18-19 at Coos Bay, Berney
said, “We have as good as shot
as anyone to compete against
them (North Idaho). But right
now we are not at their level on
paper.”
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