Terry Durham-McMinnville High Sports Hall of Fame

Terry Durham-McMinnville High Sports Hall of Fame

http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=234512

Durham looking forward to Saturday's ceremony

Published: May 6, 2008

By JIM WALKER
Of the McMinnville News-Register

Terry Durham, one of McMinnville High's brightest sports stars in the early 1960's, will join an all-star cast Saturday, May 10 as he is inducted into the Mac High Sports Hall of Fame.

Durham, who graduated in 1963, said his time at Mac High "was a great learning experience" — from academics to the psychology of life. The people — his teachers, his coaches and friends — "made this a great town," he said. "I had a great group of teachers."

One of Durham's finest moments at Mac High came in March of 1962 when the Grizzlies did the unbelievable—upset number one North Eugene in the state basketball tournament at McArthur Court in Eugene. Early on, Mac fell behind by 13 points, and many of the 5,514 fans were betting that North Eugene would handle the Eldore Baisch-coached Grizzlies easily.

But the head and subhead of the News-Register story that appeared in the Friday, March 16 issue tell a different story: Grizzlies Nip N. Eugene; Advance In State—Durham Keys Final Drive. And, with several of his teammates nursing foul trouble, including Big Jack Morrison, who fouled out in the late going, Durham took over.

Here's how News-Register sports correspondent Gene Anderson described the final minute of the March 14 game: "With Morrison on the sidelines and the score 60-59 North Eugene, it was up to Durham, and he came through brilliantly. Thwarted after several attempts to set up a play or shake a player in the clear, he drove down the left side, jumped and banked the ball cleanly through the net with 12 seconds showing on the clock."

And while the Grizzlies added two more points before the final buzzer to win by three (63-60), everyone agreed, including coach Baisch, that without Durham's take-charge performance at the end, North Eugene, not Mac High, would have advanced to the winner's bracket of the tournament.

Durham's time at Mac was well-spent. After a full day of academics, he hit the fields and courts of Mac High, participating in and earning honors in football, basketball and baseball — sports he continued at Linfield College where he also collected a number of honors and awards. He graduated from Linfield in 1967 with a degree in education after quarterbacking the football team, playing guard on the Wildcats' basketball team and competing in baseball under the guidance of Roy Helser.

His performances in Wildcats' athletics were impressive as well: Durham is a member of the Linfield Sports Hall of Fame.

In fact, he was good enough in football to play the 1967 season for Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in the Continental Football League — and he competed for a slot on the Chicago Bears roster in both 1967 and ‘68.

His coaching career started under Linfield baseball coach Ad Rutschman, a period during which he earned his masters.

Durham taught and coached for a few years at the high school and college levels, even assisting his father, Paul Durham, the long-time Linfield football coach. He also served as a graduate assistant for Stanford one season. Then he moved on to other exploits, including officiating. That interest grew into a 24-year career as an NBA official. "It was a great experience," he said of his officiating years. Now, he said, he would like to teach officiating to others.

"There's not a better honor," Durham said of his induction into the Mac Hall of Fame. "Few individuals have such an opportunity."

Durham lives close by in Hillsboro. But the years he spent at Mac High and in the community of McMinnville are etched deep in his memory, he said, and he still has "great friends" who live in Mac.

Like the other inductees, Terry Durham will have a few minutes to talk about his experiences at Mac High and officially take his place in the Mac Sports Hall of Fame at the induction ceremony Saturday, May 10, at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.