Huyett�s commute: Portland to Umatilla - March 8, 2005

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2005-03-09

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60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, March 8, 2005   Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery      SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries   Life   Opinion   Tempo   AP News   Weather   Classified   Archives   Site Map   SPECIAL SECTIONS   Since We Asked   Outdoor Journal   Menu Guide   How To Guide   Health   Readers' Choice   Real Estate Showcase   Real Estate Guide   Joy Magazine   Homelife Magazine   Wedding Guide   Passport to the Rogue Valley   SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad  TOP JOBS   EXTRA   NIE   Personals   Movie Times   TV Times   E The People   Volunteer   Moving here?  eSouthernOregon   CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 8, 2005 Huyett’s commute: Portland to Umatilla Prep Notebook By DON HUNT Mail Tribune Shirley Huyett has gotten to know the 180-mile stretch of Interstate 84 between Hermiston and Portland almost as well as a long-haul trucker. For the past six months, Huyett has driven back-and-forth from her new home in Portland to her new job at Brownell Middle School in Umatilla, a small town five miles off I-84 near Hermiston. Huyett stays at her daughter Lindsay’s home in Umatilla during the week but opted to make several extra trips along the Columbia Gorge this winter in order to watch her younger daughter Hilary play basketball at Lincoln High in Portland. "I never missed a game," Shirley Huyett says. "The gorge (I-84) normally gets closed five or six times a year because of wind and ice, but this has been a dry year." Huyett did get caught in an ice storm in Portland one weekend but didn’t miss a day of work because the same storm closed school in Umatilla the following day. Advertisement The Huyetts had lived in Ashland for all but one of the past 13 years. Shirley Huyett was the head women’s basketball coach at Southern Oregon University between 1990 and 2001, where she compiled a 220-111 record. In 2001, she was named the head coach at Idaho State but got fired 20 games into the 2001-02 season. The family moved back to Ashland, and then to Portland last summer before Huyett landed a job as dean of students at Brownell Middle School. Brownell has 335 students, 55 percent of whom are Hispanic. Most of the parents don’t speak fluent English, but Shirley Huyett’s secretary speaks Spanish and serves as a translator. "It works out pretty well," Huyett says. "I’m enjoying my job. It’s a challenge, but then so was coaching. This is a nice change. I’m making more money (than she did while coaching) and I have a lot less headaches." Huyett hasn’t totally abandoned the coaching profession, however. She guided the Brownell cross country team last fall. "That’s a low-key situation and it was fun to be with the students in a non-disciplinary atmosphere," Huyett says. Hilary Huyett, meanwhile, helped Lincoln to a Portland Interscholastic League championship, a 22-4 record and a No. 6 state ranking, but the Cardinals lost 65-59 to Tualatin in a play-in game to the Class 4A state tournament. "She fit in very well with us," first-year Lincoln head coach Jeff Peeler said. "We needed a ball-handler and she stepped right in and played point guard for us." Hilary Huyett was named second-team, all-conference in the PIL. "We had two first-team kids (Lauren Greif and Hannah Oken-Berg) and Hilary really deserved to be the third," Peeler said. "But they weren’t going to give us three." JERRY DROSCHER, who served as the head baseball coach at Grants Pass High from 1975 through 1980 and at Roseburg High from 1981 through 1990, died at his home in Roseburg on Feb. 27. He was 67. Droscher also coached football and basketball and served as a teacher and guidance counselor. Droscher, who was born in Shelton, Wash., was a standout baseball player at Roseburg and Oregon State. In the summer of 1958, following his sophomore season at OSU, he helped put Oregon on the amateur baseball map when he helped the Drain Black Sox to a national championship. The team, which posted a 54-4 record, was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. Droscher’s 1976 Grants Pass High team won the Class 4A state title. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home  | Local News  | Sports  | Business  | Obituaries  | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives  |  Site Map  | Community  | Classified   Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress Advertisement s