Richard "Dick" Baltus

Roy Love Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award Recipient, 2026

Dick Baltus (Wilson ’73) took a road not often traveled on his way to the Roy Love PIL Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award for 2026.

Others have run, hit, scored, jumped, pitched, caught, kicked, swam, vaulted, coached, won championships or otherwise distinguished themselves onndiamonds, courts, tracks and fields on their journey to enshrinement.

Since stepping in for the late Steve Brandon in 2023 as  principal author of the Hall of Fame website's “Member of the Month/Members Spotlight” features, Dick has written some 70 in-depth profiles, relating the stories of athletes, coaches, administrators, volunteers and other significant contributors to the PIL’s storied history.

Not that Dick didn’t try to take the better-known route to the Hall himself. His own baseball career at Wilson was cut short, as he puts it, by “The absence of promise and a knee injury -- mostly the promise thing.”

More promising was Dick’s writing talent. He says he had no idea he could write, let alone succeed in a long writing-related career, until one day in English class at Wilson, when a writing assignment caught the eye of his teacher, Janet Smith, which set him on his way.

After earning a journalism degree from the University of Oregon in 1977, Dick took a job covering sports, and eventually serving as sports editor, for The Gresham Outlook newspaper. From there, he moved into several corporate communications positions in Portland before moving to Roseburg in 1993, where he directed the Marketing Department at Mercy Medical Center before launching his own marketing communications agency in 1997, then merging it with the Eugene-based branding firm AHM Brands in 2015.

Dick retired in 2023, but shortly before that began contributing member profiles to the Hall of Fame website in his trademark conversational style that leaves readers not only familiar with the member’s achievements, but with a sense of their personal stories and subsequent lives.

“I started my career telling the stories of athletes, coaches and other interesting people, but the deeper into management I got, the further I got pulled away from the kind of writing I've always enjoyed most," he says. "So in a way, my work with the Hall of Fame has taken me back to where I started. That, plus reuniting with some friends from 50 years ago and meeting new friends, have helped make for a very rewarding transition from work to retirement."

In addition to writing Member Spotlights, Dick led the redevelopment of the PIL Hall of Fame website, which went live in November 2025, and today serves as the organization's webmaster. He's also a member of the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors.

Dick and his wife, Debi, have been married since 1997. Daughter Rikki and son-in-law, Nick, provided Dick and Debi with their first grandchild, Wilder, now 7. Dick's siblings include an older sister, Sue, and younger brothers Tim, Dan and Jeff. PIL Hall of Fame inductees.

--Profile written by Jim Hays

‍

The Roy Love PIL Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award honors the profound legacy of the late Cleveland High School and Portland State University pitching standout and former PSU head baseball coach and athletic director. Roy dedicated his life to Portland athletics and was instrumental in establishing the PIL Hall of Fame, at one time serving as its president.

‍