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OHA issues a two-week pause on indoor high school sports
By COREY KIRK
Baker City Herald
PeNdLetoN — the Nov.
18 to dec. 2 statewide “freeze”
designed to slow the recent surge
in COVID-19 cases stopped high
school sports practices before
they had a chance to get started.
the last of three monthlong
“mini-sessions” was scheduled to
start tuesday, Nov. 17.
this session was for traditional
winter sports — basketball, wres-
tling and swimming.
When oregon Gov. Kate
brown announced the two-week
freeze, the restrictions didn’t
include high school sports.
but on Wednesday, Nov. 18,
the day the freeze started, the
oregon Health authority (oHa)
stated that schools will have to
stop indoor sports, including bas-
ketball and wrestling.
“I was disappointed, I felt that
the district had done a great job
in keeping kids safe and I would
argue that our school district is
probably one of the safer places
for our kids to be,” said buell
Gonzales Jr., athletic director for
the baker School district.
Pendleton High School ath-
letic director mike Somnis
wasn’t surprised by the oHa’s
announcement.
“I think the signs were kind of
pointing that way,” Somnis said.
Not all schools will be affected
in quite the same way.
La Grande High School, for
instance, had already delayed its
winter sports mini-session until
after thanksgiving.
“We had already decided to
wait until after thanksgiving
week to start up anyway, so we
put our winter sports on delay
next week until we got back from
thanksgiving just to see what the
numbers are like then,” said dar-
ren Goodman, La Grande’s ath-
letic director.
athletes now have to return to
home workouts.
Goodman said he doesn’t
intend to set up an online con-
ditioning program, based on the
idea that the freeze will end dec.
2 and schools can resume prac-
tices during the mini-session.
“If the weather is decent we
can do some conditioning outside
but we aren’t going to do online
conditioning for the sports,”
Goodman said.
at baker High School, mean-
See OHA, Page B2
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Hermiston’s Jayden Ray (10) leaps
to put up a shot against the Chi-
awana Riverhawks. The River-
hawks defeated the Hermiston
Bulldogs 58-31 on Jan. 28, 2020, at
Hermiston High School.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Pilot Rock’s Tel Thacker (31) eyes the basket as he prepares to shoot a free throw during the second half against Grant Union. The Rockets defeat-
ed the Prospectors 68-40 at the Pendleton Convention Center on Feb. 22, 2020, to win the Blue Mountain Conference district tournament title.
Winter sports face uphill battle
Dec. 7 OSAA meeting
will decide if winter
sports can officially
begin on Dec. 28
Frustrations
mount with
continued setbacks
to start of season
By ANNIE FOWLER
For the East Oregonian
scheduled to meet dec. 7 to decide
HermIStoN — When.
that is the word Hermis-
ton High School girls basketball
coach maloree moss likes to use
with her players when talking
about the upcoming season.
“It is so frustrating,” moss
said. “I can’t keep up with all the
rules. I’ve decided I’m not going
to look into it until they tell us we
can play. I’ve been in contact with
the seniors. I can’t imagine what
they are going through. When we
have a season, we will do this.”
the bulldogs were handed bad
news twice earlier this week.
oregon Gov. Kate brown put a
statewide freeze on indoor school
sports activities that lasts through
dec. 2, but could be extended.
the Washington Interscholas-
tic activities association, which
Hermiston joined three years ago,
voted Nov. 18 to delay the start of
See Uphill battle, Page B2
See Hermiston, Page B2
By COREY KIRK
Baker City Herald
S
aLem — after a hiatus
of more than nine months,
organized high school sports
in oregon are set to resume
dec. 28 with a season for
traditional winter sports.
or maybe not.
earlier this fall the ore-
gon School activities associa-
tion (oSaa) set dec. 28 as the
date schools could start prac-
tices for basketball, wrestling and
swimming.
The first interschool compe-
titions are slated to start Jan. 11,
2021.
but the oregon Health author-
ity (oHa) considers both basket-
Hermiston
plays the
waiting
game
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Pendleton’s Dawson Tremper, right, wrestles Nathan Ganders of The Dalles during a Jan. 29, 2020, dual meet
at 106 pounds. Tremper pinned Ganders in 42 seconds.
ball and wrestling “full-contact”
sports, and with COVID-19 cases
surging in most parts of the state,
athletes in those sports can’t even
have regular practices.
oSaa’s executive board is
SPORTS SHORT
Fundraising campaign seeks to
reopen Muhammad Ali museum
Associated Press
LouISvILLe, Ky. — a fundraising cam-
paign has been launched in an effort to raise
enough money to renovate and reopen a
museum at muhammad ali’s childhood home
in Louisville, Kentucky.
The nonprofit Muhammad Ali Childhood
Home museum is trying to raise $5.8 million
that would be used to build a welcome center
and for “improving the grounds, creating com-
munity programs as well as an endowment,”
Wdrb-tv reported, citing a news release.
Museum officials hope to raise $1 million by
the end of February 2021 and reopen the trib-
ute to the life of the former heavyweight boxing
champion next fall, the release said.
the museum opened in may 2016, but closed
the following year due to financial troubles.
ali moved into the home with his family
when he was 5 years old and lived there for 15
years.
Former East Oregonian
Editor Mike Forrester
is pictured here in his
early news career as a
reporter for the Associ-
ated Press in Los Ange-
les. Oh, and that other
fellow on the left? That’s
legendary world heavy-
weight boxing champi-
on Muhammad Ali.
EO Media Group file photo