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43 years and Marier's still going strong By Don Hunt It was the spring of 1957 when Tom Marier got a call from an old football coach at Washington State. Good teaching and coaching positions were opening up in Medford, the coach told Marier. So he packed his bags and left Prosser, Wash., where he had started his teaching and coaching careers three years earlier. More than four decades later, Marier still has one of those jobs � assistant coach for the North Medford Black Tornado football team. Marier, 75, will be on the sidelines today at Autzen Stadium in Eugene when the Tornado meets Churchill in the semifinals of the Class 4A state playoffs. He doesn�t have the responsibilities he once had when he served as the offensive coordinator for Fred Spiegelberg and as the backfield coach for Craig Hastin and Norm Musser. Still, Marier has forgotten more football than most of us will ever know, and current head coach Rod Rumrey is tickled to have him around. "He�s one of those guys who loves kids and athletics, and when the season�s over, you know he�s had a positive influence on your program," Rumrey says. Marier has watched the Tornado win state titles in 1959, �69, �77, �85 and �93, and believes this year�s squad has championship potential. "Other than that �59 team that was so dominant, this team is probably as good as any I�ve been around," he says. "We�ve got some awfully good athletes, and there really isn�t a weakness." The game has changed considerably since Marier joined Spiegelberg�s Medford High staff in the fall of 1957 (Medford High became North Medford in 1986 with the split of the two high schools). Back then, an average running back weighed 150 pounds and an average lineman 180. No one lifted weights, other than hay bales in the summer. The Tornado was running a single-wing offense, where the ball was snapped to a tailback or quarterback several yards behind the line of scrimmage. Face masks had just come into vogue. "The players today are bigger, stronger, faster and, in my opinion, tougher," Marier says. "And the game itself is much more wide open. Back then we didn�t throw the ball more than seven or eight times a game." Marier clearly remembers his first game with the Tornado � a 7-6 loss to North Salem on the road in September of 1957. Medford had led 6-0 most of the way, only to lose in the final seconds following an interception. Moments after the game, Marier saw an enraged Spiegelberg kicking up turf. "Paul Evenson was our line coach back then, and he told me right after the game to stay away from Spieg for 10 minutes," says Marier, who was an English teacher at Medford until retiring in 1991. "He (Spiegelberg) needed a cooling-off period after every loss." Marier was a standout football and baseball player at John Rogers High School in Spokane, Wash. As a single-wing tailback, he led John Rogers to a state football championship in 1942 and helped the school to a city baseball crown the following spring. Marier then joined the Navy, where he served as a radio operator on a troop transporting ship in the South Pacific during World War II. "We never saw any combat," he says. "Our biggest claim to fame was sinking a fishing boat in the San Francisco Bay. It went across our bow and that was the end of it. Luckily, no one got hurt." Marier left the service in 1945 and attended Washington State, where his baseball career continued to flourish. His opponents included Oregon State�s Frank Roelandt and Oregon�s John Kovenz, who Marier would later assist on the basketball and baseball staffs at Medford High. A third baseman, Marier also had a brief stint in professional baseball with the Phillies organization, but a bad back forced him into early retirement. "I liked Medford the day I got here, and even though it�s changed a lot, it�s still a great place to live," Marier says. Marier, who could pass for a man much younger than 75, plans on rejoining the football staff next fall. In the meantime he�ll keep the scorebook for the Tornado boys basketball team, another task he�s held since Elvis Presley was on top of the charts. Of the 22 starting positions on the field for North Medford today, 20 of them will be occupied by seniors. But if you think the Black Tornado will fall off dramatically next season, think again. For one thing, North Medford�s top two college prospects � lineman Dan Johnson and tight end/safety Travis Poulton � are both juniors. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Poulton leads the Tornado with eight interceptions and has six touchdown catches, but will likely move to quarterback next season. Running back Justin MacLauchlan, who has 602 yards rushing and eight touchdowns, is also a junior, as is Manny Alegria, another quality running back who has been slowed by injuries. Several other sophomores and juniors have been getting into the mix, and coach Rod Rumrey has his best freshman class in his 13 years at North eager to contribute. In fact, some of them already are. Running back Rob Folsom is on several of the special teams and made a key tackle on a kickoff against Newberg last week. Quarterback Beau Havland and 5-foot-11, 240-pound fullback David Faaeteete have been excelling on the scout team the past few weeks. "Each of those kids is going to help us next season and probably in a big way," says Rumrey, noting that Havland can play receiver and defensive back as well as quarterback. Football fans heading to Eugene for the North Medford-Churchill showdown at 3 p.m. today might want to catch a glimpse of the two highly touted quarterbacks playing in the noon game between Scappoose and Burns. Scappoose�s Derek Anderson, whose unbeaten team is ranked No. 1 in the Class 3A poll, is headed to Oregon State, while Burns signal caller Kellen Clemens is committed to Oregon. Burns is 11-1. The two are considered to be among the top high school quarterbacks in the nation. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.