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Support that's fit to bear Photo by Bob Pennell Ashland barber Don Evans fills his shop window with evidence of his Grizzly spirit. "I like to remind Coach (Jim) Nagel that his team didn't start winning until I got here," says Evans, who opened his shop in 1985. Grizz ardor propels boosters Supporters recall connections with competing teams By PETER WONG ASHLAND -- Many businesses display the high school's distinctive red paw print as the football team seeks the state 4A championship Saturday, but Don Evans' barber shop lays claim to popularizing the symbol of the Grizzlies. You can't miss his shop on Lithia Way. His windows and walls are plastered with Grizzly signs, sports programs and newspaper pages about Grizzly football victories. "I like to remind Coach (Jim) Nagel that his team didn't start winning until I got here," said Evans, who opened his shop in 1985, the year before the Grizzlies made their first playoff appearance under Nagel. "When I came here from Wyoming, where I had signs for the kids in my windows, there weren't any `Go Grizz' signs. So I started making them myself with paws like this, all by hand. I used to have them all around this building, and people stopped by and wanted to borrow them for the game. They started to make them around town a few years later." Evans has a connection with past football teams. "When my boy was here -- he graduated in 1993 -- he was in the band and traveled with the team wherever they went," he said. Ashland City Attorney Paul Nolte has a little different perspective on Saturday's game, which matches the Grizzlies against Southern Oregon Conference rival Roseburg for the second time this season. He was a member of Roseburg's 1961 state football championship team. "Both my wife, Jody, and I find that we root for Ashland," he said. "But we don't cheer much at Ashland-Roseburg games because we know our Roseburg friends are looking at us, so it's kind of miserable. We root for Ashland, but not as loud as we normally do." Nolte's daughter, Courtney, married a member of Ashland's 1989 team that defeated Roseburg for the title. With two exceptions, Roseburg or Ashland has been in every 4A title game since 1987. In 10 years as mayor, Cathy Shaw has seen the Grizzlies go to five state title games -- counting Saturday's showdown at Eugene's Autzen Stadium -- and win titles in 1989 and 1991. "I'm sure there is a relationship there," she said with a laugh. "But it has been a fun season to watch. "For the Grizzlies, this season has been a combination of a gasp and a smile. I have been impressed with their ability to work as a team, and their achievements have enhanced my respect and admiration for the ability of Jim Nagel." There is a friendly debate about which past team this year's squad most resembles. "This team resembles that 1991 team in that they were not predicted to win the state championship," said Ken Mickelsen, the city's longtime parks director, whose daughter was a classmate of many of those players and whose son played on Nagel's first playoff team. "I would say that this team has surpassed the expectations of most people -- except for themselves, who believe they are going to do it just as the 1991 players did." Bill Cobb, an insurance agent whose son was in the class of 1989, said he understands the excitement of this year's parents and friends of this team. "To me, it's unbelievable that they've made it this far," he said. "I hope they can pull off one more miracle." Pete Belcastro, play-by-play announcer for the Grizzlies on Medford radio station KCMX, said this year's team combines the surprise of the 1991 team with the newness of the 1989 team. It's the first to reach the finals since 1993. "The earlier successes seemed to come so easily that people began to take it for granted that the team would get there," said Belcastro, director of Rogue Valley Community Television. "Then came the next four years. Now with this team, I think people realize how difficult it is to achieve this, how much work it takes to get there -- and how wonderful the experience is." Last year's team, with Nagel's son Erik at quarterback, had been expected to go all the way to the title game until it was upset by Tigard in the second round. "The whole town was in mourning for weeks," Belcastro said. "I think this is more relaxed. If they lose Saturday, they still would have gone further than anybody ever thought they would in their wildest dreams." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA