The rich soccer tradition that presently thrives in Corvallis was founded by visionaries with the devotion to create something special for our city to enjoy. Some of them continue to serve the Corvallis soccer community while others have subsided to make way for a new generation of soccer ambassadors. These people deserve a special place of honor based on their service, impact, tenure and accomplishment for the Corvallis soccer community, the Corvallis Soccer Hall of Fame.
Over my sixteen years in Corvallis I have been able to enjoy first hand the impact a number of people have had on the local soccer scene. I have also been fortunate enough to hear the stories of how soccer took root and flourished in Corvallis by the people that were here before me. Based on all of this it seems obvious to me that several people deserve to be among the first to be honored here. Here we go.
Cyril "Skip" Reeves
Skip began at Crescent Valley High School since the year it opened. In 1979 Skip Reeves captured the first of Corvallis' three high school state championships. As head coach he led the CVHS boy's team to a 1-1 draw and co-championship with Lakeridge overcoming. That early achievement inspired the city and many of the early soccer pioneers to create a strong soccer tradition in the Mid-Valley. A generation of young Corvallis players that were coached by Skip are continue to pass his contributions on to their own teams as coaches.
Elaine Markley
Over one-thousand children play in the Corvallis AYSO soccer program each year. It is easily the city's most successful youth program and Elaine Markley has steadily been one of the programs biggest volunteers and contributors since anyone can remember (I think its been over twenty years). As the Secretary for Corvallis AYSO, Elaine is the catch all for every face of the program's administration. Even though her own children have since outgrown AYSO, she continues her diligent efforts to ensure our children have a place to play soccer in Corvallis.
Ed Luebbert
Before anyone had even heard of a youth soccer club in Corvallis, Ed Luebbert was forming, managing and coaching local youth teams to participate in tournaments around the state. Ed's early efforts exposed the first generation of young soccer players in Corvallis to a higher level of training and competition and paved the way for the organizations like the Corvallis United Soccer Club to be created. Today, Ed enjoys watching his children and grand children play soccer in Corvallis.
Dave Oberbillig
Oregon State University soccer was born from a university soccer club that was coached by Dave Oberbillig for many years. He helped bring Division I soccer to OSU and when the University added soccer to its athletic program in 1988 Dave became the Beavers' first women's head coach. He lead the Beavers for four seasons finishing twice as the conference runner-up. Dave was also a co-founder of the Corvallis United Soccer Club and coached the first youth club team outside of Portland to win a state championship.
Blake Leamy
Blake first achieved notoriety in Corvallis as a youth soccer coach and one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Corvallis United Soccer Club. Blake served as the head coach of the CUSC for many years. Also know as the Reign, CUSC was a very successful soccer club that provided hundreds of young players in Corvallis with a higher level of coaching and competition. Blake was also the boys head coach at Crescent Valley High School and in 1996 won the the OSAA state championship. Blake has coached several OYSA state championship teams and in 2001 was honored as the OYSA Coach of the Year. Blake is also one of the founders of the Corvallis Sports Park and today is best known as the general manager of the local indoor soccer facility enjoyed by hundreds of children and adults each day.
Tom Rowney
Between 1992-97, Tom Rowney lead the OSU Beavers women's' soccer program. In 1994, Tom Rowney lead the the Beavers to their first and only NCAA championship tournament appearance. Tom is best know as the technical director of F.C. Willamette, the youth soccer club for many of Corvallis' best young female players since 1995. Tom oversees F.C. Willamette and the Goal-Line Soccer Clinics. Tom's club has won at least seven OYSA state championships. Note that Tom may sound English and enjoy stout but he was born in Ohio and is American. There the secret is out now.
Tony Vandermeer
The Willamette Valley Firebirds, a semi-professional soccer team based in Corvallis was the brain child of Tony Vandermeer. His efforts brought a soccer franchise to Corvallis and for a time gave the city its own semi-professional soccer club to support. In 1999 the Firebirds put Corvallis on the national soccer map by reaching the semi-finals of the PDL national championships. Hundreds of people used to attend the Firebirds matches. Tony also coached the boys team at Corvallis High School for many years. In 1995 he won the OSAA state championship with CHS. Tony has moved on to Redmond where he continues to coach high school soccer.
Jeff Merten
Jeff grew up playing in the AYSO program, at Crescent Valley High School under Skip Reeves and for the Beavers at OSU. His greatest accomplishments were not as a player (though he manages to hang in there with the modest gifts he was given). Jeffs love for coaching soccer led him to become the youngest coach in the country to attain a USSF "A" license. Jeff was a contributor to the creation of CUSC. He was resposnsible for creating the club's Developmental Program, a successful soccer program for children under ten. Jeff has coached other coaches, AYSO teams, youth teams and the CVHS girls program. With Blake Leamy, he helped build the Corvallis Sports Park where thousands enjoy soccer each year at the finest indoor soccer facility in Oregon.
Kelli Conkrite
Since she was as young as eight, Kelli Conkrite showed signs of being a great soccer player and she did not disappoint. Kelli is Corvallis' most accomplished local-grown soccer player. Kelli has been an Olympic Development Program national pool player. As a soccer standout at Corvallis High School she was a two-time Valley League Player of the Year, two-time All-State first team selection and scored a total of 49 goals during her junior and senior seasons. Kelli was recruited by the University of Portland and in 2005 appeared in 20 matches for the Pilots' NCAA National Championship campaign. This past fall Kelli finished her senior season as the Pilots starting center back and reached the NCAA quarter finals.
For many of these people, it would take an entire page to fully describe their contribution to Corvallis soccer. I know I have summarized a great deal so I invite you to add your own contributions (as a comment) to help honor these individuals. Share your stories with us.
Undoubtedly some very important people are missing here. Let us know who should be honored in the Corvallis Soccer Hall of Fame. Tell us about their contributions to the Corvallis soccer tradition. Every few months or so a list of candidates will be presented here and everyone will be able to vote for their favorites.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Posted by Loyan |
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Labels: AYSO, Beavers, Corvallis, Corvallis Sports Park, high school, OSU, soccer
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10 comments
Great list! I appreciate the fact that there is some credit given to some old school people that have never been properly recognized - especially with the perspective of looking backwards from a relatively good 'height'.
This list of coaches is very good. I think that it would be cool to add at least one parent volunteer to Ed Luebbert's name: Mary Otley. Mary worked tirelessly in all sorts of volunteer positions with multiple clubs/schools/outfits for the better part of a decade. CUSC (and Corvallis soccer generally) wouldn't be what it is without her tireless efforts.
I notice that there is only one player listed. Kelli Cronkrite is an excellent player, and a credit to this town. I would add a couple of excellent players to the list: Matt Smith and Jon Edmonston.
Smith was captain of the United States U-16 team as a 14 year-old. Not in the pool, mind you, he was the captain. Could be enough on its own, but he was also captain of the CHS side that won the Oregon State High School championship - when CV and CHS were competing against 5-A school equivalencies. Those championships were for the best team in the state, bar none, and Smith was at the helm.
Edmonston was a pioneer in Corvallis soccer, and the best goalkeeper this town ever produced. At 12 or 13, he was training with high school teams. Since there were no soccer clubs in Corvallis, Jon played in Portland for Tony Betts' club, West Villa. Jon's drive took him to Oregon State, and then on transfer to Washinton - where the Huskies qualified for the NCAA tournament. In 1994, he was invited to participate in the prestigious Hutchinson Professional Goalkeepers camp in Scotland, where he played with and against legends like Peter Schmeichel of Denmark and Manchester United, Jim Leighton of Scotland, Aberdeen, MUFC, and many others. He was advised by Hutchinson to stay in Europe to sign a contract with scouts present at the camp. Jon returned to the U.S., and was killed in a motorcycle accident.
The first player (Corvallis) to have NCAA Div-1 scholarship, first player to be on a club state championship team, first player to be offered a contract in Europe (IIRC). Made a bunch of players in this town raise their sights.
Thanks for a great list. I'm looking forward to voting on some of the next nominees (including my own).
What about Brian Farber, aka the Human Light Particle. There may have been other players that came through, and there may have been more complete players, technically, but he RULED Corvallis Sports Park when he played, and he has a good little professional contract now indoors, and was signed by the Houston Dynamo (before having the contracted cancelled by the indoor team that he had signed with) in the MLS. His 40 yd dash time at OSU was officially 4.18 seconds, which means he was faster than any DB in professional football. It was scary to be on the field against him.
How about Robbie Findley who is currently getting caps for the US national team? MLS rookie of the year runner up..
Only one player, and it's a girl? That's quite a list! Wasn't there a Corvallis kid that was the captain for the US U-17 team? What about all the OSU kids that have gone on to play in the MLS or for the US senior national team? It's nice that there's a bunch of "very important" people, coaches, etc. etc., but with no players on this list, what do these coaches get credit for? Someone must have been winning all those games that are listed in those bios.
Uh oh! You are gonna get some of the ladies angry with that comment!
If it makes you feel any better, kelli Conkrite has scored plenty of goals against the boys also.
Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions.
My intention was to bring attention to those people that have had a big impact on the Corvallis soccer community. Some of these people impacted hundreds and even thousands of people.
Matt Smith of Corvallis captained a United States youth team. He and other will listed as candidates for future voting.
John Callahan without a doubt belongs on this list! A Corvallis High legend from the playing field all the way up to the head coaching position. As someone that did it for only a few years compared to his decades of service it takes a lot of time and effort to be involved with a program and stick with it through the highs and lows. His character cannot be questioned and he always looks fly with the latest neon replica jersey straight from Germany! Small in height but huge in heart.
About Jon Edmonston, much appreciation for what has already been given here, to which I would add that Jon was, to the best of my knowledge, the first player in the former Valley League to receive a Division I soccer scholarship and he held scholarships at two different Pac-10 universities, Oregon State University (1991) and the University of Washington (1992-1994), where he transfered in 1992. He lettered with both programs. Jon still holds the men's single season GAA at Oregon State with a 1.03 goals-against-average, a record that has stood since 1991. Until two years ago, he held the lowest single season GAA for any goalkeeper in the history of varsity soccer at OSU, both men's and women's. At UW during the 1994 season, Jon recorded five shutouts in a row. Jon was a member of Olympic Development All-State teams in three states, in his native state of Louisiana, Oregon and Washington. He made first-team All Valley League three times, was captain of his Crescent Valley Soccer team in his junior and senior years, MVP both seasons, and made Oregon High School All-State in his junior year.
Great idea this blog and I am very impressed with the list of men and women suggested for the HOF. I also want to apologize for so many aborted attempts to get something posted here. Sometimes I'm a slow learner.
While it is fun to be considered here, there are a couple others I would add. Iain MacSwann was the true driving force of the OSU men's club team for many years and hired me for the coaching job there. Iain was the faculty advisor but was also known to take the field (into his 50's) when the boys were down a player. His dedication to the program and love for the game were second to none. The Fuller family come to mind. Tim and Leslie Fuller were around when the CUSC first started and their four kids; Garth, Nathan, Ian, and Carly were great players all and I believe all went on to play college soccer. Ian is still playing in the USL for the Charleston Battery (I see him -- same style -- some nights on FOX). Ian and Garth played for me on the U12 team that won the state title in 1988. My son Ian is named after Iain MacSwann and Ian Fuller and by force of name has a great love for the game himself. Jimmy Conway was the first OSU mens coach. Jimmy brought professional credibility to Corvallis soccer. A playing legend in his time, he was a hard-nosed task master as a coach and certainly put OSU men's soccer on the map. Cheers to Corvallis soccer -- a rich tradition.
Dave Oberbillig, as a consumer of the Corvallis soccer tradition I would like to personally thank you for your contributions. Also thanks for visiting the blog!
It was fun reading the great history of Corvallis Soccer. I had no idea there were so many Corvallis 'Greats'.
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