Education and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame

Thursday, October 22, 2015

David Gillaspe of GoLocalPDX partner site Oregon Sports News

How do you make it to the Oregon Sports Hall Of Fame? The same way you make it to Carnegie Hall, you practice. No one gets there accidentally.

Just like it takes more than a few words to write a sports column, it takes more than one hit, one score, one basket, to make any hall of fame.

Some readers might scoff at the whole idea of any sort of museum that doesn't include dinosaurs and cars and reflections on capital-C culture with gowns and hats. They need to visit a sports hall of fame more than anyone.

The amazing thing about a state hall of fame like the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame is their role as education promoter. To that point, you can find halls of fame in most schools, from grade school to high school. Each has their place and their fans.

What parent wouldn't want their kid in any hall of fame? What parent wouldn't want to be in a hall of fame to show their kids? The competition and expectations rise with each grade. Adults may think high school hall of fames are cute until they get enshrined in one. Then it's a big deal, a calling card.

Imagine making it into a college hall of fame where your name joins the greats of bygone years. In between national halls of fame and college HOFs are museums like the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Not everyone makes the leap from college to state level status.

As a sampler, try and name athletes inducted into their college HOF, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, and a national HOF. Start with the colleges:

You'll find some college greats repeated in the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

This is where the education benefit kicks in. If you have grade school and middle school aged kids, or have friends who do, show them this post and task them to show their kids. Make it a research project to find the athletes who double up in college halls of fame and the big show, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

They'll have a great time tracking sports stars from local, to state, to national level. Oregon has players who left their mark at each stage.
To double down on education, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame goes a step further.

From oregonsportshall.org:

Scholarship Recipients

Every year the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame awards up to six $3,000 scholarships to outstanding Oregon student-athletes who will be attending Oregon colleges. These worthy scholarship recipients are routinely straight-A students with multiple All-League and All-State designations and other leadership attributes. Typically they go on to successful careers in education, engineering, business and other pursuits. There are printable forms that will give you more eligibility information and requirements. Click Oregon Sports Hall MacTarnahan Scholarship Application 2015.

Who are these scholarship recipients? The 2015 Scholarship Winners are Wesley Riddell, Pete Lahti, Tanner Scanlon, Jensen Haigh, Katherine Totten, and Quincy Pendergrass.

Do you think they'll appreciate an extra $3000 for college? They will remember the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame the rest of their lives and tell their friends and family about their good fortune. Who wouldn't love to have that story in their memory bank?

Those are the names future researchers will connect to even more halls of fame.

GoLocalPDX partner Oregon Sports News: Since 2011, Oregon Sports News has provided entertaining, hard-hitting local sports news & commentary every weekday. To read more from this author, check out Oregon Sports News by clicking here.

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