E AST O REGONIAN
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2021
FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @EOSPORTS |
FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS
B1
Wildhorse to host Oregon Senior Open
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Wild-
horse Golf Course will host
the Oregon Senior Open
Invitational for the 19th
consecutive year from Tues-
day through Thursday, July
27-29.
Defending champion Jeff
Coston of Semiahmoo Golf
& Country Club will be look-
ing for his fi fth consecutive
title. Coston won the title
from 2017-20, from 2011-12,
and in 2009 and 2007.
Also returning for another
chance to hold the champion
title once more are PGA
Professional Joe Carranza
of Overlake Golf & Country
Club (2016), PGA Profes-
sional Billy Bomar of Prai-
rie Falls Golf Course (2015),
PGA Professional Chuck
Milne of Vanco Driving
Range (2010, 2005), PGA
Professional Rob Gibbons
of Arrowhead Golf Course
(2008), PGA Professional
Fred Haney of Tigard, and
PGA Professional Steve
Stull of Richland, Washing-
ton (2001).
Since its induction in
1996, the Senior Oregon
Open has grown to be the
premier senior golf tourna-
ment in the Northwest.
This event draws the best
players 50 and older from all
over the Pacifi c Northwest
Section.
The Pacific Northwest
Section includes 1,100 PGA
members and PGA associ-
ates in Washington, Oregon,
Northern Idaho, Western
Montana, and Alaska.
T he Senior Oregon
Open Invitational is one of
three major senior champi-
onships conducted by the
PNW Section.
PADILLA RETURNS
TO WEBER FIELD
1979 Hermiston
graduate will
coach the
Bulldogs
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Dave
Padilla still has a trophy he
won for playing baseball as a
young boy in Germany. His
love for the sport has never
wavered.
Padilla recently was
named the head baseball
coach at Hermiston High
School, bringing him back
to his playing days at Weber
Field.
“The Hermiston School
District is very excited to
have coach Padilla back
in our baseball program,”
Hermiston Athletic Direc-
tor Larry Usher said in a
news release. “We are look-
ing forward to him build-
ing connections with our
com mu nit y and youth
program.”
Padilla replaced Kevin
Moore, who stepped down
after last season.
When the job came open,
Padilla was intrigued, and
his friends were supportive.
“I coached a lot of kids
in Hermiston, and now their
kids are 9 to 13, and I’ve
helped them coach their
kids,” Padilla said. “Justin
Simmons, who played for
Hermiston, passed away
from cancer the day before
Thanksgiving 2020. Justin
and I were always doing
baseball. I know he would
have wanted me to put in (for
the job). That was a deciding
factor, and I knew the time
was right in my life, my age
and what I have going on. I
have a great support system.
They are so pumped up that
I put in for the job.”
Padilla already has his
fi nger on the pulse of youth
sports in Hermiston, having
coached his three girls —
Aubbree, Kallee and Kynzee
— in ASA softball.
“I have been doing this
a long time,” Padilla said.
“Here, there and every-
where. When the girls were
younger, I started coaching
baseball and my girls would
come to practice and take
grounders and hit with us. I
started ASA traveling soft-
ball with my girls and it was
fun.”
In addition to coaching
ASA softball, Padilla also
has coached Little League,
Babe Ruth and Legion base-
ball. He also has been an
assistant for the Hermiston
High softball team.
When his daughter Kallee
was a junior in high school,
she played for Umatilla High
School. Padilla was an assis-
tant coach for the team.
“Kallee a pitcher and third
baseman, and I happened to
have four of my ASA players
on that team,” He said. “That
year (2007) was the fi rst time
Umatilla had ever played in
a state game.”
Baseball in his veins
When Padilla lived in
Germany, he got his first
taste of baseball playing for
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
New Hermiston High School baseball Head Coach Dave Padilla poses for a portrait Tuesday, July 21, 2021, at Weber Field in
Hermiston.
the Giants at the Landstuhl
Medical Center.
“We traveled all over
Padilla graduated from
Hermiston High in 1979. He
played football and wres-
PADILLA, WHO HAS BEEN A
LINEMAN FOR 27 YEARS, IS
READY TO GET THINGS GOING
WITH THE BULLDOGS.
Europe,” he said. “It was
amazing. Even though I was
young, I remember. I have
been all over the world.”
tled through his junior year,
and played baseball all four
years.
He went on to play base-
ball at Treasure Valley
C o m m u n i t y C ol l e g e ,
Ontario, and Blue Mountain
Community College, Pend-
leton, where he was reunited
with his high school coach
Larry Bartee.
He also used to play with
the Oregon Outlaws out of
Pendleton, and the team
played in the Men’s Senior
Baseball League World
Series in Phoenix on a regu-
lar basis.
“I have a ton of friends
in Pendleton,” Padilla said.
“We had a good time.”
Padilla, who has been
a lineman for 27 years, is
ready to get things going
with the Bulldogs.
“I am pretty excited about
getting going and getting on
Weber Field again,” he said.
“It will be exciting. I played
there. It’s nice now. I did not
want to go in there and coach
at the middle school.”
He may help with slow
pitch softball in the fall, but
he hasn’t decided on that just
yet.
“I really have a lot of
work to do with baseball and
I want to stay on top of it,” he
said. “We will see.”
SPORTS SHORT
Brisbane picked to host 2032 Olympics without a rival bid
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
The Associated Press
TOKYO — Brisbane was picked
Wednesday, July 21, to host the 2032 Olym-
pics, the inevitable winner of a one-city
race steered by the IOC to avoid rival bids.
The Games will go back to Australia 32
years after the popular 2000 Sydney Olym-
pics. Melbourne hosted in 1956.
“We know what it takes to deliver a
successful Games in Australia,” Prime
Minister Scott Morrison told Interna-
tional Olympic Committee members in an
11-minute live video link from his offi ce.
When the award was later confi rmed,
with Brisbane winning the vote 72-5,
Morrison raised both arms in the air and
gave two thumbs up.
The victory led to a fi reworks display
in Brisbane that was broadcast to IOC
members in their fi ve-star hotel in Tokyo.
Brisbane follows 2028 host Los Angeles
in getting 11 years to prepare for hosting
the Games. Paris will host in 2024.
The 2032 deal looked done months
before the formal decision at the IOC
meeting, which was held ahead of Friday’s
opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games.
The IOC gave Brisbane exclusive nego-
tiating rights in February. That decision
left Olympic offi cials in Qatar, Hungary
and Germany looking blindsided with their
own stalled bidding plans.
Though the result was expected, a high-
level Australian delegation went to Tokyo
amid the COVID-19 pandemic to present
speeches, fi lms and promises on stage.
The city of Brisbane sent Mayor
Adrian Schrinner, the state of Queensland
sent Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and
Australia’s federal government sent sports
minister Richard Colbeck to woo Olym-
pic voters.
They were joined by long-time Austra-
lian Olympic offi cial John Coates, now an
IOC vice president who shaped the fast-
track selection process two years ago that
now rewarded his Brisbane bid.
The fi rst-time format was designed
to cut campaign costs, give the IOC
more control in dealing discreetly with
preferred candidates and removed the risk
of vote-buying.
The project was described by the IOC
as “a passion-driven, athlete-centric off er
from a sports-loving nation.” Events will
be staged across Queensland, including
in Gold Coast, which hosted the 2018
Commonwealth Games.
Brisbane’s renowned cricket stadium,
known as the Gabba, will be upgraded
and may host the sport at the Games.
Cricket was played once at the Olympics,
at the 1900 Paris Games.
Jason O’Brien/AAP
People celebrate Wednesday, July 21, 2021, in
Brisbane, Australia, following an announce-
ment by the International Olympic Commit-
tee that Brisbane was picked to host the 2032
Olympics. The Australian city was the inevita-
ble winner of a one-candidate race steered by
the IOC to avoid rival bids.