Dick’s Sports Corners

Dick Oglesby

Hi! I’m Dick Oglesby, a recent arrival to Sweet Home but not a recent arrival to high school sports.

I’ve been helping out with sports coverage in The New Era, as well as doing some announcing for some of our local high school athletic events. Editor Scott Swanson has asked me to write a regular column about high school and community sports for the paper.

The difference between writing a sports article in The New Era and a column is that when I write an article about a game, I try to stick to the facts and what I observe, but not really get into my own opinion of what happened. In a column, though, I can give you my thoughts about what’s going on in our local sports community and insights into what I see as I hang around the practice fields and the games, as opposed to what a normal fan might see.

But first, a little bit about myself.

I was born 68 years ago and raised in Waukegan Ill., home to Jack Benny, Otto Graham, and Nat King Cole.

I played golf in high school and played center on the football team, but I was second string so I didn’t play all that much. I was a pitcher on the baseball team as well. This was back when they had horsehide covers on the baseballs. Since I had polio when I was 7, my ability to play sports was limited.

I moved to St. Louis in 1962 and worked for McDonnell Aircraft on the Mercury and Gemini space capsules. The space contract ended in 1965. I moved back to Waukegan where I started coaching Little League and ice hockey. The 12-year-olds on my first team are 56 years old today.

Besides coaching and writing sports, I’ve also been very involved in announcing them.

When I was in my late 20s, I was asked if I was interested in becoming a public address announcer for the local semi-pro hockey team, and I accepted. I was very fortunate to be trained by a professional announcer, who gave me the dos and don’ts of the job. Since that time I have announced for 40 years at various levels – professional, all college sports, all high school sports, Little League baseball, including District, Sectionals, and Division (State Champions).

I was president of El Segundo Little League for eight years after moving to California in 1978 to work in the aerospace industry there. Baseball was my busiest time, as I announced over 250 games a year, plus worked 40 hours a week. I announced college baseball and softball for 10 years.

I also had the privilege of working at the local Healthsouth training center, now the Toyota training center, for the Los Angeles Kings and Lakers. I learned at the very beginning that a public address announcer’s responsibility is to provide information to the fans, coaches, and players of the game.

This information is things like what penalty was called, who scored, who is at bat, who caught the pass, how many yards gained, and so on. Some P.A. announcers do play-by-play, try to be a comedian, or add a lot of comments during the game.

When I was planning my retirement I wanted to move to a location away from L.A. for many reasons, including cost of living and a community with a great high school that would possibly need a P.A. announcer.

I looked at my road atlas to see if there could be such a city in beautiful Oregon, and came across the name Sweet Home. I liked the location near the mountains, not far from anyplace such as the ocean, cities with hospitals, and other needed stores and points of interest.

I flew here to Sweet Home to check it out and found many nice things they have that L.A. does not. Number one is the friendly people who live here; second the beautiful country; plus a beautiful high school that is kept up as if it was built a year ago.

I had a meeting with Athletic Director Dave Goetz to see if Sweet Home H.S. needed a P.A. announcer for its sports programs. Dave informed me that he could use my help. Retiring was a major decision for me and if I did want to retire I would need to do so before school started, so I could get all moved in by Sept. 1.

Since I also wrote for the local paper in California on youth sports – anything from Little League to the local college, I called Scott Swanson to ask if the paper needed a writer and he said he could use some help in that area. So, on Aug. 1, I retired after 25 years of working in aerospace and arrived here in Sweet Home on Aug. 8.

I think what I like most about Sweet Home is the people who live here, down-to-earth, friendly, and not like a lot of the people in Southern California.

I want to thank all who have made my move here a pleasure and especially Rob Younger. the head coach of the Huskies football program. Rob is an excellent coach and treats his players with respect. His coaching staff is a group of young men who are very knowledgeable and treat the players in the same manner as Coach Younger.

Craig and Willa Martin of the water polo program and Debbie Danielson of volleyball – the two other sports I’ve been involved with so far – have been equal to coach Younger in being very good coaches and making me feel right at home in Sweet Home.

I am very happy I have made Sweet Home my new home, I expect, for many years to come. Scott Swanson has given me an opportunity to work with him on The New Era paper and that has been a great experience as well.

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