A nationally ranked javelin thrower. A pair of collegiate All-Americans. A record-setting sprinter. A standout wrestler. A brilliant distance runner. All were inducted into Klamath Union Sports Hall of Fame as the school celebrated its homecoming last weekend.
Oh, there was a bloody good baseball team, too.
“It’s always fun to see everybody we don’t get to see very often,” longtime KU coach Ken Coffman, who served as emcee at the induction luncheon, said. For the new Hall of Fame members, it was a time to renew memories.
Two individuals were unable to attend the luncheon – Lori Wagner and Chad Mattox. Wagner graduated in 1981 and was a nationally ranked javelin thrower before the spear was changed to slow the charge of incredible throws that were taking place. Her toss of around 153 feet remains the KU record. She also played basketball for legendary coach Al Keck and matriculated to Oregon Tech where she threw the javelin and played softball.
Mattox, a rare single-sport athlete, became the first Basin’s Best four-time tournament champion, a competition to determine the best in the area, and compiled a 118-13 record wrestling for the Pelicans. Brady Lukkari, Kristina Matchett, Mark Brooks and Luis Garcia all were on hand to receive their awards, as were two members and two coaches from KU’s 1990 state championship baseball team.
Lukkari, who ran cross country in the fall and distance races in the spring, would go on to run both at Portland State and Boise State universities. She was among the superb distance runners at KU, many of whom would go on to run for a variety of NCAA Division I programs.
Matchett, who, with little question, is the greatest volleyball player in KU history, and is the only Pelican to gain first-team All-State honors in the sport. A three-time Southern Oregon Conference Player of the Year, she went on to an All-American career at Southern Oregon.
In 2013, Matchett was named to the SOU Athletic Hall of Fame.
Garcia, too, had an All-American collegiate career as a soccer player at the now defunct Concordia University in Portland. Also a basketball player and track and field athlete at KU, Garcia was a three-time SOC soccer Player of the Year. He was Cascade Collegiate Conference Player of the Year three times.
All competed when the Pelicans were in the Southern Oregon Conference, often one of the smallest schools in the league which now would be Class 6A, with opponents like South and North Medford, Grants Pass and Roseburg.
Brooks, who played football at Humboldt State University, and had gained All-State honors at Klamath Union, was a rare four-sport athlete (football, basketball, baseball and track and field). He set numerous school records in the sprints, including one which had stood since 1935.
Joe Tacchini and Josh Sellers joined coaches Dave Steen and Tim Simmers to represent the 1990 baseball team, and played at a time when Steen noted the Southern Oregon Conference clearly was the best baseball league in the state of Oregon.
The Pelicans, who finished the season 29-2, beat Roseburg for the state title before almost 5,000 fans at Medford’s Harry and David Field. “At the time,” Tacchini said, “we thought it was about winning league championships, state championships. Now, 30 years later, we realize it really was about excellence, something bigger than yourself. Sacrificing for something bigger.”
His sentiment easily could have been echoed by other Hall of Fame inductees. “There are a lot of memories,” Steen said. “It’s the kind of kids you have.” As well as the others, Coffman capsulated what the Hall of Fame represents.
“We are lucky to have people who were not only good athletes, but people have gone on to do something positive with their lives,” said Coffman, who coached basketball as well as track and field at KU. Lucky, maybe. Blessed and honored, certainly.
Steve Matthies is the sports editor emeritus of the Klamath Falls Herald & News. He covered Klamath Basin sports for more than 30 years.
