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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 2017)
SEPTEMBER 15, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A13 REUNION, continued from Page 11 McNary took three wres- tlers to the 1968 state tourna- ment and placed them all. The Celtics then won their fi rst district title in 1970. Larry Hayward, one of the former wrestlers in charge of the reunion, was on the 1970 team. “This was a great man that infl uenced a lot of of kids’ lives both as a coach and a teacher and we just want to celebrate what he’s done for so many,” Hayward said of Lane. McNary went 21-0 in 1974 but wasn’t quite ready for the bright lights of the state tour- nament. While Sam Hewitt won an individual state cham- pionship, no one else on the team placed. “Most of our kids were sophomores and juniors and we really didn’t do a good job,” Lane said. “We really bombed.” The Celtics were ready in 1975 and became the fi rst Salem-Keizer school to win a wrestling state championship. No SKSD school has won the title since. McNary fi nished second in 1976. North Salem and Sprague have also been state runner-up. McNary was the last three- grade high school (sopho- mores, juniors and seniors) to KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley A plaque of the Celtics 1975 state wrestling championship is in the trophy case at McNary High School. A banner of the programs conference championships hangs in the gym. win the state tournament. “We were really good in 74 but in 75 we had the experi- ence,” Lane said. The Celtics sewed up the title in the semifi nals by ad- vancing three wrestlers to the fi nals, where they went 1-2. Stacey Stone won the individ- ual title. Howard Harris, a ju- nior who would later become a four-time All-American at Oregon State University, for- feited his match after straining his back earlier in the tourna- ment. That was the only loss Harris had in his fi nal two sea- sons at McNary, where he fi n- ished 80-5 in his high school career. In 1980, Harris’ senior year at Oregon State, he moved from 191 pounds to heavy- weight and pinned all fi ve of his opponents to win the NCAA championship. Harris defeated Indiana State sopho- more Bruce Baumgartner in the fi nals. Baumgartner went on to wrestle in four Olympics and win two gold medals. Harris was voted the out- standing wrestler of the 1980 NCAA tournament. He still owns the OSU record for ca- reer wins (169) and is second in pins (87). “Nobody ever asked me who my best wrestler was,” Lane said of Harris. “Every- body knows who my best wrestler was.” McNary also participated in the Oregon Wrestling Cul- tural Exchange, which begin- ning in 1963 sent a team as far as Russia, New Zealand, Ja- pan, Germany and Cuba. The exchange ended in the 1980s but the Celtics had at least one wrestler make the team in ev- ery decade. Lane, who retired from teaching in 1994 and quit coaching in 1996, said he had great assistants at McNary— Bellock, John Wayland, Mike Morgan, Bill Sanford, Craig Nickalaus and John Mangan. Over 30 years, Lane led McNary to four conference championships, coached seven individual state champions, 58 district champions and 37 state placers. For his lifetime service to wrestling, Lane was inducted into the Oregon chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1996. While Lane, now age 79, living in Portland, acknowl- edged the state championship team was a “special group of kids,” he enjoyed every season. “We had years when we weren’t as good as other years but in that era, if McNary didn’t win the league, they were going to be second or BARKER, continued from Page 11 “We knew that we had to run the football in order to get them (Saxons) to commit to the run and open up the pass- ing game,” Emmert said. “Even though it seemed like the run was getting stopped, a lot of that was bringing linebackers up so then we could play-ac- tion them and throw it, which is absolutely what happened.” The victory was McNary’s fi rst against South Salem since 2013. “I’m excited about where we’re heading,” Emmert said. “I like how this is bringing the kids together.” McNary junior Jacob Jackson caught nine passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns at South Salem. “Erik from the view point of opposing teams is not a threat to run. He did a great job of breaking a couple of tackles and getting in. He has to learn that he’s a big kid. Hopefully that helped him out a little bit.” Barker passed for 239 yards and four touchdowns. Jackson caught nine passes for 94 yards. McNary had just 86 yards on the ground. Lucas Garvey led the effort with 74 yards on 24 carries. third,” Lane said. “I didn’t care about winning and losing but you just had to get better, you had to show improvement to be able to live with yourself. You had to realize you can outwork people. The most im- portant thing wasn’t did you win or not, did you wrestle up to your capabilities? That’s what we were all about, I hope.” RSVP to the reunion at haywardcustomhomes@ya- hoo.com. KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley crossword
