Moments in History

June 25, 1897

An article in The Oregonian announces the debut of the "Oregon Interscholastic League" with a track and field event held at Multnomah Field.

There is no mention of how many schools participated, but the report focuses on athletes from Portland High School, the city's lone public school at the time. Other schools mentioned are PA (we assume Portland Academy), Pacific University and HBC (which we assume stands for Hudson’s Bay Company).

With the exception of a Ben Norden of PHS, who won the novice 100-yard dash, only the last names of the young participants are listed. We presume that Ben had a brother ,necessitating the use of his first name.

Among other PHS athletes to win events were guys named Blumenthal, Wickersham, Dammasch, Upton, Wisdom and Scholler (or Schuller or Schaller. In the article, the name is spelled multiple ways).

Portland High School eventually became Lincoln High. It was located on several sites in what is now downtown Portland over the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Multnomah Field, of course, was located where Providence Park now stands.

•The same edition of The Oregonian includes items about an upcoming cricket match between the Married Men and the Bachelors at Riverside Park.

• A basket ball (sic) exhibition was scheduled for that evening at the EastSide Young Men’s Christian Association grounds at East Sixth and Salmon between the host club and the champions of California from San Francisco.

• Another item stated that, though a local bicycle dealer was suspended for hosting a race on a Sunday, participants wound not be suspended.

March 9, 1915

A story in The Oregonian states that a meeting was planned yo discuss admitting the Portland School of Trades to the "Portland Interscholastic League," which included Portland Academy, Hill Military Academy, Columbia University and public high schools Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Franklin.

‍June 4, 1925

The Oregonian reported that the high school baseball season would not be completed and that no champion would be crowned. Reasons included ineligible players on several team, rainouts and scheduled final exams. Benson and Washington were tied for first place when the season was abandoned

NOVEMBER 11, 1925

Jefferson wins the PIL football championship with a record of five wins and two ties, clinching the title with a 19-0 defeat of Lincoln at Multnomah Stadium. Washington (6-1-0) finished second, followed by Commerce/Cleveland (4-2-1), Benson (2-2-2), Grant (2-4-1), Franklin (1-2-3), Lincoln (1-4-1) and Roosevelt (0-5-2).

Citing the lack of an approved state playoff format, Jefferson declined the opportunity to face Medford for a showdown of top teams in Western Oregon. Instead, Medford hosted Salem in what was billed a sthe championship of western Oregon. Medford won 16-13 in front of some 5,000 fans on Dec. 5, 2025.

‍DECEMBER 2, 1950

Led by PIL Hall of Famers George Shaw, Ruben Menache and Ron Pheister, Grant wins its second consecutive state championship, beating Marshfield of Coos Bay 12-7. It was the Generals’ 23rd consecutive win over two seasons and fifth state title in eight years. The Oregonian reported that Grant scored twice in the first half but that Marshfield controlled the second half and came up just short of a winning touchdown. The newspaper described the crowd of 10,595 at Multnomah Stadium as “small and disappointing.”

Shaw, the Grant quarterback, went on to star at Oregon and in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts.

Menache, a two-way lineman, was 1st-Team All-State in 1950 and named outstanding lineman in the 1951 Shrine Game. Pheister, the center, would later serve as the longtime PIL Director of Athletics and was involved in establishing the PIL Hall of Fame.

Grant had reached the state title tilt by beating Roosevelt 13-0 to claim the PIL title, then taking down Astoria 38-0 in the state quarterfinals and Eugene 7-6 in the semifinals.

‍May 30, 1963

PIL Hall of Famer Rick Wise pitched a two-hit shutout as Madison blanked Pendleton 5-0 in the big-school baseball state championship game.

According to the account by Oregonian writer Leo Davis, a crowd of 3,778 at Multnomah Stadium (now Providence Park) watched Wise strike out 16 of the 23 batters he faced over seven scoreless innings.

PIL Hall of Famer Keith Lampard homered for Madison. Ron Lucas hit a two-run double and Wise an RBI single in a three-run fifth inning.

By 1965, Wise was in the major leagues pitching for Philadelphia, the start of an 18-year career in the majors that included pitching in the 1975 World Series, one of the most memorable of all time (Wise was the winning pitcher in the classic 12-inning Game 6 that ended with the famous Carlton Fisk home run).

The left-handed hitting Lampard went on to be an all-Pac-8 player at Oregon. He played most of his nine professional seasons in the Houston Astros minor league system, appearing in 62 major league games and getting 10 extra-base hits including one homer for the Astros.

PIL Hall of Fame coach Bill Wiitala’s Madison program had reached the state quarterfinals in 1962. In 1961, the Senators won quarterfinal and semifinal games but had to forfeit those wins because of using an ineligible player.

The 1963 title was the first of six state baseball championships for Madison. The Senators repeated as champions in 1964, went back-to-back in 1969 and 1970, and won titles in 1981, under Dave Gasser, and in 1997, when they were led by Jeff Erdman.

Nov. 7, 1975

Madison stunned top-ranked Benson 12-0 at Civic Stadium to claim the 1975 PIL football championship. Both teams finished the regular season 9-1, but the Senators qualified for the eight-team Class AAA state playoffs thanks to a goal-line stand and forcing four Techmen turnovers. Two second-half fumbles set up short Madison scoring drives.

Tom Bugelow and Greg Hay (115 yards on 19 carries) scored on short runs for the Greg Walls-coached Senators.

In the state football playoffs for the first time in Madison history, the Senators beat McNary in the state quarterfinals then lost at Milwaukie in the semifinals. Sunset won the state title.

On the same day, Lincoln won the PIL cross country team championships for. both boys and girls. Cardinals’ sophomore Rob Arkes won the boys 5,000-meter race at Franklin High, with a time of 16 minutes, 22 seconds. Grant sophomore Sue Arfmann won the girls’ 3,000-meter race in 11:37.7, but Lincoln placed four runners in the top 15 to take the team title. Notably, Grant was without defending state champion Elaine Pond, who was ill, or the Generals likely would have repeated as PIL champion. Pond also missed the state meet, which was won by Ontario.

benson grapplers go back to back in '82, '83

Benson is the only PIL program to win a team state championship in wrestling. The Techmen won back-to-back titles in 1982 and 1983.

In 1982, Benson individual state-tournament champions were Aaron Chiles (115 pounds), PIL Hall of Famer William Taylor (141) and Oscar Hicks (191).

In 1983, Travis West (98 pounds) and a repeat title from Taylor (141) allowed the Techmen to edge second-place Sandy for the crown.

Taylor was the team captain. He went on to win a national junior college title at Clackamas Community College, be an All-American and team captain at Oklahoma and serve as an alternate for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team.

february 1997

On her way to the PIL Hall of Fame, Lincoln’s Lauren Thies set meet records while winning the girls 200-yard freestyle (1:49.07) and 500 freestyle (4:49.07) at the state swimming and diving championships in Corvallis. Thies also helped Lincoln win the 400 freestyle relay.

The Cardinals finished second in team scoring, just a half-point behind state champ Sheldon of Eugene.

After high school, Thies helped Stanford win a national championship and was a five-time U.S. Swimming national champion and a national team member for more than a decade.

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Be sure to check back here for more key dates in the history of the PIL and Portland high school sports.