Faaeteete 'blessed and grateful' to join Medford HOF
Oct. 21—Truth be told, David Faaeteete isn't quite sure how he got to be selected for his latest honor as part of an 11-person class to be inducted into the Medford Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday.
When it's all summed up, however, there is little doubt that Faaeteete and his fellow inductees each deserve their time in the spotlight for the impact they've had and continue to have on the local sports scene.
"I feel blessed and grateful that they would even consider somebody like me," said the 36-year-old Faaeteete. "When you get inducted into something like this you feel like you've got to be older and have more accomplishments, but it's cool that people thought of me in this way and it's exciting to see."
The list of prominent Medford athletes and sports figures to be recognized in Saturday's banquet at Rogue Valley Country Club also includes: Jerry Allen (sports broadcasting); Tosha Barnicoat-Firestone (athlete); John Christensen (special contributor); George Daves (athlete); Terry Maddox (athlete); Randy Settell (athlete); Braden Shipley (athlete); Kyle Singler (athlete); EJ Singler (athlete); and Brett Wolfe (coach).
Saturday's banquet begins with a social hour at 5 p.m., and induction ceremonies starting around 7 p.m.
"It's a pretty solid group to be part of," noted Faaeteete. "It's one of those things where everybody has contributed something to the Medford sports tradition and I think being in the group is cool and it's exciting."
As much humility as he wants to show, there's no doubt in Faaeteete's standing as one of the top athletes to come out of North Medford High.
The 2004 graduate was a three-sport letterwinner for the Black Tornado in football, basketball and track who went on to play football at the University of Oregon and currently serves as head football coach at Hermiston High School.
While at North Medford, Faaeteete was named Oregon's defensive football player of the year in 2003 — earning first-team all-state honors on the offensive and defensive lines — and a state champion in the discus and runner-up in the shot put in 2004.
"I have really good memories of North Medford because it was exciting," he said. "The coaches, the support of the community, those packed South Medford games — I just remember those games being so much fun to play in and being so exciting."
"The bus rides from the stadium back to North Medford High School after wins and all the crazy stuff you hear and the songs guys were singing, it was great to be a part of it all," added Faaeteete. "North Medford was a great opportunity and great fun, and a great place to learn and play football. The tradition of North Medford football from when I was playing was so cool."
Faaeteete was able to join the varsity team toward the end of the 2000 campaign as a freshman and play a role on special teams when the Black Tornado finished as state runner-up that fall.
In his senior year, Faaeteete was a dominant force in leading his team back to the title game. That fall in 2003, the 6-foot-3, 270-pounder finished the season with 10 1/2 sacks and 25 tackles for loss and became the No. 1 recruiting chip for then-Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti.
Of all the memories of that season, though, few things stand out more than the 18-6 loss suffered against Tigard in the championship game at Autzen Stadium.
"I just remember not playing good enough to win and shooting ourselves in the foot a lot of the time," Faaeteete said of the season-ender. "I just remember that whole game we were just missing a step. We gave up a safety — a guy blocks the wrong way on a basic inside zone play — I remember all of our mistakes, I guess, where we coulda and shoulda. I remember after that game us not playing to our potential, and I'm sure fans probably thought the same thing.
"It's one game that you wish you could do over again, not because I didn't think I played well but from the standpoint that we didn't play well as a team. We were just not in sync."
North Medford managed just 152 yards of offense, turned the ball over six times and was twice tackled in its own end zone for safeties in that game.
The Black Tornado's defense performed well enough to win, limiting Tigard to two touchdowns and coming up with four turnovers of its own while also stopping the Tigers cold four times when they had the ball inside the Tornado 35-yard line in the fourth quarter.
That game served as an interesting moment within the moment for Faaeteete, who was second only on the team in tackles with 10 to senior outside linebacker Ryan Weisz (12).
As the game got on into the night, several of Oregon's players at the time found themselves spilling out into the vacant stands opposite the press box to see just what their incoming teammate had to offer — and Faaeteete did not disappoint with several big hits.
"I'm not gonna lie, I noticed that," he sheepishly admitted. "I forget what quarter it was when I was looking but I made a tackle on that sideline and I looked up and they were hooting and hollering and I'm going, 'Who are these guys?' And then realizing it's your future teammates? I was pretty taken aback by that moment, and a lot of those guys ended up being lifelong friends. It wasn't something I was expecting or anything like that, so it was pretty cool."
Faaeteete went on to become a four-year letterman at Oregon, making 28 starts and earning the defensive game ball at Michigan in 2007 in a season in which he also served as one of the team captains.
He signed NFL contracts with the Chicago Bears and Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent upon his graduation from Oregon, and participated in 2008 mini-camps for both teams, but before he could really decide on his football future, a few familiar faces came calling in the form of former North Medford High transplants now at Hermiston High in Mark Hodges, Mike Kay and Buzz Brazeau.
The group wanted Faaeteete come and serve as an assistant coach on Hodges' staff, and he recalls originally turning them down so he could get a job that would allow him to continue training and pursuing his NFL dream.
"They told me to just come out and visit and that I could just train there," said Faaeteete, "so I said, OK, I'll come out."
"Then when I got there, they said by the way, you're going to be interviewing for this teacher job. I'm in khaki shorts and a T-shirt going, 'What?' So I go back to my car and in my car was one of the game-day suits that I wore for the USC game. The shirt's all wrinkly but I've got dress shoes and some slacks in there, so I interviewed for the job and I've been here ever since."
Faaeteete was an assistant coach — and key influence in many ways — when Hermiston won the Class 5A state title in 2014 under Hodges.
"In 2014, underneath Mark, we used my (2003 North Medford) group as the example of how we had everything going our way and then we just did not execute on certain things and little details," said Faaeteete. "We just used that whole experience about what not to do and how things that we take for granted can come back to bite you in the butt. It was actually pretty humbling for me, just hearing the story again of where we fell short and then seeing their focus and execution in that game (34-12 win over Silverton) to make sure that didn't happen."
Faaeteete took over as head coach at Hermiston the following year in 2015 and guided the school to another 5A state championship in 2017 (38-35 over Churchill) during the Bulldogs' final run with the Oregon School Activities Association before joining a Washington affiliation.
Both state championships brought a new and interesting perspective into Faaeteete's life.
"I think I got way more satisfaction from winning it as a coach and helping our kids get one than I would've gotten from winning it as a kid," he said. "When you help others achieve a dream, it feels so much more gratifying than a dream of yours. I guess that's the teacher in me, apparently."
Becoming a history teacher is something Faaeteete never really knew he wanted to be, and a profession he admits most of his North peers probably wouldn't have considered for him either.
"I probably was not the best student I could have been," he admitted, "and that actually makes me a lot more relatable to a lot of kids by just telling them my story when we talk about who you are and what you do and why you're doing what you're doing. It's an icebreaker for me and the kids really buy into me telling the truth, and it just works."
"I still to this day say they tricked me into teaching," he added of the aforementioned trio of former North staffers, "but I wouldn't change my profession. The power that teachers and coaches have with kids is immeasurable ... being a good role model and trying to set a good standard like all my coaches and teachers before me. The crazy part about it is I wouldn't have anything I have today without great teachers and great coaches, and if I can be one of those for some student, then it's all been worth it."
Faaeteete has Hermiston at 2-5 this season heading into a Friday home game against Pasco (0-7) and expects to fly down to Medford on Saturday morning with his wife Maria to meet up with some of his local friends and enjoy the banquet festivities.
The couple are parents to sons Matai (9) and Tavita (8) and daughter Laila (5), who just signed up for dance class and left Faaeteete jokingly noting that he's still coming to grips with that as a father.
Mind you, Maria Faaeteete pursued 12 years of dance before graduating from, of all places, Tigard High, where she was on hand cheering for what would become her future husband's final high school defeat.
But that's a story for another day.
MEDFORD SPORTS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2022
— Jerry Allen (sports broadcasting)
— Tosha Barnicoat-Firestone (athlete)
— John Christensen (special contributor)
— George Daves (athlete)
— David Faaeteete (athlete)
— Terry Maddox (athlete)
— Randy Settell (athlete)
— Braden Shipley (athlete)
— Kyle Singler (athlete)
— EJ Singler (athlete)
— Brett Wolfe (coach)
Reach sports editor Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, khenry@rosebudmedia.com or via Twitter @Kris_Henry
