North Bend hall of fame ceremony is Friday

The World, Coos Bay, Ore.
·4 min read

Oct. 5—North Bend will honor its newest hall of fame class Friday night with a ceremony before the team's football game.

This year's group includes a pair of state champions who still hold state meet records, the school's only state champion volleyball squad, another volleyball player who helped the Bulldogs to their first top-five state finish and an early sports standout who later a pharmacy in town for many years.

The induction ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the school's gymnasium. The Bulldogs host Stayton at 7 p.m. in a nonleague football contest.

Kevin Waller, who graduated in 2012, is arguably North Bend's top male swimmer in school history. He won six individual state titles and was part of four relay champions and also helped the Bulldogs win their first team title in 2011. A two-time high school all-American, Waller's championship time of 4 minutes, 34.51 seconds for the 500-yard freestyle in 2012 stands as the Class 4A-3A-2A-1A record for the event. He went on to swim four years for Wyoming and set a school record in the 1,000-yard freestyle. He also was a three-time Academic All-American in college and graduated from Wyoming in 2016 with a degree in agricultural communications. He and his wife, Emily, live in Langlois with their two children.

Sammie (Clark) Dobson was an all-league soccer player for North Bend and also was a standout club gymnast, but had her best success in track and field. She won the state title in the pole vault as both a junior and senior and her winning mark of 12 feet, 5 inches during her senior year in 2010 is the state meet record for Class 4A. She also holds the North Bend school record. She went on to compete in the pole vault for the University of Oregon, placing fifth in the Pac-12 championships in 2013. She returned to North Bend and has helped coach the school's pole vaulters with her husband, Kevin. They have two children.

Amanda (Larsen) Dudley, who graduated in 2001, was both an all-state volleyball player and the valedictorian for her class at North Bend. She was a first-team selection for the Midwestern League as both a junior and senior and was named second-team all-state and second-team all-tournament when she helped the Bulldogs to their first-ever top-five finish in the state championships in 1999. She continued her volleyball career at Concordia University, where she was freshman of the year for the Cascade Collegiate Conference and a first-team all-conference performer twice. She was the school's first player with more than 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs and was an Academic All-American in 2004 and 2005 and received the national Champions of Character Award for NAIA. She became a math teacher at Oregon City and Corbett high schools and coached volleyball for four years. She and her husband, Benjamin, live in Georgia with their four children.

Richard Ellings graduated from North Bend in 1944 and was a basketball and football player for the Bulldogs. He was named second-team all-county in football playing for legendary Vic Adams and was a member of the Order of North Bend. After graduating from high school, he served in the Army Air Corp during World War II. After the war, he married fellow North Bend graduate Patricia Lee and they moved to Boulder, Colo., where he studied pharmacy at the University of Colorado. Following graduation, Richards and Pat and their two daughters returned to North Bend, where he owned Pacific Drug for many years, was part of the American Legion and also served on the North Bend Planning Commission and the North Bend School District Budget Committee. He died in 1976.

The North Bend volleyball team won the state title in 2006, the year after finishing second. Head coach Les Willett and assistants Mindi Smith, Kyle Smith and Matt McKenna led the Bulldogs to an unbeaten record in the Far West League and they beat Estacada in four sets to win the state title, avenging their title game loss a year earlier. Kelcy McKenna was a unanimous first-team all-state selection and the Class 4A player of the year and Kellie Holmstedt also was picked first-team all-state. They also were first-team all-league along with fellow seniors Cheyanna Ohlrich and Carli Bowman, with Holmstedt being named league MVP. Nina Rudd and Amy Kronsteiner were second-team all-league picks and Kyla Iveans and Tawnya Friese received honorable mention recognition. The team also included Jodi Smartt, a sophomore. Willett was named Class 4A coach of the year.