Nine former Hood River County high school athletes were honored on Sept. 21 when the HRVHS Sports Hall of Fame inducted them and two girls basketball teams into the hall.
The inductees included Claude E. Buckley, Odell High School (1945); Kayla Byers, HRVHS (2014); Timothy Copper, Wy’East HS (1968); Todde Greenough, HRVHS (1984); Brian Grenfell, HRVHS (1981); Travis Haase, HRVHS (1992); Kay Kiyokawa, Hood River HS (1939); Curtis Peters, HRVHS (1996); and Annette Wells, HRVHS (1973). The 1993 and 1994 HRVHS Girls Basketball teams were also inducted.
After receiving the award from master of ceremonies Mark Bailey, Byers expressed gratitude to her parents for the many years of support they provided when she played. "Thank you, mom and dad, very much for everything. I love you."
Two multi-sport men from the 1930s and 40s — Buckley and Kiyokawa — were honored posthumously. Kiyokawa's son Don told the crowd his dad was a competitor. After being disenrolled from Oregon State in 1942 after two years, the U.S. government sent Kay, his family and others of Japanese descent to the Tule Lake, Calif. Internment Camp. After more than a year, a Quaker church group helped Kay, his sister and other Japanese American college students to enroll at the Univ. of Connecticut. There he resumed his agricultural studies while becoming an-all Conference football and baseball player.
Don told the gathering that while playing against the Univ. of Maine, Kay came to bat and people in the stands on both sides started chanting, "Tojo, Tojo, Tojo.” [Referring to Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who presided during World War II] Dad said it "pissed him off," so he hit a double to right field. During his second at-bat, only the Maine students were chanting, ‘Tojo, Tojo,’ so, Kay hit a triple to right-center. "What was incredible," Kay told Don, "was when I came up the third time they began chanting, 'Slugger, slugger, slugger.'"
After lettering four years on the varsity track team, including at Wy'East as a freshman, Wells became an all-star in Track & Field at HRV. She also earned three varsity letters in basketball and was a cheerleader all four years. Wells wanted to be the first girl to play football in high school. Years earlier, it required written permission and the principal's ok for her to play football with the boys at Pine Grove Elementary. "I had to wear shorts under my dress," she said. "I wouldn't be here tonight without my competitive teammates and coaches. I'm so delighted to see the many opportunities ladies have to compete today and I'm very excited for my granddaughters."
Event organizer and the Hall's co-founder, Phil Hukari said the event was well attended and the commitee loved the varying groups of athletes who were inducted. "We may not have known about Kay's unique success story or watched teams coached by Tom Greenough be inducted along with his son Todde. The Hall has some financial challenges next year, but we're meeting this Fall to review bylaws and work through this" he said.
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