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
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