Three high school seniors, Andy Ellis, Matt Kragness and Ashley Severns, were inducted into the Sweet Home High School sports Hall of Fame last week during the annual sports awards banquet at the Elks Lodge.
The three also were named the Husky Booster Club’s athletes of the year.
Severns earned letters in softball, basketball and volleyball. She was among the hardest-working and most committed, putting her heart into practices, Track Coach Billy Snow said announcing the award. She was upbeat, intense and always smiling. She willingly took a lesser role for her team.
Ellis lettered 12 times, four years in each football, wrestling and baseball. He was state wrestling champion his junior year and placed second his sophomore and senior years.
Ellis has a “burning desire for excellence,” Coach Snow said. He is a team leader and “all business when he should be. He elevated the performance of those around him.”
Kragness improved from his freshman year, maturing and developing a great work ethic and leadership skills, Coach Snow. He set a state record in the 400 meter, won the 200 and placed third in the 100 at the state track meet.
Along with maturity came persistence and a willingness to take on tough situations. He earned eight varsity letters with a “passion to make the big plays when needed,” Coach Snow said.
Olympic bronze medalist Dave Johnson told athletes at the banquet to “find a purpose and never sell it short.”
Johnson, now a teacher and coach at West Albany High School, won the bronze medal in the decathlon in 1992. He competed on a broken foot. During the 1992 Olympics and trials, Johnson appeared in the Dan and Dave Reebok television commercials.
He eventually ended his career in 1997. He began working in sports marketing and traveling the world before settling down with his family and teaching, he said. “I was sitting on airplanes instead of doing the right thing. I said, Lord, am I doing the right thing? He said go home and teach. In my heart I was thinking I needed to be closer to my kids.”
He congratulated Sweet Home students for their achievements, especially Ellis with his 12 letters.
“I got one letter when I was in high school,” Johnson said. “And Matt, nice job at state. I watched yourun.”
He credits his faith in Jesus Christ for his success.
“I learned to follow Christ my senior year,” Johnson said. “I can’t tell you how much of a difference that made for me to have something else to grab onto.…
“I didn’t start off so well though. I was in a lot of trouble when I was younger. I didn’t grow up in track shoes.”
Alcohol was the number one thing for Johnson and his friends, and they got caught doing things a couple of times. He never landed in jail though. He spent the first three years of high school getting into trouble, then he moved out of Missoula, Mont., to Crescent Valley where he made new friends and joined the football team.
He was fast and told the coach he was a wide receiver his senior year, 1981. He was the second-fastest player on the team.
“I remember being amazed that it was always there, but I never gave it a chance,” Johnson said. While on the team, another wide receiver, a Christian, introduced Johnson to the Bible.
“I picked up the Bible and found out who Christ was,” Johnson said. He learned that Christ’s love had always been there for him. “I’m never going to sell that short. I’m going to accept him into my life. I was going to live my life for him.”
After that, doors opened up for Johnson. He went out for track and field running the hurdles. He went onto college and set records at Linn-Benton Community College and Western Oregon University. Each year, he improved and ended up at Azusa Pacific University, a Christian university, on a scholarship.
It’s “absolutely amazing” that a single-letter athlete could come so far out of nowhere, he said. He credited that to finding a purpose and never selling it short.
A week before 1992 Olympic tryouts, Johnson had a sudden pain in his foot while working out. It got worse, swelling, as he qualified for the Olympics.
He went to see a pediatrist, who told him a cracked bone in his foot would break apart if he ran on it. Then it would need to be fused, and he would lose some use of his foot.
“We began to pray, asking what we’re going to do,” Johnson said of he and his coach. “We realized things aren’t perfect in life. It doesn’t mean it’s time to quit.”
Johnson got the impression he would know when it was time to stop. Every time he stepped on it, it felt like a knife jabbing him.
He traveled to Barcelona, Spain, for the Olympic games ranked the number one decathlete in the world. He held the world record in Javelin at 248 feet.
The first event, 100 meters, he finished fourth from last. He was packing his bags when he ran into his coach who told him it wasn’t time to quit.
“I was encouraged to give 100 percent for (God) and let Him handle the outcome,” Johnson said. He continued the games competing in the shot put then losing points in the high jump. He was hurting as he ran the 400 at 49.7, 1.4 seconds off from his best. Still, he wanted to quit.
The second day scared Johnson. He had the 110-meter high hurdles, and his lead foot was the one with the broken bone. He decided to leave it in God’s hands. After the fourth hurdle, he felt a pop in his foot and more pain. He finished 14.78. His best was 13.98.
“Thank God for coaches,” Johnson said. He ran into his coach again. After telling his coach about his foot, his coach said, “Well, jump around on it. If it doesn’t feel like it’s crunchy, you need to go out there again.”
He went back out and threw a 161-foot discus off seven feet from his besst. He made up ground on the pole vault, finishing that at 16’8” down from his best of 17’4”.
“This thought came over my mind of Christ carrying the cross up a hill,” Johnson said. “I envisioned the pole. I knew this was a cross that I was bearing for Him. It was an amazing thing to fly through like that not under my own power.”
Next was the javelin.
“I said thank you for everything else, Lord,” Johnson said. “I can take it from here.”
He knew he could throw 200 and win, but he fell down on the first throw. He threw 35 feet.
“I tried to take over myself,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t do it.”
His next throw was 203 feet and pushed him from fifth to third, leaving him only the 1,500 and the bronze medal.
“I’ll never forget the feeling of having done it for the right reason, for God,” Johnson said.
U.S. Marine Corp Distinguished Athlete
Liz Aman, Casey Aiello
U.S. Army Scholar Athlete
Jessica Brocard, 3.98 GPA; B.J. Emmert, 3.91 GPA
Greg Hagle Memorial
Liz Aman, B.J. Emmert
Booster Club Athlete of the Year
Ashley Severns, Andy Ellis, Matt Kragness
Hall of fame
Ashley Severns, Andy Ellis, Matt Kragness
Moe Award
Jessica Brocard, Israel Helfrich
OSAA Assistant Coach of the Year
Coach Tim Boatwright
Special Recognition
Coach Bruce West, retiring