Jeffrey Paul "Jeff" Durham
Published: May 8, 2008 -- McMinnville, Ore., News-Register
1940-2008
A celebration of life for former McMinnville resident Jeffrey Paul "Jeff" Durham of Forest Grove will be held 11 a.m. Thursday, May 8, at the First Christian Church, 2231 19th Ave., Forest Grove. The Revs. Spencer King and Richard E. Osburn will officiate.
Interment will follow at 2:30 p.m. at the Mount View Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Forest Grove. Arrangements are being handled by Fuiten, Rose & Hoyt Funeral Home in Forest Grove.Mr. Durham died at the Jennings-McCall II Assisted Living Center in Forest Grove on Thursday, May 1, 2008. He was 68.
Born in Portland on April 21, 1940, he was the son of Paul H. Durham and Amelia "Litz" (Litzenberger) Durham. As a young boy, he moved with his family to McMinnville, where he graduated from high school in 1958.
He went on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees in education at Linfield College and administrative credentials from Portland State University.
He married Amy L. Schroeder on June 18, 1960, in McMinnville. The couple settled in The Dalles initially, later moving to Portland, then to Forest Grove in 1966.
He began his career at Wahtonka High School in The Dalles. He then took a job with Centennial High School in Portland. He began teaching history at Forest Grove High School in 1966 and continued there for 22 years.
He served as the varsity football coach at Forest Grove for many years. He led his team to seven consecutive league championships, a state record at the time, and was awarded Oregon Coach of the Year honors in 1976.
He served as athletic director at McMinnville High School for two years before returning to Forest Grove in the same capacity. He retired in 1993.
Following his retirement, he continued to be involved in sports, refereeing both basketball and volleyball. He was an elder with the First Christian Church in Forest Grove and an active member of the Forest Grove Rotary Club. He served as president of the OSAA Coaches Association.
He was an avid golfer who played with a retired teachers group at the Sunset Grove Golf Club. He also liked to travel.
In May 2010, he was inducted, posthumously, into the McMinnville High School Sports Hall of Fame. He joined his brother, Terry Durham, who joined the Hall in May 2008.
"He was a family man and always enjoyed spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren," the family said.
In add
ition to his wife, Mr. Durham is survived by a son, Bradley "Brad" P. Durham of Portland; two daughters, Kelly L. Drake of Hillsboro and Jill Durham of Cornelius; a brother, Terry J. Durham of Hillsboro; a sister, Cathy A. Devine of Chicago; and four grandchildren.Contributions may be the Layton Alzheimer's Study at OHSU, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239, or Hospice of Washington County, 900 SW Oak Street #202, Hillsboro, OR 97123. To leave online condolences, visit http://www.fuitenrosehoyt.com/.
JEFF DURHAM, senior member of undefeated Linfield
Football team, will be starting at the split end position
With the offensive unit against Whitman college at Max-
Well field Saturday night at 8:30. Durham is one of only
Two McMinnville high graduates to be members of the Wild-
Cat squad this season. (Photo by John Buchner). Oct. 20,
1961, McMinnville News-Register
Additional information:
>During the time Paul Durham (Linfield coach, athletic director, faculty member) was McMinnville News-Register sports editor, Gordon Gillmouth (McMinnville High Class of 1958 and Linfield Class of 1963) was a N-R sports writer. He covered McMinnville High school sports for the N-R for seven years, three while in high school and four years while at Linfield.
>Below, read about Forest Grove's Jeff Durham Field.
http://www.fgnewstimes.com/sports/story.php?story_id=121375042781267300
fitting tributeForest Grove announces plans to name its new synthetic turf field after longtime football coach Jeff Durham, who passed away in early May
By Zack Palmer
The Forest Grove, Ore., News-Times, Jun 18, 2008
File Photo / News-Times
Former Forest Grove football coach Jeff Durham
walks off the field after a playoff victory in 1976.
:::Supplemental info, not included in this story: In La Grande on Eastern Oregon State College’s Mountaineer
Field Saturday afternoon, Nov. 20, 1976, Forest Grove defeated La Grande, 23-12,
in Oregon state Class AAA football semi-finals. La Grande led 12-8 at halftime.
Left to right, Jeff Durham of Forest Grove High and Doc Savage of La Grande
High, respective head football coaches.:::
When Jeff Durham took over the football program at Forest Grove High School more than 40 years ago, it was in rough shape.
A little over a decade later, when Durham turned over the reins to longtime friend and assistant coach Jeff Basinski, the Vikings had won seven consecutive league titles, appeared in one state championship game and advanced to the quarterfinals four other times.
“He left the program in great shape,” Basinksi said of Durham, who died on May 1 at age 68. “I always joked with him that maybe he left things in too good shape. Seven league titles in a row – the expectations were pretty high.”
But that was Jeff Durham’s legacy – leaving things in better shape than when he started. So it’s fitting, then, that Forest Grove announced plans earlier this summer to name the school’s new synthetic grass football and soccer field after the longtime coach and athletic director.
“There was no question about naming the field after Jeff,” said Forest Grove athletic director Doug Thompson. “There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind.”
The school broke ground on its new facility this spring and it will open in the fall with a dedication ceremony at Forest Grove’s first home football game on Aug. 29. The stadium itself will still be named after longtime athletic booster Dick Hendricks, but the playing surface will forever be Jeff Durham Field.
“It’s well deserved,” Basinski said. “There haven’t been a lot of coaches who have achieved that level of success. From my standpoint, I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor as a football coach.”
After a stint as an assistant coach at Centennial High in Gresham and as head coach at Wahtonka High in The Dalles, Durham moved to Forest Grove and took over the football program in 1967. The Vikings went 0-9 that year. In his first three seasons, the team won just three games.
“The program wasn’t in real great shape when he took over,” Basinski said. “It took Jeff a little while to get things turned around.”
That turnaround began in the early ‘70s, and the Vikings won the first of what would become seven straight league titles in 1973. The pinnacle of that stretch was the 1976 season, when the Vikings went 10-2 and played for a Class AAA state championship. Forest Grove lost the title game to Sunset, but the team’s achievements resonated with Durham.
“Working with the 1976 Forest Grove High School football team has been the greatest athletic experience of my life,” Durham, who was named State Coach of the Year, wrote in the school yearbook.
The Vikings advanced to the state semifinals again in 1978, losing to Roseburg, and the team made another playoff trip in 1979, Durham’s last season as head coach. One of Durham’s greatest joys was coaching his son, Brad, now a Forest Grove assistant coach, on those final two teams.
After coaching, Durham spent another decade as the athletic director at Forest Grove. Even later in life, crippled by Alzheimer’s Disease, he remained a loyal and passionate supporter of Viking athletics.
“Even in the rough times he could remember the team’s record from almost every season he coached,” Thompson said. “He never forgot anybody on his coaching staff. He would have been the first one to tell you that those guys had more to do with the success of Forest Grove football than he did.”
One of Durham’s other lasting marks on the Forest Grove football community was his role, along with Ernie Montano, in building the Little Guy football program.
“Those two set up the youth program in Forest Grove and it became a statewide model with positive reinforcement from third grade on up,” Basinski said.
“He knew that’s when it was going to happen,” Thompson said. “Not when they were sophomores. The Little Guy program was the key to building a strong high school program.”
Durham is survived by his wife, Amy, and their three children; Brad, Jill and Kelly. His funeral was held on May 8.
“There were a lot of old players at the funeral,” Thompson said. “That was great for the family to see all that love and support from the kids whose lives Jeff touched.”
Coach’s comment
This Is What Jeff Durham wrote in the 1976 Forest Grove High School yearbook about his football team’s accomplishments:
“Working with the 1976 Forest Grove High School football team has been the greatest athletic experience of my life.
Here was a group of athletes, dedicated to the idea that willingness to work, sacrifice, great effort and determination could result in a football season more successful than any in the history of the school. This squad was composed of young men who liked each other, worked well together, had confidence in each other, and always were able to do what was necessary to get ready mentally, physically, and emotionally for each game.
This team was made up of great young men, the finest kind of people that anyone could hope to work with. There wasn’t a ‘bad egg’ in the lot. Most of them were tough and rugged individuals, but none of them ‘toughs.’ They proved that young men can be great athletes and still gentlemen.
Our assistant coaches, Larry Binkerd and Jeff Basinski, along with the help of Ron Siegrist, proved invaluable to our season’s success. Their countless hours of hard work on and off the field led directly to our great year.
I’ll remember individually and collectively, players and coaches, for the rest of my life. I owe them a sincere debt of gratitude for giving me the greatest season I have ever experienced.”
::::::
Jeff Durham Field at Dick Hendricks Stadium was dedicated at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, 2008, prior to the Forest Grove-Sandy High School football game.
Speaking of Forest Grove, also in Forest Grove is Chuck Bafaro Stadium, named for the Linfield grad (Class of 1953)/Linfield Hall of Famer.
..............
Jeffrey P. Durham
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The Oregonian, Portland
A service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 8, 2008, in First Christian Church in Forest Grove for Jeffrey P. "Jeff" Durham, who died May 1 at age 68.
Jeffrey P. Durham was born April 21, 1940, in Portland. He graduated from McMinnville High School and Linfield College, where he also earned a master's degree. He taught at Centennial High School and later Forest Grove High School, where he was the varsity football coach. In 1976, he was "Oregon Coach of the Year," and he was an elder in the church. In 1960, he married Amy L. Schroeder.
Survivors include his wife; son, Bradley P.; daughters, Kelly L. Drake and Jill Durham; brother, Terry J.; sister, Cathy A. Devine; and four grandchildren.
Remembrances to the Alzheimer's study at OHSU's Layton Aging & Alzheimer's Disease Center. Arrangements by Fuiten, Rose & Hoyt.
