One Year Later: The Sports Seasons That Almost Weren’t
Superhuman efforts by many made pandemic athletics possible for Oregon teens
Even though discussions remain active, it still seems like it has been forever since the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 put a halt to our way of life.
The pandemic essentially shutdown the entire planet. In the United States, the battle cry was “two weeks to flatten the curve,” but the actual time frame for a return to “normal” was much, much longer. The virus claimed thousands of lives over the many months of that year, while shutting down the United States economy, and closing schools. A secondary, yet significant loss for many of our nation’s young people was prep sports. Most of the nation’s sports seasons were completely shut down. The prep winter and spring sports of 2020 were abruptly shuttered just as state championship events were starting in Oregon. It was a very sudden slap in the face of hundreds of athletes who would never complete their seasons.
The same sports shutdown remained in effect as the new school year began the next fall. Students were forced to conduct class on line as a health precaution. Learning suffered, and morale also remained low with the education experience being limited to zoom meetings. I was still a full time teacher at the time and it was easy to see that life was miserable for the kids.
But there remained a glimmer of hope, as the Oregon School Activities Association, working with the schools and the state of Oregon, made plans for limited sports seasons starting in January. Note that there were no guarantees—just a hope the seasons would happen.
It didn’t help that Governor Kate Brown and her Oregon Health Authority waited until the very last minute to formulate rules and make decisions about the pandemic sports seasons. It left players, coaches, and fans on edge, wondering if indeed they were going to be able to participate at all.
To remind everyone, prep sports during the pandemic were outright prohibited in the fall. The proposal called for moving fall sports to the winter on a shortened basis, followed by traditional spring sports such as baseball, softball, track and tennis. Winter sports (basketball wrestling, swimming would wrap up the school year from early April to late May. Leagues that had existed under OSAA rules were set aside, and instead regional matchups were produced between schools within close proximity of each other. So, for example, West Salem and Silverton played each other in football to start the season. One 6A and one 5A team less than 20 miles apart.
But that wasn’t all to the revised contest rules. Teams were required to wear facemasks, social distancing was to be maintained, and the fans were largely banned from the venues. So sports were being played, but nobody from the outside could actually watch, at least at the start of each season.
There were some allowances to provide media coverage of games. Radio stations could still broadcast games, although space in the press box/gymnasium was severely limited. As a radio broadcaster myself, I can tell you that our normal crew of four (with a spotter and statistician) was cut to just the play-by-play announcer and analyst. Any additional crew needed to set up broadcast equipment could show up to put said equipment in place, but had to leave immediately. So the radio work was also limited.
But the pandemic sports seasons did take place in Oregon—with some unique results and discussions.
First, there was no post season for most sports—period. In football, there were just six games instead of nine. No real league affiliations. And perhaps the worst aspect was the weather—games for football took place during the two coldest months (January, February) of the year. It was brutal, even on the radio broadcasters having to endure freezing temperatures with no heat in most press boxes. I can personally attest to the urgency of the mad dash to the restrooms in the extreme temperatures.
Still, there were some unique results from the six-game season in Salem. Among the highlights: North Salem won their first season opener in nine years, blanking Central of Independence 20-0. The Vikings also won back the Mayor’s Trophy from rival South Salem 41-30—thanks to five TDs from running back Isaiah Davis. West Salem nipped McNary 28-20 in a continuation of the fierce rivalry from the previous two seasons. South Salem rallied from 18 points down at halftime to edge McNary in overtime, 44-43. And in the season finale’ at Sprague, West Salem recovered their own fumble late, and rode the five TD performance of running back Nate Garcia in defeating Sprague 35-21 in a battle of unbeatens.
Sprague head football coach Jay Minyard was brutally honest about dealing with the gridiron year of pandemic sports. All the planning for masks (ugh-he says), social distancing, disinfection of equipment, 7 on 7 training in the fall, and related preparatory elements was draining and a strain on his family.
“At times I was so frustrated,” admitted Minyard, “I wondered if I really wanted to continue to coach.”
However, in the end, Minyard was thankful for the opportunity to work with players in person.
“Being able to be around the kids during those times of on-line schooling and isolation was.. the thing that probably kept me from going crazy.”
The second pandemic season, involving spring sports, was marked by unseasonably warm weather—which made it easy to complete track meets and softball and baseball games. With the seasons being restricted, the lack of rainouts for the softball/baseball games was paramount. It was quite the bonus when compared to normal seasons.
The final pandemic season—involving winter sports—was perhaps the quirkiest in some regards. The unusually warm and sunny weather continued unabated, and it made conditions quite uncomfortable inside the gymnasiums. There were actually some issues with too much sunshine beaming onto the gym floors—something never even considered during the dead of winter. Basketball players wearing masks sometimes took a quick personal timeout to lower their masks and take a deep breath, despite some concerns about Covid contamination. Still, the basketball competition was good, with several games going down to the wire. And the top boys team out of the local area? 5A-Silverton. The Foxes lost only one game the entire season—a narrow one to Sprague in the final contest played in the brand-new gym at North Salem High School.
And for wrestling, coaches took advantage of the warm weather by holding some of their meets outdoors—with mixed results.
North Salem wrestling coach Andy Pickett says a meet slated for Woodburn High had the mats out on the football field, but it was called off by noon due to what he described as “the ridiculous heat coming from the mats.”
Although not sanctioned by the OSAA, an unofficial 5A state wrestling tournament was later held in Cottage Grove—with negative results. Pickett recalls it was another “blazing hot weekend.” Although the tournament was held indoors, it was slow going.
“Officials were stopping in between rounds of matches to wipe down the mats,” said Pickett.
“This was between ROUNDS, not between matches. It was very humid inside and wrestlers were slipping and sliding off the mats.”
“It was the craziest state tournament I have ever been a part of.”
The 2021 pandemic seasons of Oregon prep sports were certainly crazy, but so worth it for kids who otherwise faced cancellation of a key part of their prep sports experience. A big salute to everyone from staff and coaches, to sponsors who made it a memorable experience for Oregon’s high school athletes.
May there never have to be another sports episode like it again.