MARCH 04, 2022, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A17
CCC's original softball coach returns
BY JEREMY MCDONALD
For the Keizertimes.
If there’s one person synonymous
with softball at Chemeketa Community
College, it’s Cassie Belmodis.
In 1999 when the softball program
started, Belmodis was the Storm’s first
head coach. In 2018 as athletic direc-
tor, Belmodis saw her efforts in finding
a permanent home for the team pay
off when the program finally received
a softball field on the Salem Campus.
On February 16, Chemeketa’s Board of
Education made Belmodis’s connection
to the field permanent by unanimously
voting to rename the home of Storm
softball, “Belmodis Field.”
Belmodis recently retired from
Chemeketa as dean of the Health,
Human
Performance(HHP),
and
Athletics department and athletic
director.
“It has been a privilege to serve our
students, the Board of Ed, Chemeketa,
and our middle name, the Salem com-
munity, for all these years,” Belmodis
said.
Board member Ed Dodson, who
spent time as one of Belmodis’s assis-
tant coaches, made the initial motion
to move the naming off the consent
agenda to an immediate vote.
“The years I spent with you prior to
Chemeketa and the years at Chemeketa,
you are truly one of my very, very best
friends . . . I’m proud and pleased to
know you and be your friend,” Dodson
said.
Belmodis first started working at
Chemeketa in 1985, holding various
positions in the Student Life area before
moving over to HHP in 2004. In total,
she worked at the college for 37 years
until her retirement. As athletic direc-
tor, Bemodis also oversaw the addition
of men’s and women’s soccer programs
in 2008, along with women’s cross-coun-
try and distance track in 2019.
Not only is she the softball program’s
first head coach, but Belmodis is also the
most successful. In nine seasons at the
helm, Belmodis’s teams had a 63% win
rate, according to the Northwest Athletic
Conference (NWAC). She remains the
winningest coach in Chemeketa softball
history. That success was done with the
Storm as nomads with no true home-
field advantage, playing at off-cam-
pus locations such as Wallace Marine
Park and holding practice inside the
gymnasium.
The construction of the Storm
Athletic Complex in 2018 added per-
manent on-campus softball and soccer
facilities.
On a regional level, Belmodis served
as the NWAC’s Softball Committee
Chair, with the NWAC crediting her
for bringing “much-needed stability”
to conference softball and champion-
ship tournaments. She was named the
NWAC’s Dutch Trieblasser Outstanding
Administrator in 2008 and received
the Jim Jackson Outstanding Service
Award in 2021.
Storm softball’s first home game of
the 2022 season at Belmodis Field is cur-
rently scheduled for March 30 against
Mt. Hood.
obituary
Henry “Hank” Albert Hanson
June 15, 1926 – February 19, 2022
Henry
“Hank”
Hanson
died
peacefully in his home attended by
son, Jeff Hanson and grandson, Nick
Richards. Hank arrived on June 15,
1926 in Salem to John Albert and Ellen
(Johnson) Hanson. He was born into a
large Norwegian immigrant family, of
four boys and seven girls, including twin
sister, Lena. Hank joined the Navy at 17,
and served on an aircraft carrier in the
South Pacific during WWII.
Upon returning home he enjoyed a
varied career which included: a self-
owned commercial janitorial company,
which served businesses in downtown
Salem; appliance repair; and a self-owned
framing company, which he ran with the
help of his wife Julie. He also was VP of
a government funded building company
and worked in Alaska building houses in
the 1970s. He finished his career working
as the head custodian at John Hopkins
Elementary School, Sherwood.
He married Julia Rose McDowell on
HENRY “HANK” ALBERT HANSON
March 10, 1962 and became stepfather
to Rod and Gail McDowell. Hank
and Julie had two more children
Nancy (deceased) and Jeffry. He was
predeceased by children Henry “Little
Hank,” who died in infancy, and Philip,
with first wife, Juanita. He leaves
behind 15 grandchildren and many
great-grandchildren.
Family, friends, hunting, camping,
motorcycle rides, and travels were
Hank’s biggest passions in life. He was
known to stop at garage sales to pick
up tools and special finds and enjoyed
putting on garage sales in more recent
years.
No service is planned.
WORDS
MATTER
How we use words to share our stories
and shape the world around us has
consequences.
How we use words to share our stories
Our reporters – who remain committed to
and shape the world around us has
sharing reliable
and credible information
consequences.
You’re Invited
– choose Our
their
words carefully to present
reporters – who remain committed to
Join us on Facebook for
Breaking News and
Mid-Week News Updates
the truth sharing
in a fair,
factual
and balanced
reliable
and credible
information
Keizertimes
stability when
you need journalism
it most. offers
You can
Local community
on
manner. – choose their words carefully to present
the truth in a fair, factual and balanced
Local community
manner. journalism offers
continue stability
to count
on
us need
for it Real
when
you
most. News.
You can
continue to count on us for Real News.
Keizertimes