A stellar Sweet Home High School athlete who went on to excel at Lewis and Clark College and then in a coaching career that spanned four decades was inducted Saturday into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
Royce McDaniel was honored along with Rudy Chapa for track and field, Liz Downing in the duathlon, Hershel McGriff for auto racing, Marshal Holman for bowling and Clyde Drexler for basketball.
The Sports Hall of Fame program said of McDaniel:
The former Sweet Home High School athlete, Royce McDaniel was a three sport letterman for Lewis and Clark College Pioneers, earning 12 letter awards in football, basketball and baseball.
He was selected to nine All-Northwest Conference teams, two as a quarterback, three as a basketball guard and four as an outfielder. He posted a career batting average of .339. During his four years at Lewis and Clark he started every game at quarterback.
Following graduation, he spent 37 years coaching. As head coach at Lakeridge High School his girls basketball teams posted a 134-68 record over 13 years which included a state championship in 1991, third place in 1992 and seventh place in 1994.
He also served 15 years as assistant coach before assuming the head position. While at Lakeridge, he also was head baseball coach for 20 years compiling a 346-210 record that included a state championship in 1974, third place in 1986 and fourth place in 1981.
Even today, in retirement, he assists with coaching responsibilities at Lakeridge, working mostly with younger athletes.
In a feature profile about McDaniel in the August 1 Oregonian, reporter David Cisneros noted that McDaniel had an opportunity to leave college after his freshman year to play professional baseball.
He chose to remain in college and complete his degree. When he graduated in 1961, 10 baseball teams attempted to sign McDaniel. He chose the Pittsburg Pirates with a yearly offer of $26,000.
The Oregonian reported that during his rookie year in the minor leagues, McDaniel hit .357 and led the league in doubles with 25.
McDaniel played two seasons in the minor leagues in Tennessee before returning to Oregon to begin his coaching career.
Saturday night’s ceremony is the 22nd for the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Master of ceremonies was Bill Schonely.