Coach Hoffine was there for the kids

Jan. 10—Former Crater High School coach, assistant principal, district athletic director and Southern Oregon University Hall of Famer Lloyd Hoffine died Dec. 14, at age 89

Former Crater High School coach, assistant principal and district athletic director Lloyd Hoffine spent decades building the school's athletic program and spearheading regional events and facilities improvements, all while mentoring players and coaches who would follow in his footsteps.

Hoffine, who had battled cancer and a handful of health issues in recent years, died Dec. 14. He was 89. Friends, family and former players plan a memorial to share old stories and pay tribute to a man many say was one of Crater High School's most beloved and most influential people from the 1950s to 1990s.

A celebration of life is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, in the student union (the "old girls gymnasium") at Crater High School. Those who knew him best said it was fitting he would be inside a gym space that, as an administrator, he helped to spearhead.

A multisport star at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Hoffine was coached by his brother, another revered Oregon coach, Bruce Hoffine. The younger Hoffine graduated high school in 1952 and went on to attend Southern Oregon College from 1952 to 1956, starring in basketball and baseball.

Hoffine was a four-year starter for the Raider basketball and baseball teams. He was known on the basketball court for his extremely accurate "one-handed push," which yielded a school-record 1,532 career points.

According to Hoffine's listing on the SOU Hall of Fame: "The speedy Hoffine scored 298 points as a freshman, the second-highest total for a first-year player, and he averaged nearly 17 points per game as a junior and 18.5 as a senior. The two-time unanimous All-Oregon Collegiate Conference selection scored a single-game record of 38 points against Oregon College of Education in 1955. In baseball, Hoffine was the team's top starting pitcher for four consecutive seasons, including a 4-1 mark as a junior."

Almost immediately after graduation, save for a weeklong reprieve for the birth of his first son, Hoffine was drafted into the Army, serving in Germany between the Korean conflict and Vietnam War. Upon his return, he was hired to coach basketball for Crater High, where he remained until his retirement in 1992.

Former friends and players remember Hoffine for instilling respect in his players, setting a high standard and for coaching an unstoppable offense on the basketball court. He helped lead Crater to 20 conference championships, started the girls basketball program in 1977, planned and fundraised for an all-weather track at Dutch Meyer Stadium and helped establish the Mel Anhorn baseball field on Upton Road. Hoffine left his athletic director position in 1989 and served as assistant principal at Crater High until 1992.

Former player and Central Point native Mike Anhorn said Hoffine mentored a great number of athletes who went on to have athletic careers or to serve as coaches or in other leadership capacities. Anhorn helped found the girls soccer program at Crater and has served as a coach and community volunteer for decades. During his years at Crater, Ahorn said, Hoffine was his baseball and basketball coach.

"I remember he would get pretty angry when we lost, so, of course, we tried not to lose. ... He made you want to do well and was kind of a genius with coming up with defenses and offenses," Anhorn said.

Mike Glines, an all-conference player in football, basketball and baseball under Hoffine, went on to have his own successful career coaching for decades at Central Catholic High School in Modesto, California. Glines teared up talking about the former coach, who remained a constant in his life until Hoffine's passing.

"Coach was my mentor. I played three years of varsity basketball for him, and we stayed in touch until the time I graduated to my time in Vietnam. We talked a couple times a month until he passed. I've been a coach here in California a long time, and he followed my career," Glines said.

"Everything I learned was thanks to Coach. You had a problem; he was like a dad. He wasn't always your friend, and he'd tell you straight, 'I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to be your coach.' And then, of course, we turned out being friends."

Darryl Summerfield, former player and coach for Crater High and a leader for Junior Comet Sports for more than three decades, said Hoffine influenced his path in life. Summerfield remembered a devoted coach who got his point across and who brought his beloved dogs — a pair of boxers — to practices.

"I never had a coach I didn't like, but Lloyd was probably the best coach I had in high school for all the sports I played. He seemed to get kids developed better and quicker than other coaches in other programs," Summerfield said.

Summerfield said Hoffine wanted players to be "classy" and required white shirts and ties with sports jackets for traveling to away games. Summerfield added, "There was just an expectation that we carry ourselves well. He ordered us the jackets, and I remember they were gray, and they had a Crater 'C' emblazoned on the left chest."

Harvey Tonn, who spent more than three decades between coaching and administrative roles for District 6, serving, like Hoffine, as district athletic director, said Hoffine's impact had been far-reaching. Tonn met Hoffine as a freshman at Southern Oregon College.

"I was a freshman when he was a senior. He was unstoppable. He was a star on the basketball and baseball teams. We went our separate ways but reconnected when I went to work for District 6 as a PE teacher and basketball coach. He was head basketball coach at the time, so we became good friends and ran track meets together. We ended up playing golf and doing a lot of other things over the next 40 or 50 years," Tonn said.

"He was sort of an icon in the district. He had a lot of impact on changes and things that went on. He was behind a lot of improvements and things that were done athletically but also very involved in the reconstruction of part of the buildings and a lot of things that people don't even realize."

Tonn said Hoffine had a way of connecting with students.

"One of the things I used to tell staff members — the kids that you work with may not remember what you taught them, but they will remember how you treated them," Tonn added.

"I think that was something you could say about Lloyd and the way he treated his students and players. There was no one that said negative things about Lloyd Hoffine. He was kind of a different type of personality but, in his heart, he was there for whatever he could do for kids."

One of Hoffine's three sons, Eugene resident Scott Hoffine, said his dad had set a goal to make it to his Dec. 8 birthday before his passing but knew he wouldn't make it to Christmas.

The younger Hoffine said his dad packed more into one lifetime than anyone he knew. Scott Hoffine said his dad was "quite the athletic stallion," passionate about golf in his retirement. The elder Hoffine competed for nearly three decades, into his 80s after having had both hips and his left knee replaced.

"He golfed several times a week and volunteered at the finish line of Pear Blossom, and he was always in attendance at the regional track meet at Crater, which he helped start in 1973," said the son.

"His last round of golf was in September of this year. I closed his account at Rogue Valley Country Club, and he had been a member for about 55 years. He just always had a mindset that he was going to do something, and he did it."

Hoffine said it was heartwarming to see stories and hear of the lives his dad had mentored and inspired.

"He kept up with Crater after he retired, always donating to Crater Foundation and loved keeping up with his former players," said the son.

"He was the mensch of his generation. A real leader and a mentor. He inspired a lot of players and a lot of coaches who went on to do the same things that he did. He was a wonderful man."

Hoffine was preceded in death by his wife, Marjorie (2013). He is survived by three sons: Ken (Diane) Hoffine of Roseburg; Jeff Hoffine of Oak View, California; and Scott (Janice) Hoffine of Eugene. Grandchildren include Heidi (Scott) Beery, Taylor (Frankie) Flores, Toby Hoffine and Tyson Hoffine; great-granddaughter Malena Beery and great-grandson Isaac Beery.

Family members ask donations be made in Hoffine's honor to Crater Foundation, craterfoundation.district6.org/ways-to-help/

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or bpollock@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.