BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022 A5
SPORTS
Former Baker
wrestling coach
Pickens honored
Oregon lifetime
service award goes
to man who started
district’s program
Baker City Herald
Bill Pickens, a longtime
wrestling coach at Baker High
School and Baker Middle
School, will receive the Lifetime
Service to Wrestling award from
the Oregon chapter of the Na-
tional Wrestling Hall of Fame
this fall.
Pickens, who retired in 2001
and moved to Prineville in
2004, will be inducted during a
ceremony Oct. 22 in Tigard.
Pickens started the wrestling
program in the Baker School
District, serving as head coach
at Baker Middle School from
1972 to 1985. The program was
at BMS for the first four years,
then wrestling was added at the
high school.
Pickens was head wrestling
coach at BHS in 1986, 1988-89,
then from 1992-2001. After re-
tiring in 2001, he volunteered as
coach at BMS for two seasons.
Pickens moved to Prineville
in 2004, where he volunteered
for three seasons in the Crook
County High School wrestling
program.
He joins Baker High School’s
first head wrestling coach,
Chuck Holliday, in receiving the
Lifetime Service to Wrestling
award.
BHS FALL SPORTS START THIS WEEK
Baker High School’s fall
sports season is set to begin
later this week.
On Thursday, Aug. 25, the
Bulldog volleyball team will play
host to Nyssa. The JV2 match is
set for 4 p.m., followed by the
JV at 5 p.m. and the varsity at
6:30 p.m.
Also on Thursday, Baker’s
cross-country teams will compete
at the Splash and Dash meet at
Vale, starting at 4 p.m. PST.
Baker’s JV and varsity football
teams are scheduled to travel to
Burns for a jamboree on Friday,
Aug. 26. Times and opponents
are to be determined.
On Saturday, Aug. 27, the
JV and varsity volleyball teams
are scheduled to travel to La
Grande for a tournament. Times
and opponents are to be deter-
mined.
Also on Saturday, the Baker
girls soccer team is slated to
travel to Ontario for a jamboree,
with times and opponents to be
determined.
And the Baker boys soccer
team will have its alumni game
on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the
Sports Complex.
A link to all Baker sports
schedules is available at
https://www.baker5j.org/apps/
pages/athletics/hs-sports.
— Baker City Herald
Photos by Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
The south wall at the Baker High School gym has a new look with fresh paint and slogans.
Gym gets a new look
BY IAN CRAWFORD
icrawford@bakercityherald.com
S
pectators in the Baker
High School gym will
be greeted this fall with
a new paint scheme featur-
ing vibrant shades of purple,
gold and black.
A new Bulldog mural stretches
across the south wall, with the slogan
“One Team One Family” in Baker
colors.
On the north wall, Bulldog logos
and paw prints flank a “Welcome to
Baker” message.
New crash pads — the pads on the
walls behind the baskets to prevent
injuries — have been installed as well.
Baker volleyball players have been
preparing for the season in the ren-
ovated gym. The season’s first home
match is set for Thursday, Aug. 25
against Nyssa, with the JV2 match
scheduled for 4 p.m., followed by the
JV match at 5 p.m. and the varsity
contest at 6:30 p.m.
Buell Gonzales Jr., athletic director
for the Baker School District, oversaw
the design for the gym. It’s the first
of two projects he has planned. Next
year he hopes to have the gym floor
refinished to include a paint scheme
similar to what adorns the north and
south walls.
“The floor is next, not sure on de-
sign yet or time frame,” Gonzales
said. “Hopefully next summer.”
The work this summer was com-
pleted for less than $10,000.
Right: The south wall in the
Baker High School gym has a new
mural and crash pad.
‘A mystery’: Northeast Oregon short on high school football referees
“I don’t know why more younger
people are not getting involved in
officiating, it is a mystery,” said Cald-
well, noting that the average age of
BY DICK MASON
his association’s members is now 61.5
years.
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A shortage of
He said that unless the association
football referees is looming omi-
is able to recruit more people to of-
nously as the start of high school
ficiate, it will face the prospect of re-
football season in Northeastern Ore- questing schools on some occasions
gon approaches.
to change their sched-
The Northeast Or-
ules so that all games
“I don’t know why more can be played. He said
egon Football Offi-
ciating Association,
that schools may be
younger people are
which provides offi-
asked to move some
cials for high school
contests to Thursday
not getting involved
and middle school
or Saturday — instead
in officiating, it is a
varsity and junior
of Fridays, when there
games in Union,
are an unusually high
mystery.”
Wallowa, Baker and
number of games —
Grant counties, has
— Pete Caldwell,
to reduce the logjam,
just 19 people avail-
making it possible
commissioner, Northeast
able to officiate this
Oregon Football Association for officials to be pro-
season, seven short of
vided for all of them.
the minimum needed, according to
Caldwell, who said rescheduling
Pete Caldwell, commissioner of the
had to be done several times in 2021
Northeast Oregon Football Associ-
when there was also a shortage of of-
ation.
ficials, said it is not easy.
“It is the lowest number we have
“It is a huge headache,” he said.
had,” said Caldwell, who has been
Doug Hislop, of La Grande, an
with the Northeast Oregon Football
official with the association for the
Association for about 25 years.
past 52 years, also said reschedul-
Caldwell attributes the decline to
ing games is not ideal. He said he
the fact that many members are over fears that some schools trying to re-
60 and have been retiring.
schedule games may find it creates so
Average age of
local officials is 61.5
Agada sparks
Sporting KC
to 4-1 romp
over Portland
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP)
— William Agada scored two
goals and Sporting Kansas
City cruised to a 4-1 victory
over the Portland Timbers on
Sunday, Aug. 21.
Agada gave Sporting KC
(7-15-5) a 1-0 lead in the 31st
minute. Andreu Fontàs found
the net in the 40th minute
and Erik Thommy scored two
minutes later as Sporting KC
took a 3-0 lead into halftime.
Agada polished off his brace
in the 75th minute with his
fifth goal of the season. He
also picked up an assist on
Thommy’s score.
Portland (7-8-12) avoided a
shutout on a goal by Sebastián
Blanco — his sixth — in the
90th minute.
John Pulskamp had four
saves for Sporting KC. Al-
jaz Ivacic saved five shots for
Portland.
Portland came in 4-0-3 in its
last seven matches with Sporting
KC. The Timbers have matched
a team-record five-match win-
less streak set in 2019.
Portland set a team record
for goals in a 7-2 win over
Sporting KC on May 14.
More Information
People interested in serving as foot-
ball officials for the Northeast Ore-
gon Football Officiating Association
should call Pete Caldwell at 541-
910-7020.
The Observer, File
Ab Orton, a referee with OSAA, walks off the field after a game between La Grande
and Vale on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. The Northeast Oregon Football Officiating Asso-
ciation, which provides officials for high school and middle school varsity and junior
games in Union, Wallowa, Baker and Grant counties, has just 19 people available to
officiate this season, seven short of the minimum needed, according to Pete Cald-
well, commissioner of the Northeast Oregon Football Association.
many complications that they instead
cancel contests.
Caldwell is hoping that people
will step forward to serve as officials
to reduce the shortage. He said that
previous officiating experience is not
needed.
“We can teach anyone to be an of-
ficial,” he said.
Caldwell said those starting out
may first be assigned to middle
school and junior varsity games be-
fore officiating varsity contests. This
will allow them to develop their skills
in a less pressure packed environ-
ment, Caldwell said.
Caldwell said many people who
serve as officials are driven to do so
because they want to help youth.
“They want to give back to the
community and kids,” he said.
Hislop said this a motivating factor
for him, noting that he will never for-
get how referees made it possible for
him to participate in high school ath-
letics as a youth growing up in Idaho.
“I had the opportunity to play
football and wrestle because we had
officials,” he said.
Others are drawn to officiating be-
cause of their love of football.
“It gives people chance to be part
of the game,” Caldwell said.
Officials are paid on a per game
basis, making $73.50 for officiating
class 4A games. Officials are paid
a little less for officiating varsity
games involving schools in the 3A,
2A and 1A classifications for smaller
schools.
Thibodeaux, former Duck and Giants’ top pick, hurt in preseason game
BY TOM CANAVAN
Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —
Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, the
No. 5 overall choice in the draft, left
the New York Giants’ preseason game
in the second quarter Sunday night,
Aug. 21, and was ruled out with a
knee injury.
The Giants also lost kicker Gra-
ham Gano to a concussion, while re-
turner-wide receiver C.J. Board was
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sidelined with a rib injury and sixth-
round draft pick Darrian Beavers left
with a knee injury.
Thibodeaux was hurt when he was
hit on the right knee on a cut block by
Bengals tight end Thaddeus Moss on
a running play from the Giants 15. It
happened right after Board fumbled
on a kickoff return.
Thibodeaux lay on the ground
holding his knee as trainers ran on
the field. A cart was quickly driven
With summer
here, there is
lots of traveling.
Be safe &
have fun!
yard kickoff return by Chris Evans in
the second quarter.
Much was expected this season of
Thibodeaux, a superb athlete out of
Oregon who was considered one of
the top edge rushers in the draft.
Beavers, a sixth-round pick out of
Cincinnati, hurt his left knee in the
third quarter on a running play.
Cincinnati lost backup guard Lam-
ont Gaillard to a calf injury in the
third quarter.
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on the field to take him to the locker
room but he got up and walked to
the team’s medical tent to be exam-
ined. He was later taken to the locker
room.
There was no immediate word on
the extent of his injury, but the team
said he would not return. Board sus-
tained a rib injury on his return and
he was ruled out.
The 35-year-old Gano was hurt
attempting to make a tackle on a 73-
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