A4 • Friday, May 24, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Former Seaside coach has
A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES
R.J. Marx
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
Beautiful weather brings the fi shermen to
the sea.
R.J. MARX
Conditions
are excellent
for surfperch
I
f there’s one man who represents
the spirit of Seaside, it’s Stubby
Lyons. Lyons, a former teacher,
championship-winning coach, volun-
teer and longtime member of the City
Council is 84, living his retirement in
the Southeast Hills.
We caught up with him at his home
with his wife of more than 20 years,
Sharee Opitz, also a former Seaside
teacher. Today, son Lance lives in Bend
and daughter Lacey in Seaside.
Part Sioux, Raphael Lyons Jr.
was raised on a reservation in North
Dakota, one of 10 children of Anne and
Ray Lyons.
The obvious question: Why the
nickname “Stubby”?
“I was born at home, and after about
three or four days they thought they
should get me to the reservation hos-
pital to get me checked out,” Lyons
recalled. “My dad said, ‘Give me a
suitcase and a couple of fl uffy blankets
in there.’ I was stubby enough to fi t in
it. And that’s what he called me.”
A more unlikely “Stubby” would
be hard to fi nd — the ex-Marine stood
at about 6-foot-2-inches tall at his full
height.
The family moved to the Pacifi c
Northwest in 1942, when Stubby was
7.
Wartime employment was at a high
and his father worked in the machine
shop in Hanford, Washington. “My dad
actually worked on the atomic bombs,”
Lyons said. “It was very secretive.”
The family lived in Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho — the only city in the us with an
apostrophe, Lyons remarked. “I went to
school there and graduated there.”
As a 20-year-old Marine, Lyons
spent 14 months in Korea as a military
offi cer in the demilitarized zone.
After eight years in the service, he
returned home and pursued his edu-
cation on the GI Bill, attending East-
ern Washington College in Cheney and
earning his master’s at Pacifi c Univer-
sity in Forest Grove.
His teaching and coaching career
began at age 35, fi rst in Nevada, then
Washington state.
But the Oregon Coast was his dream
destination. “I always wanted to live
near the ocean.”
When a vacancy became available
in the Seaside School District, Lyons
put his application in. “The principal
said, ‘Can you be up here tomorrow
for an interview?’ I said, ‘Yes, I guess I
can.’ I jumped in the car and the princi-
pal said, ‘Would you take this job if we
offered it to you?’ I said yes. He called
the next day, Saturday, and said, ‘You
start Monday.’
Lyons taught “everything” at Sea-
side High School, he said, “English,
U.S. history, personal fi nance, a law
class — 16 different classes.”
T
File photo
Former Seaside City Councilor Stubby Lyons receives a plaque from Seaside Mayor
Don Larson honoring Lyons’ 14 years of service on the City Council and his extensive
involvement in community activities. Lyons said later that it was the “best plaque” he
had ever received. A former Seaside High School teacher and football coach, Lyons,
who resigned from the council last year, was honored at the March 9 City Council
meeting.
VIEW FROM
THE PORCH
EVE MARX
ABOVE LEFT Sharee and Stubby Lyons at their Seaside home. BELOW LEFT Stubby
Lyons’ signature license plate, used as an inspirational slogan for the 1994
championship Gulls football team. RIGHT Stubby Lyons as a high school basketball
star in Coeur D’Alene Idaho. Lyons says his No. 1 sport was football.
Championship season
More than 3,000 Gulls fans were
reported to have traveled to Autzen
Stadium in Eugene to watch the Gulls
win the championship 27-14 over
Brookings Harbor, overcoming a 14-10
halftime defi cit.
After the game, the Signal reported
at the time, Lyons went to his knees.
“I made a promise I was going to say
a little prayer along the sidelines right
after the game if we won, and I did,”
Lyons said at the time.
Today, Lyons still meets up with
team alumni to share memories at
Dundee’s.
As head coach, Lyons had already
led one team in Idaho and three teams
in Nevada to championships, including
the fi rst in Nevada to win a girls bas-
ketball championship.
Arriving in Seaside in 1980, he
served as assistant for Jim Auld before
taking the head coach role.
Lyons led the Gulls extraordinary
state championship 1994 football team,
the fi rst championship team since 1959.
“We had great talent,” Lyons
recalled. “Adam Israel. Casey Jackson.
Nate Burke. Ben Archibald — he was
a lineman, later with the 49ers, Calgary
and Vancouver. He was a real dandy.
My son, Lance Lyons. He could run
and throw, really run. He was 6’-2”,
6’-3”. He wasn’t a good drop back, but
he was a great rollout. He threw 17 or
18 touchdown passes that year.”
The team, greeted with passionate
enthusiasm throughout the community,
was inspired by Lyons’ enthusiasm on
and off the fi eld.
“I knew we were going to have a
pretty good football team that year,” he
said. “So I thought I’d get a personal
license plate: ‘FIRE UP.’ Those are
the same license plates I’ve got on my
truck right now.”
Lyons retired from teaching in 1999,
and entered a period of community ser-
vice and civic involvement.
A lifetime member of the Marine
Corps League, Elks, American Legion
and VFW, he won election to Seaside’s
City Council in 2000.
Looking back, Lyons said he regret-
ted the contention surrounding a pro-
posed U.S. Highway 101 bypass.
He was an advocate of the library’s
building plans as a member of the
library committee.
City Manager Mark Winstanley
“has a real good eye,” Lyons said.
“He had a real good crew, a real good
council.”
Seaside’s downtown improvement
efforts have paid off since his arrival in
1980, he added.
“When I fi rst came into town, I
thought, ‘God, this is a mess.’ We
drove down Broadway — it was two
ways — then, we rode around the
Turnaround. There was sand all over
the place, lights broken. It looked like
hell. These people didn’t realize they
had a gold mine here! The beach alone
is a gold mine!”
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
his morning on my early dog
walk, I noticed a trio of men
parked in the lot at the end of Ave-
nue U, preparing their fi shing gear. Hav-
ing lately observed what appears to be
an unusual number of people casting on
the beach, I asked them if it was a spe-
cial time of year for surf casting and they
said, “Well, yes.” They said when the
clamming is good, it’s also a good time
to surf cast.
What are you catching? I asked.
“Surfperch,” they said.
‘A real good council’
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Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
Joshua Heineman
Romance
Lyons married his second wife, a for-
mer Seaside High School teacher, in
1998 after being introduced by soph-
omore students interested in playing
matchmaker. “The kids came up to me
and said, ‘Coach, we have just the person
you should take out.’ I said, ‘Who’s that?’
They said ‘Sharee Opitz.’ I said, ‘Oh,
she’s really a good-looking woman. She
would never go out with a slob like me.’”
“They said, ‘Yes, she would.’”
The students urged him to express his
feelings in a letter, which he still has on
his wall.
The students told him to sign it “love.”
“No, I’m not going to sign it ‘love,’”
he told the students. “I don’t even know
her. I’d only met her once, at a reception
one night.”
Lyons compromised by putting a little
heart by the signature.
The students volunteered to deliver
the letter personally.
Unbeknownst to Lyons, they delivered
not only the letter, but with a little help
from Coach Auld, contributed a bouquet
of fl owers from Safeway.
“Sharee’s like, ‘Who’s this guy, any-
way?’” Lyons said.
After quizzing friends about her
potential suitor, she was advised “he’d be
a good guy to go out with.”
The romance blossomed and “every
night we danced at the Shilo,” he
recalled. “We loved to dance.”
Lyons stays close to home these
days; his daughter Lacy helps with the
shopping.
Lyons still likes to get outside and
enjoy his property. “I get out there once
in awhile, feed the birds, make sure the
water in the bird bath is good,” he said.
“You know, we have a bear up here.
It was up here the other night — took off
the lid and ate the garbage.”
According to a YouTube video I
downloaded, the best time for surf fi sh-
ing on the Oregon coast is during calm
surf. Surfperch apparently can be caught
on our beaches year ‘round. The tech-
nique is pretty straightforward. It seems
most folks use a salmon rod, a 2-ounce
weight, and then just plant their feet in
the ocean. Waders are optional. Gulp
sandworms are popular bait, as are mole
crabs, marine worms, sandshrimp, mus-
sels, and clam necks.
The Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife website advises the most abun-
dant target for the surf angler is surf-
perch. These slim, saucer-shaped fi sh
can reach up to 2 pounds. Nine different
species of surfperch can found off the
Oregon coast, but the fi sh most often
caught are redtail surfperch. These fi sh
are known to congregate within 30 feet
of the shoreline, presenting an accessi-
ble target.
When I was a kid growing up in
a beach town on the East Coast, my
favorite sort-of stepfather was a big fan
of surf fi shing. He didn’t care to fi sh the
beach as much as he liked getting out
on a jetty. I remember an exciting day
when he lost his footing and plunged
into the Atlantic. He drove my mother
crazy when he commandeered an entire
wall of the dining room to store his rods
and reels. We ate what he caught, and he
gave the surplus away. Like many fi sh-
ermen, he threw back pregnant female
fi sh to help repopulate the waters.
I might have made the three men I
spoke to a tad uncomfortable when I
asked if there was a limit. They were
vague on the subject. Oregon requires
an angling license to fi sh for surfperch.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife
webpage hasn’t been updated on the
subject, but the last posted bag limit
is pretty generous, 15 fi sh per day.
Although surfperch are available year
round, spring and early summer are
the most productive time of year for
anglers as they are schooling up along
sandy shorelines for spawning. The best
time to fi sh is said to be an hour or two
before high tide. Experts advise taking
advantage of low tides to scout out good
surfperch water; look for deep holes or
depressions and steeply sloped beaches
where the waves break hard. Rocky
areas in the sand, or sandy areas near
jetties, or where the shore cuts inward
are also advised.
Surfperch fi shing requires sturdy
tackle, not because the fi sh are so big
or heavy, but to handle the heavy surf.
While every fi sherman has their per-
sonal preferences when it comes to
tackle, the basics are a 9- to 11-foot
rod capable of handling a 2- to 6-ounce
weight. You’ll also need a spinning reel
large enough to hold 200-300 yards of
15- to 30-pound monofi lament line. My
personal advice if you’re new to this
sport is to stop by Jim Brien’s Bait &
Tackle Shop located at 766 Avenue S in
Seaside. Go in and talk to him. Jim will
fi x you up.
Seaside Signal
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