PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 12, 2021
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Celts may return to gridiron action
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
After the OSAA delayed
making a fi nal decision on
high school football earlier in
the week due to COVID-19
restrictions, Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown released new guidance
on Wednesday for outdoor
sports that would make a re-
turn of high school football a
probability this spring.
Football teams around the
state began non-contact prac-
tice on Monday, Feb. 8 in
preparation for a season that
they weren’t sure was even
going to happen — contact
sports have been prohibited by
the state for nearly a year. Now,
outdoor contact sports will be
allowed to resume depending
on the risk level of the county.
“It’s not lost on me that
this decision will allow high
school football to resume” Gov.
Brown said.
Following the healthy and
safety guidelines from Oregon
Health Authority, full-contact
football practices and games
will be allowed to resume
in Lower Risk and Moder-
ate Risk counties starting this
week.
For High Risk and Extreme
Risk counties, such as Mari-
on County, schools and youth
sports organizations have the
ability to opt-in to resuming
football practices and games
with additional protocols in
place — such as site respon-
sive testing for symptomatic
individuals and close contacts,
contact information for con-
tact tracing and a waiver iden-
tifying health and safety risks as
well as committing to isolation
and quarantine if exposed to
COVID-19.
“This has been a diffi cult
year for Oregon’s youth athletes
and, as our COVID-19 num-
bers have dropped, I have been
committed to working with
our health experts to reevaluate
our protocols for sports,” Gov.
Brown said. “School sports play
an important role in fostering
students’ mental, emotional,
and physical health. We will
proceed with caution, to en-
sure that teams are following
health and safety precautions to
protect our athletes, their fami-
lies, and their communities.”
Schools wanting to opt-in
for the football season must
also have limited in-person in-
struction taking place with a
plan to move to a hybrid mod-
el later in the school year — all
counties currently meet the
requirements to hold limited
in-person instruction.
“If our school gyms, fi elds,
and weight rooms are to re-
open, we owe it to Oregon’s
children to make sure our class-
rooms, libraries, and science
labs fully reopen as well,” Gov.
Brown said.
Gov. Brown also stated that
if the state experiences increas-
es in COVID-19 cases, that
outdoor contact sports would
be shut down again, which is
why she encouraged student
athletes to be responsible in
their social interactions off the
fi eld.
“To all of Oregon high
school athletes: I am asking
you now be leaders in your
communities. We’ve given you
the chance to play, but with
that opportunity comes great
responsibility. If COVID-19
numbers spike, we may have to
shut down contact sports again.
When you are off the fi eld, set
the example for your peers:
wear a mask, maintain physical
distance and avoid social gath-
erings,” Gov. Brown said.
The OSAA Executive Board
is meeting on Wednesday Feb.
17 to make a fi nal determina-
tion for all Season 2 sports.
File
McNary quarterback Erik Barker runs through the South Salem defense for a fi rst down in a
game from 2019.
The unique history of
the Portland Mavericks
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
After a 44-year hiatus,
the Portland Mavericks will
return to action as a part of
the four-team independent
Mavericks League coming to
Volcanoes Stadium this sum-
mer — the Volcanoes bought
the rights to the Mavericks
for an undisclosed amount
earlier this year.
Although they haven’t
played an offi cial game since
1977, the Portland Mav-
ericks have an incredibly
unique history in the minor
leagues. They played their
home games at Civic Stadi-
um — now known as Prov-
idence Park, home to the
Portland Timbers.
The Mavericks joined the
Class A Northwest League
(NWL) as an independent
club after the Portland Bea-
vers of the Pacifi c Coast
League (PCL) left the city in
1972 and became the Spo-
kane Indians.
The Mavericks were
owned by actor Bing Rus-
sell, an ex minor league play-
er — although he was much
more well known for playing
the role of the deputy on the
show Bonanza. Russell was
also the father of Hollywood
star Kurt Russell, who played
for the Mavericks in their in-
augural season.
When Russell held open
tryouts in June of 1973, a
total of 150 of minor league
castoffs and ex-big leaguers
showed up to attempt to sal-
vage their respective baseball
careers.
At the time, the Mavericks
were the only independent
professional baseball team in
the country and players were
paid just $300 per month.
Many thought it would be
diffi cult for an independent
team to compete against re-
cently drafted players that
were being groomed for
the major leagues — Ozzie
Smith, Rickey Hender-
son, Dave Henderson, Dave
Stewart, Mike Scioscia and
Pedro Guerrero all played
against the Mavericks — but
this rag-tag group of players
were consistently one of the
best teams in the NWL for
fi ve straight seasons.
In 1973, the Mavericks
fi nished the season with a
45-35 record and won the
Please see MAVS, Page A10
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Mavericks owner Bing Russell addresses his team at the old Civic Stadium.