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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2018)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Friday, November 16, 2018 1977: Band played theme from ‘Rocky’ all second half Continued from 1A games. It brings back those memories. It has been a few years since they have gone this far, and the excite- ment had left, until this year. Erik’s (Davis) team is simi- lar to ours — they play with a lot of heart. I’m so proud of those kids.” As is former quarterback Jon Peterson, who went on to be the superintendent of the Pendleton School Dis- trict, retiring in 2016. “It’s great to see the Bucks back at this point,” Peterson said. “It used to be a regular occurrence that we played in November. There is a lot of tradition and history with Pendleton football.” For former players like running back Mark Tem- ple, the 1977 semifinal game brings back a lot of memories. “I couldn’t believe how many people showed up for that game,” Temple said. “Medford had such a good team. Ed Singler was their quarterback and they had some really good athletes. We had a pretty good line, and we knew what Coach (Don) Requa taught us. We hit hard and we were petty quick. We ran a wishbone, and I knew if I could block people, that Kelly McIntyre could outrun them.” Offensive tackle Todd Knop was right there with Temple, opening holes with his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame. “That was the most amaz- ing game I had ever played in,” said Knop, who went on to play at Oregon State, and now owns the Ione Market. “It was something else. Teams knew they were in for a battle when they played us. We were a hard-hitting team. I’m really proud of EO file photo Fullback Dave Stuvland, left, blocks for halfback Kelly McIntyre in the Buckaroos’ loss to Medford in their 1977 semifinal football game. the kids and coaches to get where they are. I hope this is a step to getting the program back to where it was.” It’s a night not only the Pendleton players remem- ber, but the Medford ones, as well. “When we got to the sta- dium, they took us down- stairs and told us stories that people had been hung down there before the Round-Up in the old days,” former Medford linebacker/full- back Lloyd Williamson said. “The field still had holes in it from the bulls and horses, and they had the big farm boys. It was a lit- tle intimidating. They were a very, very good team. We had great respect for them, as did our coach (Fred Spiegelberg).” Back in the day A team that Requa called one of his best entered the Medford game with a 9-2 record and was coming off a 28-25 win over Dallas in the quarterfinals. The Bucks trailed 25-0 at one point against Dal- las, a game that Nirschl still remembers. “The movie ‘Rocky’ had come out and our band played the theme song (“Gonna Fly Now”) the whole second half,” Nirschl said. “Even now, that song puts a little something extra in my step.” Pendleton felt it had all the tools it needed to take on Medford: an offensive line that averaged 205 pounds across the front, and three good running backs — Dave Stuvland (946 yards), McIn- tyre (934) and Temple (809) — who combined for more than 2,600 yards. Add in receiver Tim Scharn, who had caught 50 passes for 722 yards and seven touch- downs, and the Bucks were confident. “We had a loaded team,” said former tight end Craig Christianson, who would go on to qualify for three Olym- pic Trials in the javelin. “All three of our running backs were dominant at the time.” The Bucks had played Medford earlier in the sea- son, losing 27-14, but over the seven games leading into the semifinals, Pendleton was averaging 43 points and 423 yards of offense a game. The Bucks thought they had enough to get the win the second time around. That was until Temple sprained his ankle in war- mups against Dallas and “limped painfully through most of the game,” accord- ing to an East Oregonian story at the time. Temple had a soft cast on his ankle most of the week heading into the semifinals, and did not practice. He reinjured his ankle at 6:23 of the second quarter against Medford and did not return to the game. “I wanted to say some- thing at halftime,” Tem- ple said. “But all I could do was cry, when crying wasn’t cool. I loved every single person on that team. I felt as if I let them down. That’s the part that has never went away.” The Bucks led 7-5 at the half, giving up a 21-yard Tom Mangold field goal and a safety to the Black Tornado. “Jimmy Williams’ defense was doing a good job out there,” Temple said. “We just couldn’t move the ball.” In the second half, Bruce Corson would score on a 1-yard run, and Medford would tack on another safety for a 13-7 lead. With time winding down in the fourth quarter, the Bucks were at the Medford 30-yard line. Peterson’s pass was picked off at the Med- ford 1-yard line with 21 sec- onds remaining, sealing the win for the Black Tornado. “They had us scouted pretty well,” Peterson said. “We struggled to move the ball offensively, and they seemed to know what we were doing before we did it. It wasn’t meant to be.” It was the sixth time in 17 playoff appearances under Requa that Pendle- ton reached the semifinals. He never took a team to the championship game. Requa, who coached at Pendleton for 36 years, retired in 1986 with 301 wins. He died Aug. 12, 1987, as one of the winningest high school football coaches in the nation at the time, and is now enshrined in a bronze statue in Brownfield Park in downtown Pendleton. “Requa touched a lot of kids, and what he said you carried with you,” Nirschl said. “He believed in you. It wasn’t easy, but it paid off on Friday nights.” Win or lose Saturday, this year’s Pendleton team can heed a few words of wisdom from Coach Requa: “Foot- ball is another classroom where real life lessons are learned.” “I couldn’t believe how many people showed up for that game” — Mark Temple, running back from the 1977 Pendleton semifinal team BRIDGE: The budget has ballooned by more than 16 percent to $8.6 million Continued from 1A move. Although the trusses will be moved months later than expected, Patterson said he still expects the bridge to open in Spring 2019, although it may come later in the season. For a project that’s been in development since 2013, long-term delays have meant money. When ODOT and the city of Pendleton received a grant from the federal government to replace the Eighth Street Bridge, the project’s budget was $7.4 million. But since then, the budget has ballooned by more than 16 percent to $8.6 million. The bulk of that increase came in October, which ODOT said was coming as a result of higher costs for mate- rials and higher standards for curbs and sidewalks from the Americans with Disabilities Act. Patterson attributed the ris- ing material costs to a year- long delay in starting construc- tion on the bridge. He pointed to a lengthy coordination pro- cess between the city, ODOT, the Federal Highway Admin- istration, the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, and the Pendleton Downtown Association when the Pend- leton Enhancement Project, an informal civic improve- ment group, expressed inter- est in acquiring the trusses for a downtown project. Although the group has since delayed its plans, the trusses will still have to be moved to storage to comply with the state’s historic preser- vation laws. The year-long delay not only affected the overall bot- tom line, but the city’s bot- tom line as well. ODOT and the city are splitting the costs 90-10, meaning the city’s contribution now stands at $883,594. In addition to replacing a bridge that’s been deemed “structurally deficient” by ODOT, the city has long sought to replace the bridge because it could lead to fur- ther development on the north end of town. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0836. DOLLARS: $230 million in unanticipated corporation payments will go to schools Continued from 1A gon’s individual taxpayers could see $724 million flow back to them from the state. Another $230 million in unanticipated payments from corporations won’t go back to the businesses, but instead be funneled to Ore- gon’s school system. Word of the surging tax payments came this week as state economists issued their latest forecast for state rev- enues. The forecasts keep state leaders and legisla- tors updated on the flow of money to the state. The unanticipated surge is, in part, a result of the state’s humming economy, the economists said in their latest report. More Oregonians have jobs. They’re getting paid more for their work. And that means they’re paying more taxes. The recent federal tax overhaul — signed into law last December by President Donald Trump — has also meant higher state taxes, for several reasons. One reason: Oregon allows taxpayers to deduct their federal taxes from their state taxes. Cut federal taxes, and taxpayers can’t deduct as much from their state tax bills. The state says lot- tery patrons will also have forked over more money by the time the state’s two-year budget ends June 30. Altogether, those pre- dictions may lead to a fat- ter wallet when lawmakers start writing the state budget in January. During the session, law- makers use state econo- mists’ predictions to assess how much money they will have to work with as they write the budget. The state runs on a two-year budget cycle, and the next budget period starts next July 1. More money coming in now could mean the state has a higher balance to cover expenses in that new budget. “It’s like, ‘Oh, our bank account is a bit bigger,’” said Rep. Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which writes the two-year budget. The state funds ser- vices ranging from health care to state parks. Gov. Kate Brown is scheduled to release on Dec. 1 her pro- posal for what to fund in the next cycle. That will then be reworked by legislators, and they face several factors. The state’s Medicaid pro- gram is facing a $830 mil- lion shortfall. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is work- ing to boost education fund- ing. And keeping the same government services from year to year costs more due to inflation. While the latest figures suggest that the state is rak- ing money in, lawmak- ers may have to navigate a degree of economic uncer- tainty as they put together the next budget. State economists said a national economic slow- down is on the horizon. Ore- gon’s overall economic out- look is good, but the risk of a recession is higher. Right now, state econo- mists expect taxpayers and lottery patrons will also pay about $1 billion more in the 2019-21 biennium than they predicted at the end of the 2017 legislative session. But by 2020, federal tax cuts and spending boosts are likely to have played out, state economists said. Inter- est rates will likely continue to increase, and tariffs could also drag down economic growth. “Unfortunately, all of these dynamics perfectly coincide with the state of Oregon’s upcoming budget period,” state economists wrote in their forecast. Senate Democratic Leader Ginny Burdick said the economy won’t be strong forever, and that it has an impact on the services the state can provide. “When the economy’s chugging along, we can Destiny Theatres Fri - Tue, Nov. 16 - Nov. 20, 2018 Subject to change. Check times daily. Hermiston Stadium 8 Hwy 395 & Theatre Ln - 567-1556 MoviesInHermiston.com F ANTASTIC B EASTS 2 (PG-13) I NSTANT F AMILY (PG-13) W IDOWS (R-17) T HE G RINCH (PG) G IRL I N S PIDER ’ S W EB (R-17) O VERLORD (R-17) D ISNEY ’ S N UTCRACKER (PG) B OHEMIAN R HAPSODY (PG-13) $5. 50 Bargain Tuesdays** **ALL DAY TUESDAY, MOST MOVIES. Check ONLINE for more information! afford to fund schools and other services everyday Ore- gonians count on,” Burdick said in a written statement to the Oregon Capital Bureau. “When the economy slows, we have huge prob- lems. Our state’s oversized reliance on individual work- ers’ income taxes leaves us vulnerable to that economic downturn. Now is the time to seriously look at ways to sustainably support edu- cation and other services relied upon by everyday Oregonians.” Republicans, meanwhile, framed the surge as evidence that Oregon won’t need to raise taxes to cover govern- ment operations. “We are seeing low unemployment rates across the state, but we need to do more to increase Ore- gon’s skilled workforce to ensure Oregon’s econ- omy remains competitive and that all Oregonians can build the skills necessary to obtain high-paying jobs,” said state Sen. Jackie Win- ters, R-Salem, the Senate minority leader. “The biggest takeaway here is that increased rev- enues diminish the need to increase taxes on hardwork- ing Oregonians.” ——— Reporter Claire Withy- combe: cwithycombe@ eomediagroup.com or 503- 385-4903. Withycombe is a reporter for the East Ore- gonian working for the Ore- gon Capital Bureau, a col- laboration of EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group, and Salem Reporter.
