A Golden Age of Caveman Sports
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6 E — DAILY COURIER, Grants Pass, Oregon • THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010 Highlights: 1936-80 A golden age of Caveman sports Dick James James led the Grants Pass High football team to the 1951 state championship as running back before starring for the GPHS won Oregon Ducks and Washing- ton Redskins. The GPHS graduate was six state titles inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, the Uni- during 1960s versity of Oregon Athletic Hall of Fame, the Washington Red- skins Hall of Stars, and the By Zach Urness Grants Pass Hall of Fame. of the Daily Courier Despite his small frame — n the 1960s, there were few 5-foot-9, 175 pounds — James places in Oregon with better became an All-Pro in 1961 athletics programs than and set a then-Redskins I Grants Pass High School. record by scoring six touch- The Cavemen won six team downs in a game against the titles during the decade, includ- Dallas Cowboys. ing a three-peat in wrestling, a James had 34 touchdowns pair of titles in football and an and gained 3,599 yards dur- unexpected championship in ing a National Football League basketball. career that also included stints “I think it was the best with the New York Giants decade in our school’s history,” (1964) and Minnesota Vikings said Tom Blanchard, the quar- (1965). terback on the 1964 state cham- James died in 2000. pionship football team, a National Football League Jerry Sherk punter for 11 seasons and the current GPHS athletics direc- One of the greatest athlete tor. “We had outstanding ath- ever to The Grants Pass High wrestling teams won state championships in 1962, 1963 and 1964. The 1962 team is pic- letes, coaches, administration emerge tured here, following the district championships. and support from the communi- from ty. You can’t argue with the I have known in my life who Maurer, who was a baseball victory against Corvallis in the Grants results.” had a sense of value ... a code coach and teacher at GPHS for state championship game. Pass Decade of winners The golden age of Caveman to live by,” said Rich Fahey, 35 years. The team finished with a 10- High, sports is best personified with who wrestled for the Cavemen But at the highest rung of 1-1 record. Sherk the football team’s coaching from 1963 to ’65. “Bill always 1960s GP state titles the football coaching ladder Grants Pass’ football team was a staff. took the high road. In that WRESTLING: 1962, 1963, always has been Ingram. The won its final state championship four-time Grants Pass’ football wrestling room, we were taught 1964 Old Gray Fox of GP football — it hasn’t won one since — National dynasty was engineered by Mel the value of work, work ethic FOOTBALL: 1964, 1967 already had established his during its co-title season in 1967. Football Ingram — who coached for 22 and discipline.” BASKETBALL: 1962 legacy by the time the 1960s Led by quarterback Steve League SHERK seasons, put together a 141-50-19 Yet another member of the rolled around, but he added two Endicott, the Cavemen went 9-0- Pro Bowl overall record and won four football coaching staff was a Wrestling champions more titles before retiring in 3 overall and won the title with selection and a 1976 Defen- state titles — but it was the staff man named Gordon Prehm, 1968. one of the most unorthodox sive Player of the Year during he assembled that became a who also happened to be the 1960: Bill Cole, Grants Pass “I wouldn’t say that I was playoff runs in Oregon high 12 seasons as a defensive microcosm of the school’s well- head basketball coach. (275) afraid of him, but I definitely school history. tackle with the Cleveland rounded success in the 1960s. Prehm was responsible for 1961: Gary Stevens, Grants knew my place,” Blanchard In the semifinals, the Cave- Browns. The football team’s defensive leading the Cavemen to their Pass (148) said. “He was not a guy whose men defeated South Salem After finishing school at coach was a man named Bill most unexpected state champi- 1962: Clayton Kreiger, Grants players called him by his first because they gained more total Grants Pass, Sherk excelled in Ryder, who also happened to be onship in 1962. Pass (157) name. There was a ton of yards in a game that ended both football and wrestling at the head wrestling coach of a The Cavemen didn’t enter 1962: Mike Nicholson, Grants respect, and by that point with a score of 21-21. The title Oklahoma State University. He team that won three straight the state playoffs that season as Pass (98) (1964), he already had that huge game was called a tie at 14-14 was an All-Big Eight selection titles from 1962 to ’64. Between favorites to win the title. In 1963: Mike Furlong, Grants reputation that you knew about against Jesuit. for football in 1969 and an All- 1962 and 1975, Ryder’s teams fact, their final record of 18-8 is Pass (98) before you ever started playing The decade ended in high American as a Cowboy won 12 district titles and were the third-lowest winning per- 1966: Steve Agee, Grants Pass for him.” fashion for the city of Grants wrestler in 1969. runners-up at state in 1965 and centage (.692) among teams to (98) The 1964 title team actually Pass when Blanchard (Univer- He was inducted to the ’66. take home a state basketball 1966: Mike Grant, Grants Pass came into the season with tem- sity of Oregon) and Endicott Oklahoma State Hall of Honor Winning individual state title. (141) pered expectations because (Oregon State University) faced in 2000. wrestling championships was Their run began with a 48-44 they followed a 1963 group that off in the 1969 Civil War. More more difficult in the 1960s — first-round victory against many thought had more talent. than 42,500 people filled Autzen Title IX there were only two classifica- Baker before they hammered lives in Shelton, Wash. “The Led by Blanchard and a slew Stadium in Eugene in the tions compared to six nowadays McMinnville in the second football team had won state of talented players, the Cave- largest gathering for a sporting On June 23, 1972, a law — but the Cavemen managed round 69-48. Grants Pass used a championships, and wrestling men defeated Roseburg by event in Oregon history at the was enacted in the United seven trips to the top of the late-game basket to beat Asto- had won some … it felt good virtue of attaining the most first time for a showdown between States that said that “no per- podium during the decade. ria and then knocked off Marsh- that basketball got some recog- downs — which was the tie- two former GPHS quarter- son in the United States shall, Ryder’s success was born of field 62-54 at McArthur Court in nition.” breaker at that time — after the backs. on the basis of sex, be exclud- the iron will of a disciplinarian. Eugene to claim the improbable There were other football teams finished the game in a Oregon State won the game ed from participation in, be Although he died in 2006, his state title. coaches who found success, dead heat at 7-7. 10-7, but more than anything denied the benefits of, or be former wrestlers still remember “Basketball was not a head- including Russ Werner, who The Cavemen then beat else, it put a bow on a decade of subjected to discrimination his toughness. line sport then,” said Prehm, won a state title with the cross Grant High 20-6 in the semifi- athletic glory at Grants Pass under any education program “He is one of the only people who is now 85 years old and country team in 1956, and Ron nals and capped it off with a 7-0 High. or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” That law became known most commonly as Title IX, and it forever altered sports Life in the fast lane of local horse racing both locally and nationally by requiring equal opportunity in sent day Ringuette Street, an. athletics. By Jeff Duewel of the Daily Courier where the Texaco is now. That Pari-mutuel betting came The result has been an included the tanks and the along in the 1960s, the races explosion of female participa- on Jackson sat in his pumps too — at no charge but expanded beyond just the fair, tion in sports at every level. recliner and combed the hauling. and the new track was built in Each high school in the Grants Dthrough his memories, Don and Dolores had saved 1969. Pass area now features girls gathered over 84 years. their money, and he planted “Today things are slow at volleyball, basketball and track Horse racing photos and the station on 5 acres he Jackson’s Flying Lark Ranch, and field teams. honorary plaques fill a wall, bought for $5,000. as horse racing has faded The larger schools also fea- leading to a huge television in Don’s Shell prospered some, taken over by people ture girls teams for golf, soc- the same spot he and wife because he owned everything, punching video screens in cer, cross country, tennis and Dolores placed their first tele- and people began to buy fuel at smoky casinos and playing swimming. vision in the mid-1950s. the edge of town, especially state lottery games. His hope- “We used to have people logging companies and their ful second coming of Flying Russ Werner over for ’rasslin, ‘Gunsmoke’ families.