This past summer 1959 CGHS grad Herb Koppermann, a member of the Hall of Fame committee, was doing research at The Sentinel on teams and players from the past. While he was reading about the 1945 Cottage Grove football season, he would often turn to me and enthusiastically tell me about a great running back for the Lions named Noel Campbell.

He told me about the “bruising fullback” and how he scored four touchdowns in one game and three in the next, and so on. It became evident that Campbell was the star player on the team that went further in the state playoffs than any team in CGHS history.

We were surprised that we had never heard of Campbell since we both grew up in Cottage Grove and both of us played sports and were sports fans.

Alan Richards, Mark Conrad, Grant Boustead, Scott Vanderkley, and Mark Sizemore were all household names and members of the 1000-yard rushing club, but who was Noel Campbell?

When I first heard Kopperman say the name Noel Campbell I thought to myself, ‘did he say Noah Campbell or Noel Campbell?’ For an instant I thought about the minister I knew with the same name, but quickly dismissed the thought it could be the same person. After all, the Noel Campbell I knew for over 15 years at Faith Center in Eugene would have never played football. He had such a meek personality that was further accented by his gentle voice and sweet smile. The Noel Campbell I knew had the demeanor of Red Skelton (for those of you old enough to remember) who at the end of his television show would always wish his audience a good week and say in an “unmanly” voice: ‘may God bless.’

Fast forward to early December. Campbell, as well as six other athletes, a coach, a team, and a community contributor were selected to be inducted into CGHS’s third athletic hall of fame class. I needed to get a picture of each inductee, which was easy for everyone except Campbell, because there were no high school yearbooks in 1945. I called up Wilbur Heath, who had played on the ’45 team and who had told me last summer that Campbell was still alive and living in Spokane. Heath had a group photo of the 1944 team at a banquet with a picture of Campbell.

To my amazement, Campbell at age 16 looked quite a bit like the minister I knew. I began to wonder, but “knew” it couldn’t be the same gentle pastor/teacher I had known.

Then I remembered that last summer Heath had also told me that he and Campbell had gone to Oregon State College together and Campbell had become a pharmacist. The minister I knew had also been a pharmacist and had moved to Spokane about 20 years ago to be on his son-in-law’s church staff. This was much too coincidental, but my mind could not accept the possibility that the "bruising" CG football star and meek, mild pastor/teacher could be one and the same.

It was, as stated often in the movie “Princess Bride,” “inconceivable” to me. I could barely fathom the football star idea, but him being from my home town was too much to digest. In all the time Noel Campbell had preached and taught at church, I had never heard anything about him having played football and/or being from Cottage Grove.

I began talking with friends of mine from the Eugene church and they had no clue either. A current pastor at the church, who has known Campbell very well for many years, didn’t know either. In fact, one of my friends ran into one of Noel’s sons,who lives in Eugene, and his own son didn’t know his dad had been a football star! For me and many others, discovering the Noel Campbell we knew had been one of the greatest football players in Cottage Grove history, was a revelation (pardon the use of the word in this context).

Noel, now in his early 80s, grew up in Winlock, Washington. He and his cousin Gene from Castle Rock, Washington, moved to Cottage Grove for their freshman year of school in the midst of World War II.

“When I moved to Cottage Grove, that’s when I really started my sports,” Campbell said from his home in Spokane. “We were shielded from a lot of that (the war), at least in high school. Cottage Grove was a good place to live. I loved it. It was a great heritage for me.”

Campbell played on the varsity football team for three years and it the 1945 season became what The Sentinel termed “the big gun of the T-formation attack.”

“Coach French had us in a single wing formation,” Campbell said. “Our senior year we changed to an I-back. We struggled for the first couple of weeks in our senior season until we discovered how well it worked… and then we loved it.”

At 6-feet, 175-pounds, Campbell was a big running back, not only for those days, but even currently. Lions coach Gary Roberts would certainly welcome a back of Campbell’s size and speed.

Here’s how The Sentinel described Campbell during the 1945 season write-ups:

“the powerful fullback,” “speedy fullback,”

“paced by their driving fullback,” “his sweeps around end that season became a Lion tradition.”

The Lions played six games in the regular season and Campbell dominated the statistics that were reported.

In the Reedsport game he scored one touchdown and ran for two extra points. The next week against Junction City, Campbell ran for four touchdowns and an extra point. The headline for the third game against Sweet Home said: “Campbell Atomizes Sweet Home.” It was not a politically correct headline for our modern ears, since the game was played only about six weeks after two atomic bombs ended the war with Japan. Nevertheless, Campbell ran for four more touchdowns and gained 146 yards on 18 carries. Game four was against a tough Roseburg team and Campbell scored on touchdown runs of 30 and 40 yards. Next for the Lions was the University Hi team from Eugene. Campbell continued his exploits scoring two touchdowns, two extra points, and intercepting two passes. He rushed for 224 yards in the game, one he mentioned as he looked back almost 65 years: “I remember the field we played on was sandy and oh, man that sand would get between our pads and skin and would just rub us raw,” Campbell said.

The Lions beat Springfield for their sixth win, but we don’t know if Campbell scored or not in the 13-0. In the playoff game against McMinnville that ended in a 20-20 tie, he had touchdown runs of 16 and 22 yards.

In seven games Campbell had scored at least 16 touchdowns and five extra points for a total of 101 of the Lions’ 194 points.

Certainly the impact Campbell made and the numbers he accumulated are hall of fame worthy. Campbell’s 16 touchdowns (at least) in a single season has only been surpassed by Alan Richards with 20.

































Kopperman Noel Campbell and 1945 team

Game 1: TD, XP XP

Game 2: 4 TD, XP 14yd, 10 yrd 5 yd 55 yd on fake punt from GNeid

Game 3: “Campbell Atomizes Sweet Home”

4 tds, 146 yards on 18 carries

Game 4: 3 tds vs. Roseburg 40 td. 30 yrd td

Game 5: University Hi 2 tds, 2 xp 2 inter.

“Noel Campbell, the Grovers charging fullback, was again the big gun of the T-formation attack.

Gained 224 yards almost 4 times as much the University Hi eleven.

Game 6:: Springfield ?

Game 7: 2 TD 22-yard

16 TD in 6 games, not sure about Springfield 101 pts.

509 443-2230

Sentinel descriptions:

“the powerful fullback”

“speedy fullback”

“paced by their driving fullback”



“His sweeps around end that season became a Lion tradition.”





Mickey:Noel Campbell

Played fullback heckuva runner

Natural loose leg whichever side they came at him it was loose

He would shake it off and keep going

Unless they hit him dead square on they weren’t going to stop him

He had his weight on the other side

Very pleasant.



Very good football player

Wasn’t a speedball, but he could move



Newton: He was a very impressive guy and we were fortunate to have him on our team. He wasn’t scared of contact. If he knew he was going to get hit he’d try to make it as tough for them as they would to him. He was a fast, big guy and just a good ballplayer.

He was a tough runner. I know in practice several times I tried to tackle him and he ran by me three or four times.

Basically he was a great guy to start with. A good friend and a very hard runner. You could always depend on him…a good blocker. He was bigger than a lot of us were….big enough to where it made a difference as far as getting people out of the road. He was an awful hard runner.

He was a neat guy.

I didn’t know anything about him getting his nose messed up until we got back to school a couple of days later.

That’s the kind of guy he was. He didn’t have the time of day to moan or groan about it.



Reeves:

Very hard-running fullback. He was very hard to tackle. I used to run around with him and Gene Campbell.

Sort of quiet but a tiger on the football field.



Gene Campbell

he almost impossible to tackle. He was just a hard runner. He had a funny gait. He didn’t have any weight on one leg and when he brought the other one up he usually knocked you on your fanny. He was a really strong runner.



Castle Rock Winlock



Heath:

What a nice, mild, sweet guy he is, but when we were in high school and we played football, he was a hard-driving, hard-hitting rough guy.

Roomed with him at Oregon State and worked with him logging in the summers through high school.

We had a good relationship. We was a good guy to be around.

Ran with his knees high, don’t hit him because you’re in trouble.

He was not aggressive at all or anything. On the field he was a different guy. He was almost mean and nasty when he got on the field and ran. He ran with his knees very high and when people tried to tackle him all they hit were those hard knees and he’d pound them out of the way.

I think we would still be fantastic, maybe not at his age, Wilbur (laughed).





Noel:

French, Dusenberry



Seen current teams, how do you think you would do?

Watch any CG football when in Eugene?



How was the experience?

Memories?



Moved to CG at end of freshman year. 1943. Winlock Washington.



Sports: not football. Not too much. Not like I was when I got to Cottage Grove. That’s when I really started my sports.

Live on Black Butte Route

Track and played basketball my senior year.

Track: went to state meet in broad jump, ran quarter mile and threw the discus



WWII: It was great. We were shielded from a lot of that, at least in high school.

Cottage Grove was a good place to live. I loved it.

It was a great heritage for me.

Cousin, Gene Campbell

Sophmore-Senior

I was a linebacker and halfback.

175 pounds. 6 feet

French: He had us in a single wing formation.

Senior year changed to I-back.

We struggled for the first couple of weeks in our senior season until we discovered how well it worked and then we loved it.

Dusenberry: We loved him. We had trouble with the shift in formations, but we loved him as a coach. He was a great coach and really encouraged us. He taught us well and we got to go to the state semifinals. We loved it.

Featured back: I don’t know.

You got a lot of carries didn’t you? Oh, you betcha.

I sure did, just loved.

I had Wilbur Heath to open up the line for me. He was great. Right tackle

He and Campbell at guard really opened up the holes for me.

Ever watch CG games. I’m sure I did but don’t remember any details.

Watched some high schools in Spokane.

We were pretty good sized. I think they’re about the same. Not too much difference from what I’ve seen the last few years.

Quarterback: Neideigh:

He was very good. He did the passing. Good, very efficient.

He handed it off. Can’t remember how much he ran the ball. I doubt if he did too much because he wasn’t that big.

Memories: I remember we played against Eugene High. I remember the field we played on was sandy and oh, man that sand would get between our pads and skin and would just rub us raw.

I think the last game we played our senior year, I remember the most. We didn’t have faceguards in those days and I remember right near the beginning of the game. I got my nose broken. It seemed like every play they managed to hit my nose again.



Played the home game with a broken nose.

I loved football. I loved it. I just loved the sport. I just enjoyed it. It was fun playing.

Liked both very much.

It was fulfilling. I just loved it.

We really enjoyed it. Personally, I think we would have won the game if Gordon N. hadn’t broken his arm.

Broken nose: It didn’t bother me that much. It hurt when they hit me again in the nose. We didn’t have faceguards in those days.

CG Hall of Fame: I laugh about it because it didn’t seem like to me there was anything outstanding about me. It seemed to me like it was just a fun game.



I don’t remember a lot of that.

Probably not son knew about.



It was just something that I enjoyed and I did and I didn’t feel like I was anything outstanding. It was fun to play. That’s all I can tell you.



They gave me a scholarship at Oregon State.

We had to do some work around the college but I think it would probably be called a full ride these days.

Earned a letter on the OSU JV team. It was the first year we had all the veterans come back. The competition was extreme.

Went to OSU because he worked in logging at Cottage Grove in the summers

I loved logging when I was in it during the summers in high school and after high school. I did a lot of logging. Because I loved logging so I thought I would love forestry.

So, I went there, and I played football there because they gave me a ride to play. Study-wise I went into forestry. After I had been in it for six months, I realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do in life. That wasn’t the call I had for life. I quit forestry at the end of that year and went into pharmacy.

Glad you made that decision? Totally, absolutely.

Pharmacy back in those days would not make time for football players. I had to make a choice. So, I had to give up my scholarship and go to work in the grocery stores and stuff and studied pharmacy.



Regrets not playing football?

I look back on it now and I think probably it would be interesting to see what would have happened, but I don’t regret it in any way. Because pharmacy was really where I belonged and I got to be involved in youth ministry as a volunteer youth pastor for many years after I got out of college.

That’s where I belonged and I was tickled that’s where I was at because I wouldn’t have been able to do that with football.

My first job as pharmacist was in Coquille and that’s when I started as a youth pastor.

Went five years to college. None of forestry would transfer to pharmacy. Had to go a fifth year.

Married year before his last year of college.



Six children: Mark, Greg, Lori, Laina, Lianen, Regg.



Spent about 5.5 years on Wayne Cordeiro’s staff in Hilo, Hawaii and planted a few churches and has been in Spokane for 19 or 20 years.



Still on church staff. Basically teaching a discipleship class. I’m loving it. Just loving it. I have a passion for discipling people.



I’ve always love that heritage and love living there. It was a great place to live. They gave us a good education and I have great memories of living there.

I loved my English teacher



In 2000 had a heart attack and wear a pacemaker and defribillator that I wear around, but doesn’t hinder me any.

Logging: It’s a dangerous work. I helped carry more than one guy out of there.

Plans on coming down. I’m looking forward to it.



















For the complete article see the 01-27-2010 issue.

Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 01-27-2010 paper.