A12
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Kemp starts off coaching tenure with victory
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
HELENA, Mont. — Starting off
a head coaching tenure can have its
ups and downs, but coming away
with a victory in the first game of
the year is a nice way to begin.
For Chris Kemp, his first game
as a head basketball coach at the
collegiate level resulted in a 92-82
victory for Eastern Oregon over
Montana Tech on Saturday, Oct.
23. After four years
as an assistant with
the program, Kemp
is hoping this is
a sign of future
triumph for the
Mountaineers.
Kemp
“It just feels
good to get the
massive monkey off our back and
get that first one,” Kemp said.
“We have never won in the state of
Montana since I have been here and
I have been telling the guys for two
months that everything is different
this year and this is step one.”
Kemp has a deep group this
year, which was evident in Satur-
day’s victory when nine different
Mountaineers hit the floor. Eastern
trailed at halftime and battled back
and forth with the Orediggers, but a
late run midway through the second
propelled the team to victory.
“The guys just battled and stayed
together for 40 minutes,” Kemp
said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but
they responded to every run and had
different guys step up at different
times.”
Kemp leaned heavily on
redshirt-senior Max McCullough,
who will be the team’s main source
of offense this season. McCullough
scored 38 points, shooting 8-14
from three-point range and 10-16
from the field.
The Mountaineers dropped the
second game of the tournament
77-74 against Carroll on Oct. 24.
McCullough led the way with 26
points, and new transfer Xavier
Lovelace added a team-high 10
rebounds.
While Eastern is .500 on the
year to start off, Kemp emphasized
before the season that the non-con-
ference schedule would be very
difficult this year. As opposed to
coming back to La Grande empty-
handed, the first-year coach now has
a major first win under his belt.
Hall:
Eggers:
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Continued from Page A11
Starting over
Hall grew up in Parksville, Brit-
ish Columbia, and first began lifting
in high school.
“My track coach did strength
training with us,” Hall said. “One
day, he said ‘hey, you’ve been doing
this a while, let’s go to a competi-
tion.’ I enjoyed it. I can’t remember
how many competitions I went to. I
do remember that I won a provincial
title for my weight class in Olympic
lifting.”
While in high school, Hall got
involved in rowing, a sport that took
her to college.
“I’ve always been the person who
has said, ‘I’ll try that.’ ” Hall said.
“There was an announcement, want-
ing to know if you wanted to join
the rowing team. I had the strength,
I was fast and had the right body
type. My senior year, I was getting
flown all over the county to differ-
ent schools. Tennessee offered me a
scholarship.”
At Tennessee, Hall did the work-
outs with her teammates, but not
much more.
“I was on a rowing scholarship,”
she said. “That consumed my life for
four years.”
While at Tennessee, she helped
power the Open 4+ crew to a silver
medal at the Aramark Sprints in the
spring of 2006.
Hall rowed for the Volunteers
for four year. She was at Tennessee
when the legendary Pat Summit was
coach of the Lady Vols basketball
team.
“I was there at a pretty good
time,” Hall said. “Athletes got in free
to games in every sport. I went to a
lot of games.”
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Katie Hall squats 350 pounds during a workout Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, at 1910 Crossfit in Pendleton.
It wasn’t until two years ago that
Hall, now married and a mother of
two, decided to hit the weights once
again.
“I started going to 1910 Crossfit
(in Pendleton),” Hall said. “I decided
to see what I could do. My first meet
back was February 2021 in Eugene.”
It was her first competition in 18
years.
“Sometimes, I think I missed it,”
she said. “I’m definitely stronger
now than I was in college. Some-
times I wonder if it would have made
a difference if I would have kept with
it.”
Hall, and her husband Jason live
out in Juniper Canyon just outside
of Helix.
It’s a long and unusual trek
from British Columbia to Tennes-
see to Helix.
“When I moved to Tennessee,
my mom moved to Yakima and
later remarried,” Hall said. “When
I moved home from Tennessee, I
went to Yakima. My husband is
from Pilot Rock. Right about the
time we got married, I started
working in Helix. I’ve been at
Pendleton for about four years now.
My husband works in Weston, so
this is a good middle point.”
Kersey became a four-
year starter and a small-col-
lege All-American but
received little notice from
NBA scouts. He was chosen
with the 46th pick and taken
in the second round of the
1984 draft by the Portland
Trail Blazers.
Kersey, one of the
game’s greatest dunkers and
high-energy players through
his long career, played 11 of
his 17 NBA seasons in Port-
land. He was a starter and
key cog on a Portland team
that reached the NBA Finals
in both 1990 and ’92, and
as a veteran reserve won a
championship ring with the
San Antonio Spurs in ’99.
Kersey’s story is one
of perseverance and also
of making a deep commit-
ment to community and
civic contributions. After
his retirement as a player,
he served many years as an
ambassador for the Blaz-
ers and was working as the
club’s director of alumni
relations when he passed
away.
“He wasn’t a perfect
guy, but he was humble and
respectful,” Eggers said. “A
real motivational story to
never sell yourself short.”
Proceeds from the sales
of the general edition of the
book will go to the Jerome
Kersey Foundation in Port-
land and the Jerome Kersey
’84 men’s basketball schol-
arship at Longwood Univer-
sity, in Farmville, Virginia.
During the past couple years, we have managed to navigate our way through a multitude
of challenges. There were times when we wanted to throw in the towel or have a good cry.
Also, days if we were drinking persons, we would have gotten a magnum of wine with a
straw. There were mask mandates & temporary closures. Then Spring inventory shipping
delays and now RIDICULOUS price increases, IF we can get our orders. Name most
anything and it seems there is a shortage of it lately. As a business owner I can tell you,
rising prices and obtaining inventory struggles are REAL!
Holding Down
Our Prices As for offering "Holiday specials, discounts or sales", we have neither the time nor energy
Home Decor
Unique, Useful Gifts for the
Special People in Your Life!
Over 5000 ornaments in stock.
Lamps, Throws, Wind Chimes,
Purses & Lots of Stocking Stuffers!
Holiday Hours – Nov 26-Dec 24
Open Daily
541-938-0111
815 S Main, Milton-Freewater, OR
(Located in the Old Library)
to spend days repricing all our in-stock inventory. Nor will we insult our customers
intelligence by raising prices so we can "mark it down" just to offer sales. But rather, we
will hold our prices on in stock inventory and let that be our "Holiday Sale" for the
remainder of the year.
We will NOT be holding an "open house" this year due to the looming covid restrictions.
With the help of our small wonderful team, we will do our best to have everything ready
for your shopping enjoyment by late Oct. in order to avoid over-crowding.
We will get through this with our loyal customers remembering to support and shop local.
May your days be filled with peace & simple pleasures this Holiday season.
Forever grateful
Jeanne and George
No sales tax in Oregon!
We now accept credit and debit cards.
@ Shangri_la_mf
@ Shangri.La.Salon.Boutique
Nov 2 - Dec 4
We will once again be collecting
non-perishable food items
for the M-F Ministerial Food Drive.
Thank you for your contributions!