7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017
Gasser: Retires with an Oregon high school record of 750 wins
Continued from Page 1A
One game more
The Fishermen went 20-6
and finished within one game
of the state championship for
the second year in a row.
And they did it with key
seniors who had suffered
major injuries in other sports.
Fridtjof Fremstad had a
late start to the season after
an ankle injury in basketball;
while Tyler Lyngstad (knee)
and Kyle Strange (broken leg)
were still recovering from
football injuries.
“Fritz never got completely
where he could have been
with the ankle,” Gasser said.
“He still had a great season
(batted .384, and was 6-for-6
in save opportunities on the
mound). And the season Kyle
had (batted .507 with a team-
high 29 RBIs), with a rod in
his leg, was truly remark-
able. And if you look at the La
Grande game, or the three one-
run losses we had in league,
a healthy Tyler Lyngstad is
worth at least one league win.”
And all Astoria needed was
one more league win, “and we
would have been rated ahead
of La Grande, and we would
have been home the whole
time,” Gasser said.
King at home
Home field in the playoffs
makes a huge difference.
“In my life, we never lost
a home playoff game,” Gasser
said. “We haven’t been home
that much, but when we were
the designated home team in
the semis, we always won.
“And the four times we
had to travel, we’re 1-3. That’s
how much difference it makes.
“Home-field advantage in
the semis, when you’re not
traveling at all … it’s just too
big of an advantage for the
OSAA to continue to allow.”
The Fishermen still made
the best of it, winning playoff
games at Estacada and Hidden
Valley, before falling at even-
tual state champion La Grande.
“I’ve never seen kids have
to travel like our Astoria kids,”
Gasser said. “One thing I can
say about ’em — whatever
they had to give, they gave it.”
Back on the field
It resulted in a Cowapa
League co-championship with
Banks, and Astoria’s second
20-win season since Gasser
returned in 2013.
After retiring following the
2010 season, he came back,
just to go out with the Class of
2017 senior class.
“They were the 7- and
8-year-olds who came to my
first camp,” Gasser recalled.
“After a couple years away, I
just hoped I had enough in me
to give them a run at it.
“As far as I’m concerned,
the kids battling to the end and
enduring the road like they did,
competing their brains out and
The Daily Astorian/Submitted Photo
Dave Gasser, in his last game at La Grande. Gasser leaves coaching game with the most career wins in the state.
overcoming some adversity
… I couldn’t have asked for
more.”
Likewise, Gasser’s coach-
ing system and kids-first atti-
tude was invaluable to Astoria.
Since he arrived on the scene
in 2006, the Fishermen have
played in five state champi-
onship games, winning three
(one under Brian Babbitt).
Best of the best
Gasser leaves the game for
good with a career high school
coaching record of 750 wins,
235 losses. The closest coach
still active is Tigard’s Tom
Campbell, with 693 wins.
“The fact that the Oregon
Coaches Association just rec-
ognized coach Gasser with
the ‘Coaching with Charac-
ter’ Award speaks volumes
about what he has meant to our
baseball program, our base-
ball community, and our entire
high school athletic depart-
ment,” said Astoria Athletic
Director Howard Rub.
“The success on the field
speaks for itself, but it is the
modeling of behavior and the
high expectation of behav-
ior that he holds himself, his
coaches and his players, that
truly separates coach Gasser
from the rest,” he said.
Before he took the Asto-
ria job, Gasser said, “I walked
around town with a little note-
book. I knocked on doors and
sat down with former Mayor
(Willis) Van Dusen, Blair Hen-
ningsgaard, Mark Popkin, Hal
Snow, Jon Englund and met all
sorts of wonderful people.
“I said, ‘these are the things
I want to accomplish.’ The first
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Astoria coach Dave Gasser retires with an Oregon high
school record 750 coaching victories.
was getting a good summer
sponsor, and improve what we
do in the summer. The clinics
and the summer baseball sit-
uation. And thanks to Dane
Gouge and Astoria Ford, we
did that.
“We were in the (Junior
Baseball) state tournament
every year and won a few
state titles, and brought legion
clubs in from Singapore and
Australia.”
Secondly, “the batting cage
is nicer than anything I could
have imagined,” he said. “The
people who made that happen,
the whole community should
be indebted to those people.
“The third thing was to
improve the playing surface,
and make Aiken Field’s infield
more playable.
“A fourth was to take care
of the dugouts. They weren’t
big enough and they were
tilted the wrong way. And we
didn’t have bullpens.
“And the fifth, pie-in-
the-sky one, was we needed
to come up with a different
backstop and terrace the seat-
ing area, so it’s actually a
stadium.”
Every single item was
accomplished.
“Ultimately, I wanted Asto-
ria baseball to be taking on
the best teams in the state and
holding their own.” Check.
The coaching staff
“It was only because of the
phenomenal coaching staff,”
that Gasser finally accepted the
Astoria coaching job. “I mean
that. Ryker (Thornton), Brian
(Babbitt), Glen (Fromwiller),
Ralph (Steinback) … they’ve
been with me every year and
Glen all but one.
“It was those guys and a
community that was generous,
supportive and an administra-
Tax: Bill now goes to Gov. Brown
Continued from Page 1A
The revenue-raising bill required
a three-fifths majority vote, and all
17 Democrats in the Senate, plus
three Republicans, including state
Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferri-
oli, R-John Day, voted for it, exceed-
ing the required votes by two.
The bill was carried by both
Republican Sen. Jackie Winters of
Salem and Democratic Sen. Eliza-
beth Steiner Hayward of Beaverton.
The proposal is not without con-
troversy: Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Rose-
burg, called the bill an “important
package” that did “need to pass,”
but he took issue with the structure
of the taxes, including the 1.5 per-
cent tax on insurance premiums.
“Here’s the problem I have:
we’re doing bridge funding here,”
Kruse said. “We can assume in some
point in time next year that Congress
is going to make significant changes
in Medicaid, and all this that we’re
doing may disappear. We don’t know
that. But at the end of the day what
we’ll still have is two new taxes.”
Federal changes
The vote in Oregon comes as the
U.S. Senate drafts what are believed
to be sweeping changes to the
Affordable Care Act, which dramat-
ically expanded eligibility for Med-
icaid in Oregon and other states that
signed on to the expansion.
The taxes are dedicated specifi-
cally to health care, but Kruse con-
tended taxes are “fungible” and
could be increased in the future.
tion at the school that encour-
aged it in every way.”
Fromwiller will assume
the head coaching duties next
season.
“He’s been a JV coach for
11 years, he knows the kids,
he’s worked in the youth pro-
gram, and he was a head coach
prior to coming here,” Gas-
ser said. “He’s well-qualified.
He’s a great guy, good teacher,
just what you want. He’s not
a senior citizen who forgets
where his keys are.”
Of this year’s senior group,
Gasser said, “there are a lot
of guys who I would consider
to be really good role models
who graduated in the Class of
2017. This is the highest GPA
of any team I’ve ever had. We
had two valedictorians, both
starters and all-leaguers.
“As sophomores, juniors
and seniors, we won about
60 games and played in three
straight quarterfinals, and two
semifinals. I don’t care if it’s
4A, 5A or 6A … how many do
that?”
Farmers and
Scandinavians
After spending years
coaching in the Portland area,
Gasser’s teams at Astoria were
unique. It’s safe to say his
teams at Madison and Laker-
idge did not have many Olafs
or Fridtjofs on the roster.
Astoria “definitely had a
Scandinavian flair that I hadn’t
had previously,” he said. And
with a number of players who
also belonged to the Future
Farmers of America, “it was
great to get to know the impor-
tance of weighing a pig. It
Elizabeth
Steiner Hayward
Steiner Hayward noted that the
assessment will sunset, at which
point the Legislature needs to rene-
gotiate it.
A family physician and mem-
ber of a legislative work group that
hammered out the proposal, Steiner
Hayward said the tax on rural hos-
pitals, at 4 percent of net revenue,
was lower than the total 6 percent
assessed on certain urban hospitals
because legislators sought to “pro-
tect” rural hospitals, which were
previously not subject to the assess-
ment and, she said, have thinner
margins.
Democrats have advocated for
the legislation as a means of cover-
ing the costs of expanding Medic-
aid in Oregon under the Affordable
Care Act.
“This bill will keep over 350,000
Oregonians from losing their
health insurance,” said Sen. Laurie
Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham.
‘Key vote’
Ferrioli, the Senate Republican
leader, said the provider assessment
Jeff
Kruse
“may be the key vote of this legis-
lative session, in terms of how we
balance our budget and how we pro-
ceed in an orderly fashion out of this
building.”
“Often we face a choice of try-
ing to do the greatest good for the
most people, even though it can
come with a downside,” Ferrioli
said. “Certainly, this bill has built
into it a tax that I don’t particularly
like, and that’s the one on insur-
ance premiums. But it does have
stuff that I know many Oregonians,
particularly those who are needy,
must have in order to maintain their
access to health care, so on balance,
I believe this is good public policy.”
Ferrioli added that by voting
for the legislation, he intended to
counter the narrative that Repub-
licans opposed new revenue mea-
sures and that they are “insensitive
to people in need.”
The legislation now goes to Gov.
Kate Brown for her approval.
The Capital Bureau is a collab-
oration between EO Media Group
and Pamplin Media Group.
Positive influence
Gasser “has had such a tre-
mendously positive effect on
everyone involved in our high
school athletic department,”
Rub said. “We have been very
fortunate to have him serve as
our head baseball coach for 10
of the past 12 seasons, as the
defensive coordinator for the
football program for three sea-
sons, and in general, as a con-
sultant to our Athletic Depart-
ment for the past 15 years.”
Finally, you can expect
to see Gasser at future ball-
games, as he and wife Vicki
have made Astoria their home.
He leaves the Fishermen base-
ball program in great shape for
the future.
“The young kids coming up
are in a good place, and I don’t
know how our facilities can be
any better,” he said. “The pro-
gram is in good hands with
Fromwiller … it will just keep
rollin’.”
Closing: ‘These are hard-working
people who’ve just run out of money’
Continued from Page 1A
Ted
Ferrioli
really is a legitimate reason to
miss a summer baseball game
for the kids, who are putting in
a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
“They’re
well-rounded
kids, they’re fishing, they’re
hunting … they’re going to the
fair and doing a lot of things,
and at the same time they’re
playing some pretty good
baseball.”
Many of Gasser’s play-
ers have gone on to college
ball, with a couple of Astoria
players advancing to the pros
(never mind that for one it’s
the NFL, and not MLB).
“When I was thinking
about taking the Astoria job,
I was driving out of the Asto-
ria parking lot heading towards
Dairy Queen, and there was
this kid in the old outdoor bat-
ting cage, taking BP (batting
practice) with a buddy.
“I watched three swings,
and I literally did a U-turn
and pulled into the parking
lot, walked down and said,
‘Who are you?’ And this little
14-year-old kid said, ‘Hi, I’m
Jordan Poyer.’”
Poyer and Conor Harber
were both MLB draft picks,
with Harber now playing in the
Milwaukee Brewers’ farm sys-
tem, while Poyer took the foot-
ball route.
They’re
not
always
all-leaguers.
“Some of my absolute best
memories in Astoria is that
you can still see kids who were
proud members of state cham-
pionship or semifinal teams,
who didn’t play all the time,
but were great bench kids.
“Those qualities of self-
lessness and supporting others
and busting it even when you
don’t play, are better predic-
tors of long-term success than
having an insane amount of
athletic ability,” Gasser said.
“They’re just proud to be part
of a good team. I had those
kind of kids every year I’ve
coached year.”
wide average of about $69 a day for
each patient.
“It’s woefully inadequate,” he said.
That’s why so many providers are no
longer willing to accept Medicaid and
patients are having more trouble find-
ing the care they need.
“We’re talking about middle class,
worked all their lives and have gone
through their savings,” Dale said.
“These are hard-working people
who’ve just run out of money.”
He’d like to see the Legislature and
the state Department of Social and
Health Services raise reimbursements
to around $90 a day. At least, that’d be
a place to start, he said.
Dale’s organization represents
most — 525 — of the state’s skilled
nursing and assisted-living homes.
However, not many of them are in
Pacific County. The closure of Long
Beach Retirement brings the number
of homes in the county that are rep-
resented by the trade association to
three.
Options scarce
For many of Rowe’s residents, the
Golden Sands retirement community
near Ocean Park isn’t an option. Wil-
lapa Harbor Care Center in Raymond
also serves the county but it hasn’t
been the right fit for any of the seniors
he’s working with, so far. Both facil-
ities are for assisted living, with less
focus on nursing care.
Rowe and staff made arrange-
ments for some to live at Alder House
in South Bend or at a group home in
Tokeland. Others are planning to move
in with family or apply for an aide to
help them after they move back into
their homes.
Despite limited options, the AARP
on June 14 named Washington the
most successful state in the country
when it comes to supporting seniors,
adults with disabilities and caregivers.
Washington state was also recog-
nized for making improvements in the
percent of Medicaid and state dollars
that go to older people and adults with
physical disabilities, subsidized hous-
ing and improving the quality of care
in nursing homes.
Short-staffed
Even so, Rowe had trouble recruit-
ing trained staff and keeping them. He
faced competition from large hospitals
and care centers in urban areas that
offer better pay for similar work.
Medical professionals are in short
supply across the health care industry,
particularly in rural areas, he said.
Like Long Beach Retirement,
assisted-living homes across the state
struggle to with the high demand for
trained staff, particularly certified
nursing assistants, Dale said.
Despite the challenges of working
in a rural area, Rowe said, his business
would not have survived long without
its hard-working staff. He credits them
with meeting the No. 1 goal of in pro-
viding long-term care.
“This truly was like home,” he said.