SPORTS
THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2017
1B
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PENDLETON
‘I thought I was in heaven’
Though stay was short,
football legend Bob Lilly
reveres Pendleton ties
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Bob Lilly remembers the day he moved to Eastern
Oregon quite vividly.
After moving up from a small town in Texas, Lilly and
his family made the drive in the summer of 1956, coming
into Pendleton just after Independence Day that year.
Once reaching the
Oregon
border,
the family drove
through
Baker
City, La Grande
and up through the
Blue Mountains
before
fi nally
coming through
the clearing on
the Old Emigrant
Highway
and
giving the Lilly’s
their fi rst sight of
the area.
“You
come
through the moun-
tains,
through
the trees,” Lilly
recalled in a recent
sit-down
inter-
view with the East
Oregonian, “and
then all the sudden
you drop down
and see all the
golden levels upon
— Bob Lilly,
levels of wheat
NFL
legend
on
his
fi rst sight of
fi elds and it was
the
area
surrounding
Pendleton.
just breathtaking.
I thought I was in
heaven.”
The family was forced to move away from their
home in Throckmorton, Texas, located approximately
160 miles northwest of Dallas, because of a decade-long
drought that had severely hurt the state’s economy. After
calling around to various extended family members,
Lilly’s mother’s cousin was working as an electrician on
the McNary Dam outside of Hermiston and was able to
help Lilly’s father land a job on the Dam.
“So we packed everything up and left,” Lilly said.
Their original destination in Eastern Oregon, though,
was actually in Hermiston so they could live close to the
Dam. But after only two weeks there, Lilly’s father had
a minor heart episode and could no longer work on the
Dam. Not long after, though, his father got a job as a
“You come
through the
mountains,
through the trees,
and then all the
sudden you drop
down and see
all the golden
levels upon levels
of wheat fi elds
and it was just
breathtaking.”
Pendleton
football
legend Bob
Lilly stands
in front of
the Don
Requa statue
in Brown-
fi eld Park in
Pendleton.
Lilly played
football
under Requa
at Pendleton
High School
before going
to college
and then
having a
fourteen-year
career with
the Dallas
Cowboys.
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
See LILLY/3B
PENDLETON
MLS
Blanco helps Timbers draw
Bandits hold
off Hodgen
Chicago runs unbeaten
streak to 11 games
Russell hits home
run in loss
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
East Oregonian
CENTRALIA, Wash. —
Four runs in the bottom of the
fi fth inning were more than
enough to allow the Black Hills
Bandits to hold off Hodgen
Distributing 8-3 on Wednesday.
Hodgen (9-12) had pulled
within 4-3 in the top of the fourth
when Chris Large hit a two-out
single with bases loaded, then
Cam Sandford drew a walk to
bring in another runner.
Black Hills starter Jake Perry
got a strikeout to end the threat,
however, and Hodgen stranded
See HODGEN/3B
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP
Portland Timbers’ Darien Asprilla (27) heads a ball next
to Chicago Fire’s Brandon Vincent during an MLS soc-
cer match Wednesday, July 5, 2017, in Portland, Ore.
PORTLAND — Sebastian Blanco
scored in the 70th minute and the Portland
Timbers salvaged a 2-2 draw against the
surging Chicago Fire on Wednesday night.
The Fire (11-3-4) are undefeated in 11
games, winning nine times. The tie ended
Chicago’s four-match winning streak and
dropped the Fire a point behind Toronto
FC for the Eastern Conference lead. Last
season, Chicago had seven total victories
and an MLS-worst 31 points.
Fanendo Adi opened the scoring for the
Timbers (7-7-5) on a penalty kick in the
24th minute, and Arturo Alvarez tied it 10
minutes later.
Defender Brandon Vincent got his fi rst
goal of the season early in the second half to
Chicago
Portland
2
2
give the Fire the lead before Blanco took a
pass from Diego Valeri and slotted the tying
goal past goalkeeper Matt Lampson.
It was the third straight draw for the
Timbers, who are winless in fi ve straight
games. But Portland has never lost to
Chicago, with four wins and four draws
since joining the league in 2011.
The Fire were without midfi elder Bastian
Schweinsteiger. He left a 4-0 victory over
Vancouver this weekend with what was
described as right hip pain.
Chicago was also missing midfi elder
Dax McCarty, who was with the U.S.
national team for the CONCACAF Gold
Cup.
Portland was missing three players
See TIMBERS/3B
Sports shorts
Judge hits 29th homer, tying
DiMaggio’s Yankees rookie mark
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge has tied
Joe DiMaggio’s New York Yankees record for
home runs by a rookie.
Judge hit a two-run drive into the Yankees’
bullpen in right-center in the
fourth inning of Wednesday’s
game against Toronto. It was his
major league-leading 29th home
run of the season.
Connecting on a 92 mph
fastball, Judge drove it 398 feet,
Judge
according to MLB’s Statcast. New
York trailed 5-0 before the homer.
DiMaggio set the Yankees rookie mark in
1936. Judge reached it in New York’s 83rd
game of the season.
The only other rookies to hit 29 homers
before the All-Star break were Mark McGwire
in 1987 (33) and Jose Abreu in 2014 (29).
“Maybe he gets me a
little bit more relaxed
and takes a little bit of
pressure off me and
maybe I’ll play my best
that way.“
— Phil Mickelson
Professional golfer on choosing
his brother Tim Mickelson to be
his caddie for the rest of the year,
starting at this week’s Greenbrier
Classic. It is his fi rst tournament
since parting ways with his caddie
of 25 years, Jim “Bones” Mackay.
Guard Nick Young agrees to
1-year deal with Warriors
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Veteran guard
Nick Young is getting a new start with Golden
State, agreeing to a $5.2 million,
one-year contract Wednesday
with the champion Warriors.
Young’s agent, Mark Bartel-
stein, confi rmed the deal in a
message to The Associated Press.
The 32-year-old Young
last month declined the player option in his
contract for next season with the Los Angeles
Lakers that would have paid him more than
$5.6 million, becoming a free agent.
He averaged 13.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and
1.0 assists in 60 games for the Lakers.
Young will provide the Warriors with
depth they like on a long bench as coach
Steve Kerr regularly rotates in his reserves to
spell the stars.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1887 — Lottie Dod of
Britain, 15, becomes the
youngest woman to win the
women’s singles champion-
ship at Wimbledon, defeating
Blanch Bingley 6-2, 6-0.
1933 — The fi rst major
league All-Star game is
played at Comiskey Park,
Chicago. The American
League beats the National
League 4-2 on Babe Ruth’s
two-run homer.
1996 — Steffi Graf beats
Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez
Vicario 6-3, 7-5 in the
Wimbledon fi nal for the
German star’s 20th Grand
Slam title and 100th tourna-
ment victory.
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