Ron August was a 1964 Linfield grad who coached football at the college after a long and successful career coaching the sports in Willamette Valley high schools.
For the Linfield Wildcats he tutored several record-setting All-America kickers.
August's success as a football coach is well known. The fact he lettered in swimming as a diver for Ken Holmes coached Linfield swim teams is not. He came to Linfield as a California junior college transfer planning to play football. But, injury prevented that. So, he became a 'Cat diver.
August, 70, died Jan. 28, 2012, in Salem, Ore., Hospital. Survivors include his widow, Betty, who studied at Linfield.
Prior to coaching at Linfield for 12 years, August coached football at Dallas, Ore., High School -- leading the Dallas Dragons to a state championship -- and Salem’s McKay High. In total, he coached the sports 43 seasons.
Linfield Sports Information Jan. 30, 2012, news release, source of some info in story above.
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Below from Salem Statesman-Journal
Ron August, former Dallas, McKay, Linfield football coach, dies
Former Dallas, McKay and Linfield football coach Ron August died Saturday at the age of 70,
Linfield sports information director Kelly Bird confirmed.
August spent 43 years coaching football between the three schools.
His teams were known for their use of the veer offense.
August was an assistant at Dallas from 1964 to 1969 and the team’s head coach from 1970 to 1988.
The Dragons made the state playoffs 10 times with August as head coach, including winning the state championship in 1986 and reaching the state title game in 1988.
He was the head coach at McKay from 1989 to 1995. His ’89 team was the first from the school to make the state playoffs, and it would be in the playoffs in all seven of his seasons at the school.
August had a 183-75 record as a head coach and was the Class 3A state coach of the year in 1986.
He served 12 seasons at Linfield as an assistant coach before retiring from that position in 2007.
At Linfield he primarily worked with special teams and was on the coaching staff for the Wildcats’ 2004 NCAA Division III championship team.
August was inducted into Dallas’ Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.
Photographs above: Wildcatville photo of purple-clad Ron & Betty August at the Nov. 21, 2012, L&C at Linfield football game and photo from the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame website. Ron as a swimmer from 1963 and 1964 Linfield Oak Leaves yearbooks.
Jay Locey, a former Linfeld head football coach and now an Oregon State assistant, and Bill Dressel, were among those who spoke at Ron’s 2/18/2012 celebration of life in the Dallas, Ore., Gym. Former Linfield football players Dressel ’62 and Paul Ward ’59, both of whom played football for the Wildcats, were assistants on Ron’s first Dallas football coaching staff in 1970. Clipping of May 1, 1970,apparently from Dallas, Ore., Polk County Itemizer-Observer.
