Bits & Pieces-End of February Edition
A truly chilly event for Special Olympics, a big-name football camp and the Schonz’s wife passes
Salem’s Polar Plunge Challenge Coming
Coming very soon locally is the 2nd Annual Capital Polar Plunge event to benefit 5,000+ Special Olympics Oregon athletes. Participants jump/dive into the icy cold waters of the swimming pool at IIahe Hills Country Club in South Salem on March 4th. Festivities begin at 11:00 am and include a 5K fun run.
Fundraising efforts for the event are well underway, but donations are still being requested to reach the goal of 55 thousand dollars raised statewide.
Jessica Carpenter is the event chair, and whose youngest daughter, Olivia is a Special Olympics athlete.
“We are excited to share that all six high schools have signed up to participate in the event and raise funds for Special Olympics Oregon,” says Carpenter.
“Each school has an opportunity to keep 50% of their funds raised to support their Unified Programs.”
Two major fundraisers for the plunge are on the slate this week: one is February 27th at Adam’s Ribs Smokehouse on State Street—where diners making dine-in or takeout purchases and can donate a portion of their dollars to the Polar Plunge.
In addition, the REC (formerly Town and Country Bowl in Keizer) is allowing bowlers to donate a portion of their lane fees to the Special Olympics on Wednesday, March 1. Make sure to tell staff at both locations that you want to donate to the Special Olympics with your purchase.
Salem-Keizer School’s Unified Sports Programs—which encourage individuals with and without intellectual disabilities to engage through the power of sports—has been growing steadily over the past several years. Many Unified participants are involved with the fund raising effort, which includes a prize for the top fund raiser of a private tour of Salem’s renowned Brothers Car Collection—a museum with rare 600 vehicles.
For additional information about donations and related details, you can email Carpenter at capitalplunge@soor.org, call her at (503) 983-5752, or check out the capital plunge website here.
North Salem High hosts youth football camp March 4
Kids from around the Salem-Keizer area are expected to crowd North Salem High’s Littlejohn Field next month for a marquee football camp featuring North’s highly touted quarterback.
The event is called the TC Manumaluena II Viks Camp, and is organized by TC himself, who directed the Viking offense to an OSAA Columbia Cup appearance last fall. The clinic is scheduled for March 4 at North High, beginning at 9:30 am, with check in at 9:00. It is free to kids ages eight to fourteen.
In addition to Manumaluena, a long list of guests and coaches will be on hand to provide instruction.
Guests include new Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei—a transfer from Clemson, and defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei—and incoming freshman at Oregon. TC is expected to attend Oregon after his senior year at North Salem.
Other guests involved in the camp former North Salem and Southern Oregon wide receiver Dylan Young—who played in a national championship victory for SOU; Ex-Central High School and Boise State quarterback Grant Hedrick, and former Oregon wideout Jeff Maehl. Young, Hedrick and Maehl are among the coaches for the clinic.
TC Manumalenua told the Statesman Journal’s Pete Martini that he wanted to present the event because he noticed kids in the North area in particular didn’t do a lot of football camps.
“I wanted to try and get the elementary kids to start playing football early and to love it,” he told Pete.
Wife of “the Schonz” passes away
Just over a month after Oregon said farewell to the longtime voice of the Portland Trailblazers, the wife of Bill Schonely has passed away as well.
92-year old Dottie Schonely, who sat in a wheelchair next to her husband’s casket just a few weeks before, died Thursday. Bill Schonely was 93 when he died last month.
The two married in 1991, four years after Bill called Dottie up on the phone around the time of their 40th high school reunion.
A celebration of life is scheduled for Bill Schonely on March 13 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
I will stop here and encourage you to check out the dynamite tribute written by longtime sports journalist John Canzano about the wife of Rip City. John knew the Schonelys better than most people, and provides some touching insights into their relationship. Please give Canzano’s article a read at the site provided below.
Thanks, Mark, for the plug for SO Polar Plunge…well done. If forecast holds, it could very well be a “true” polar event for us jumping in, snow and all. Also, appreciated seeing the tribute from Canzano regarding Dottie Schonely.