Our family is truly blessed with having known Stan Solomon. He was't just a coach to our daughters, he was family, the grandfather they never had.He was an awesome individual who gave everything he had to all he knew. He was a humble, caring, dedicated person who enriched the lives of all who he came in contact with. There are no words that could describe how much he will be missed. As we all gather together in a few days to celebrate his life and what he means to us as a family,we know that he will always be in our hearts. Knowing the he is in a place of comfort and peace and now having the best seat in the house we say every jump is for you Sol.
Christine Roberge and family
Coach Stan Solomon passed away
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christine roberge
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Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
i remember the first time i met stan solomon...bright eyed busy man. always had somewhere to be..yet never too busy for you if you had a question. the man took on three mens jobs and handled them like he was three instead of one. he taught me so much in my short time with him..so much that i will never forget. he will be remembered in my family for generations to come..and i wouldnt have it any other way. now that he is gone we must all try to carry on what he has started. we must continue to do the things we love and continue to be the best we can be. i will miss our time together sol as i wish we could have had more time to grow and learn because there was so much i still hadn't learned from you, but i will continue to look to the stands for guidance from you sol. you were number one in alot of our hearts. and i would like you to know there was not one person who has made a bigger impact in my life as you. even up to his last days he had a thirst for knowledge that was unquentchable. he never stopped trying to figure out what made this or how you did that. he was a tremendous coach, a wonderful mentor, an almost perfect person. stan solomon will be greatly missed by anyone that knew him, as for me i will continue to live by the word of sol, i hope that with every jump i can get closer to him way up high, with every jump im coming for you sol. hope to meet up with you again. there is still much i need to learn. i hope his words and actions are never forgotten by anyone that has ever shook that mans hand. he was my coach, my mentor,...my friend...the good times outnumbered the bad times thanks to you sol...thanks to you...you never let me down sol...ill try with all my heart to do the same for you. i hope its comfortably warm up there. i know how cold you were getting. well i guess this was my goodbye...since i never said one...but good bye solly may you forever rest in peace and never suffer again.
WE LOVE YOU SOLLY!!!!! 2012...the road started with you sol...
Greg Eckes "Grekis"
WE LOVE YOU SOLLY!!!!! 2012...the road started with you sol...
Greg Eckes "Grekis"
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rainbowgirl28
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Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/20 ... 221434.txt
Marshfield pole vault coach Solomon dies
By John Gunther and Jo Rafferty, Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | No comments posted.
Font Size: Shrink Font Enlarge Font |
Marshfield pole vault coach Stan Solomon Jr. who was recently endowed with the National High School Pole Vault Coach of the Year award, died on Friday. World Photo by Alex Powers.
Buy this photoPreviousNextPhoto 1 of 2
A parade of pole vaulters visited the track and field facility at Marshfield High School over the weekend, gathering at the site where so many of them have had success under coach Stan Solomon.
But the mood was somber, not celebratory, as the athletes, along with many of their parents and friends, shared memories of Solomon, who died Friday from cancer.
Solomon, affectionately known as Solly to his many pupils, coached track and field at Marshfield for 44 years, and just two weeks ago received the National High School Pole Vault Coach of the Year award at the annual Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev.
But his health deteriorated quickly in his final week, and he died at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.
News of his death spread quickly among his former athletes, as well as fellow coaches, who had glowing praise for his impact on student-athletes in a career that spanned two generations.
“I don’t know how we can fill his shoes,” said Fran Worthen, Marshfield’s head track coach the past eight years, who considered Solomon both a mentor and friend. “Someone can come along and do what he did, but no one can come along and replace who he was.”
Solomon was the head track coach for 25 years at Marshfield, and had been an assistant under several other coaches since then. In recent years he became renowned as an instructor of pole vaulters, who had amazing success at the state level.
In the past decade alone, seven Marshfield pole vaulters have won state titles, while pupils from other schools who trained under Solomon during the summer also have won titles or placed well at the state meet.
“He was the epitome of what coaches should be,” said Trevor Woods, who won two state titles under Solomon and went on to be an All-American in the event at the University of Oregon.
Solomon got the athletes to buy into what he was teaching and to know he cared about them, and then turned them into stars, Woods said.
“You look at the athletes who jumped high for him — we weren't all great athletes,” Woods said, using himself as an example.
“I was big and tall, but I wasn't fast or strong,” he said.
Woods has been joined in the ranks of champions by Marshfield’s Greg Eckes, Andrew Simpson, Amber Wiley and sisters Celina, Muriel and Moriah Roberge.
Solomon worked with them at the track on weekends and during the summer, and had close friendships with them beyond the sport.
“He was more than a coach to me,” said Woods, who is now in his first year as an emergency medical technician in Portland. “He taught me how to fish on the bay. I caught my first 20-pound salmon with him. He would make dinners for us (pole vaulters).”
It was that side of Solomon that led some 50 students, along with parents, to make a pilgrimage to the track Saturday to talk about their departed coach. Many left flowers or mementos in the area of the pole vault pits where he diligently trained them.
Stuart Woods, Trevor’s father, who worked with Solomon teaching pole vaulters for more than a decade, and Sunset Middle School pole vault coach Dave Eckes, Greg’s father, opened the track so the kids would have a place to gather.
“It’s the one thing we can think of to do,” Stuart Woods said.
Many of the same kids returned to the facility Sunday to honor Solomon by taking turns pole vaulting.
David Eckes, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Sunset Middle School, is following in the footsteps of his older brother, Greg, and cherished what time he had to learn from Solomon.
“I was happy to learn pole vaulting from him,” said David, who was one of many athletes from various schools who learned the trade from Solomon as part of the Pre Track Club in the summers.
“It didn’t matter what school you went to," he said. “If you wanted to do pole vaulting, he'd help you.”
Dave and David Eckes were at the Pole Vault Summit with Solomon two weeks ago when he received his award. So were Stuart and Trevor Woods, Worthen, and many others from the area.
Trevor Woods knew Solomon was battling the cancer, but had no idea the summit would be his last chance to see his former coach.
“I thank God that I did get that opportunity one more time,” Woods said. “It was neat to be able to spend time with him.”
Solomon has had a special relationship with the Woods family, since Trevor and his younger brother, Nathan, came up as students.
Trevor Woods suffered a broken leg during the football playoffs his senior year, but recovered in time to win his second state title in the pole vault and then set the current school record in the event — 16 feet, 83⁄4 inches.
“When I had my broken leg, he was in the pool helping me (in rehabilitation) four days a week,” Woods said.
Nathan Woods suffered an even worse leg injury as Marshfield's quarterback his senior year. Since he couldn’t compete, Solomon made him an assistant pole vault coach the following spring.
“He was more than (a coach),” Stuart Woods said. “He was a friend. We hunted and fished and crabbed and everything else. We were buds.”
Rick and Megan Wiley also visited the track Saturday, even though their daughter, Amber, is now a student at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, where she has set indoor and outdoor school records in the pole vault.
Rick said Amber had a perfect 4.0 grade point average at Marshfield and always gave Solomon credit for helping her succeed and get her college scholarship. She won't be able to return to the area for a few weeks because she has a college track meet, and Solomon wouldn't want her to miss it, Rick Wiley said.
But she did train with Solomon while she was home on Christmas break.
“When she’d have a bad day, she’d call and talk to him,” Rick said. “He helped my daughter to be who she is today.
“He touched a lot of kids’ lives. He got the respect he wanted, and the kids gave him the respect he deserved.”
Worthen said it was that respect that helped create the special relationships Solomon had with those who chose to really work with him.
“He invested himself in every athlete he chose,” she said, adding that he saved a number of students from serious problems in their lives by getting them hooked on pole vaulting.
Solomon grew up in Hawaii and was an All-American in football at Willamette University. He coached in the Coos Bay School District for 48 years — 44 at Marshfield — continuing long after he retired as a teacher. And though he also coached football and basketball during a long tenure that earned him a spot in Marshfield's Hall of Fame, it was track that became his specialty.
Worthen, probably Marshfield’s best-ever female athlete in track and field, got her introduction to the sport in summer track as a seventh grader, with Solomon as a coach for the local kids.
“He demonstrated things,” she said. “He showed you how to hurdle. He demonstrated the Western roll in the high jump. He showed us how to start from blocks.”
Worthen remembers Solomon as a coach racing Fred Girt, who became a standout hurdler for Marshfield.
“To me, he never aged,” Worthen said.
He was going to retire from coaching when she became the head coach, but she talked him out of it, telling Marshfield officials she wouldn’t take the job unless he remained on as an assistant and mentor. Their partnership led him to stick it out for several more seasons.
“He mentored me through all my years as a head coach,” she said. “I can’t express the number of ways that he helped me and advised me.”
North Bend track coach Steve Greif had similar sentiments, recalling how Solomon helped him develop into a track coach when his spring sport in high school was baseball.
“He was more than willing to help me as a coach from a school that was his competitors,” Greif said.
“Folks from the North Bend track community want to express our sympathy to the Solomon family. We totally respect what he meant to the sport and the impact he had on so many youngsters.”
All the while, Solomon never stopped being a student of the sport himself, Trevor Woods said.
“We’d go to the summits and he would eat things up,” Woods said. “He’d pick the brain of anybody. He kept learning.
“He was down there learning two weeks before his death.”
Solomon even tried to determine if the techniques and drills Woods was learning that helped him eventually become on 18-foot pole vaulter at the University of Oregon could be applied to the students at Marshfield, Woods said.
Back in Coos Bay, Dave Eckes and Stuart Woods agreed they were going to have a tough time filling Solomon’s shoes.
"Nobody can do it like he could," Eckes said. "(He was) one of a kind."
Marshfield pole vault coach Solomon dies
By John Gunther and Jo Rafferty, Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | No comments posted.
Font Size: Shrink Font Enlarge Font |
Marshfield pole vault coach Stan Solomon Jr. who was recently endowed with the National High School Pole Vault Coach of the Year award, died on Friday. World Photo by Alex Powers.
Buy this photoPreviousNextPhoto 1 of 2
A parade of pole vaulters visited the track and field facility at Marshfield High School over the weekend, gathering at the site where so many of them have had success under coach Stan Solomon.
But the mood was somber, not celebratory, as the athletes, along with many of their parents and friends, shared memories of Solomon, who died Friday from cancer.
Solomon, affectionately known as Solly to his many pupils, coached track and field at Marshfield for 44 years, and just two weeks ago received the National High School Pole Vault Coach of the Year award at the annual Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev.
But his health deteriorated quickly in his final week, and he died at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.
News of his death spread quickly among his former athletes, as well as fellow coaches, who had glowing praise for his impact on student-athletes in a career that spanned two generations.
“I don’t know how we can fill his shoes,” said Fran Worthen, Marshfield’s head track coach the past eight years, who considered Solomon both a mentor and friend. “Someone can come along and do what he did, but no one can come along and replace who he was.”
Solomon was the head track coach for 25 years at Marshfield, and had been an assistant under several other coaches since then. In recent years he became renowned as an instructor of pole vaulters, who had amazing success at the state level.
In the past decade alone, seven Marshfield pole vaulters have won state titles, while pupils from other schools who trained under Solomon during the summer also have won titles or placed well at the state meet.
“He was the epitome of what coaches should be,” said Trevor Woods, who won two state titles under Solomon and went on to be an All-American in the event at the University of Oregon.
Solomon got the athletes to buy into what he was teaching and to know he cared about them, and then turned them into stars, Woods said.
“You look at the athletes who jumped high for him — we weren't all great athletes,” Woods said, using himself as an example.
“I was big and tall, but I wasn't fast or strong,” he said.
Woods has been joined in the ranks of champions by Marshfield’s Greg Eckes, Andrew Simpson, Amber Wiley and sisters Celina, Muriel and Moriah Roberge.
Solomon worked with them at the track on weekends and during the summer, and had close friendships with them beyond the sport.
“He was more than a coach to me,” said Woods, who is now in his first year as an emergency medical technician in Portland. “He taught me how to fish on the bay. I caught my first 20-pound salmon with him. He would make dinners for us (pole vaulters).”
It was that side of Solomon that led some 50 students, along with parents, to make a pilgrimage to the track Saturday to talk about their departed coach. Many left flowers or mementos in the area of the pole vault pits where he diligently trained them.
Stuart Woods, Trevor’s father, who worked with Solomon teaching pole vaulters for more than a decade, and Sunset Middle School pole vault coach Dave Eckes, Greg’s father, opened the track so the kids would have a place to gather.
“It’s the one thing we can think of to do,” Stuart Woods said.
Many of the same kids returned to the facility Sunday to honor Solomon by taking turns pole vaulting.
David Eckes, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Sunset Middle School, is following in the footsteps of his older brother, Greg, and cherished what time he had to learn from Solomon.
“I was happy to learn pole vaulting from him,” said David, who was one of many athletes from various schools who learned the trade from Solomon as part of the Pre Track Club in the summers.
“It didn’t matter what school you went to," he said. “If you wanted to do pole vaulting, he'd help you.”
Dave and David Eckes were at the Pole Vault Summit with Solomon two weeks ago when he received his award. So were Stuart and Trevor Woods, Worthen, and many others from the area.
Trevor Woods knew Solomon was battling the cancer, but had no idea the summit would be his last chance to see his former coach.
“I thank God that I did get that opportunity one more time,” Woods said. “It was neat to be able to spend time with him.”
Solomon has had a special relationship with the Woods family, since Trevor and his younger brother, Nathan, came up as students.
Trevor Woods suffered a broken leg during the football playoffs his senior year, but recovered in time to win his second state title in the pole vault and then set the current school record in the event — 16 feet, 83⁄4 inches.
“When I had my broken leg, he was in the pool helping me (in rehabilitation) four days a week,” Woods said.
Nathan Woods suffered an even worse leg injury as Marshfield's quarterback his senior year. Since he couldn’t compete, Solomon made him an assistant pole vault coach the following spring.
“He was more than (a coach),” Stuart Woods said. “He was a friend. We hunted and fished and crabbed and everything else. We were buds.”
Rick and Megan Wiley also visited the track Saturday, even though their daughter, Amber, is now a student at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, where she has set indoor and outdoor school records in the pole vault.
Rick said Amber had a perfect 4.0 grade point average at Marshfield and always gave Solomon credit for helping her succeed and get her college scholarship. She won't be able to return to the area for a few weeks because she has a college track meet, and Solomon wouldn't want her to miss it, Rick Wiley said.
But she did train with Solomon while she was home on Christmas break.
“When she’d have a bad day, she’d call and talk to him,” Rick said. “He helped my daughter to be who she is today.
“He touched a lot of kids’ lives. He got the respect he wanted, and the kids gave him the respect he deserved.”
Worthen said it was that respect that helped create the special relationships Solomon had with those who chose to really work with him.
“He invested himself in every athlete he chose,” she said, adding that he saved a number of students from serious problems in their lives by getting them hooked on pole vaulting.
Solomon grew up in Hawaii and was an All-American in football at Willamette University. He coached in the Coos Bay School District for 48 years — 44 at Marshfield — continuing long after he retired as a teacher. And though he also coached football and basketball during a long tenure that earned him a spot in Marshfield's Hall of Fame, it was track that became his specialty.
Worthen, probably Marshfield’s best-ever female athlete in track and field, got her introduction to the sport in summer track as a seventh grader, with Solomon as a coach for the local kids.
“He demonstrated things,” she said. “He showed you how to hurdle. He demonstrated the Western roll in the high jump. He showed us how to start from blocks.”
Worthen remembers Solomon as a coach racing Fred Girt, who became a standout hurdler for Marshfield.
“To me, he never aged,” Worthen said.
He was going to retire from coaching when she became the head coach, but she talked him out of it, telling Marshfield officials she wouldn’t take the job unless he remained on as an assistant and mentor. Their partnership led him to stick it out for several more seasons.
“He mentored me through all my years as a head coach,” she said. “I can’t express the number of ways that he helped me and advised me.”
North Bend track coach Steve Greif had similar sentiments, recalling how Solomon helped him develop into a track coach when his spring sport in high school was baseball.
“He was more than willing to help me as a coach from a school that was his competitors,” Greif said.
“Folks from the North Bend track community want to express our sympathy to the Solomon family. We totally respect what he meant to the sport and the impact he had on so many youngsters.”
All the while, Solomon never stopped being a student of the sport himself, Trevor Woods said.
“We’d go to the summits and he would eat things up,” Woods said. “He’d pick the brain of anybody. He kept learning.
“He was down there learning two weeks before his death.”
Solomon even tried to determine if the techniques and drills Woods was learning that helped him eventually become on 18-foot pole vaulter at the University of Oregon could be applied to the students at Marshfield, Woods said.
Back in Coos Bay, Dave Eckes and Stuart Woods agreed they were going to have a tough time filling Solomon’s shoes.
"Nobody can do it like he could," Eckes said. "(He was) one of a kind."
-
rainbowgirl28
- I'm in Charge
- Posts: 30435
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Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/20 ... 269739.txt
Solomon service Sunday at MHS
By Staff Reports
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 | 1 comment(s)
Marshfield High School will host a memorial service Sunday for renowned pole vault coach Stan Solomon, who died Friday.
The service will be held at 1 p.m. at the school’s main gym and is open to the public.
Solomon coached at Marshfield for 44 years. He was an assistant football coach for 30 years and was defensive coordinator of the 1992 state champion football team. He also coached the girls basketball team for 12 seasons, leading the 1980 squad to the consolation title at the state tournament, the school’s only girls state basketball trophy.
In track and field, he became renowned for his work with pole vaulters. Seven Marshfield athletes have won state titles in the past decade in the event. He remained with the track team long after retiring as a teacher in 1994 and also worked with the Prefontaine Track Club.
Solomon grew up in Hawaii and was an All-American football player at Willamette University. He was inducted into both Willamette’s and Marshfield’s halls of fame and was named National High School Pole Vault Coach of the Year two weeks ago.
Solomon service Sunday at MHS
By Staff Reports
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 | 1 comment(s)
Marshfield High School will host a memorial service Sunday for renowned pole vault coach Stan Solomon, who died Friday.
The service will be held at 1 p.m. at the school’s main gym and is open to the public.
Solomon coached at Marshfield for 44 years. He was an assistant football coach for 30 years and was defensive coordinator of the 1992 state champion football team. He also coached the girls basketball team for 12 seasons, leading the 1980 squad to the consolation title at the state tournament, the school’s only girls state basketball trophy.
In track and field, he became renowned for his work with pole vaulters. Seven Marshfield athletes have won state titles in the past decade in the event. He remained with the track team long after retiring as a teacher in 1994 and also worked with the Prefontaine Track Club.
Solomon grew up in Hawaii and was an All-American football player at Willamette University. He was inducted into both Willamette’s and Marshfield’s halls of fame and was named National High School Pole Vault Coach of the Year two weeks ago.
Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
Soly has been coaching me for a couple of years. I didn't know how to even plant the pole when he first got me to pole vault, and now I am vaulting higher than I imagined from that point. He was a perfect coach,and a good friend. Soly touched many hearts and will remain in my heart. I wish I could of learned more from Sol, but the good thing is he is not suffering. We had a lot of fun in Reno when he got his award. That smile on his face was priceless. I will vault to the stars just to get closer to you Soly. If you didn't know Soly, you missed meeting a great man. We have to keep vaulting for Soly and keep his legend going. I will miss you Soly, very very very very very very very very very very very much. Goodbye Soly, may your legend live on forever for generations to come.
Love,
Lindsey Wright
Love,
Lindsey Wright
Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
Hall of Fame, 2010
My thoughts,
Rick Baggett
My thoughts,
Rick Baggett
Good coaching is good teaching.
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altius
- PV Rock Star
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Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
A lovely man.
Its what you learn after you know it all that counts. John Wooden
Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
Solo left us? I am so shocked as I just read this while searching the net. What a giving supportive man that has moved to the pole vault goddess, god, higher vaulting powers... for his next adventure of the sky. I bet he is back to the youthful body that is vaulting so high he flies over the stars and comes down on the puffiest clouds. Of course not until he helps everyone else reach their goal first.
I began taking my son Austin Ouderkirk from Newport to Summer meets, he had no coach at these meets. Knowing nothing about Pole Vaulting myself,I would grab whoever would help to talk-coach Ozzie. Solo always had time for him and me too. He had one of those tranquil yet always aware and personalities, I felt like I could see his brain thinking about the next step he was going to coach the kids. What a smile and a hat. He even helped when Oz needed longer poles. I believe he will still be at all the meets and we will feel his gentle spirit all around the PV area. Perhaps competing, so watch out all you vaulters. He might show you a thing or two.
My whole family will miss him greatly. We are honored to have known him and his team too!
Sal Strom, Jeff Ouderkirk and Ozzie.
I began taking my son Austin Ouderkirk from Newport to Summer meets, he had no coach at these meets. Knowing nothing about Pole Vaulting myself,I would grab whoever would help to talk-coach Ozzie. Solo always had time for him and me too. He had one of those tranquil yet always aware and personalities, I felt like I could see his brain thinking about the next step he was going to coach the kids. What a smile and a hat. He even helped when Oz needed longer poles. I believe he will still be at all the meets and we will feel his gentle spirit all around the PV area. Perhaps competing, so watch out all you vaulters. He might show you a thing or two.
My whole family will miss him greatly. We are honored to have known him and his team too!
Sal Strom, Jeff Ouderkirk and Ozzie.
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rainbowgirl28
- I'm in Charge
- Posts: 30435
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Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
http://www.kcby.com/news/local/38312994.html
Celebrating the life of Stan Solomon
Story Published: Jan 25, 2009 at 10:40 PM PST
By Erica Rush
COOS BAY, Ore. -There were a few tears shed but Sunday's service for Marshfield's renowned pole vault coach, Stanley Solomon was more about fond memories and fun stories, as a community came together to celebrate a life well lived.
Parading past a long line photos, trophies and plaques, Coach Sol's contributions over the past 44 years has not gone unnoticed. In fact, just two weeks ago, he was named the national high school pole vault coach of the year.
This year, Marshfield's track and field season will be dedicated to Coach Sol to honor him and his legacy.
Solomon lost his life on Jan. 16 to cancer.
Celebrating the life of Stan Solomon
Story Published: Jan 25, 2009 at 10:40 PM PST
By Erica Rush
COOS BAY, Ore. -There were a few tears shed but Sunday's service for Marshfield's renowned pole vault coach, Stanley Solomon was more about fond memories and fun stories, as a community came together to celebrate a life well lived.
Parading past a long line photos, trophies and plaques, Coach Sol's contributions over the past 44 years has not gone unnoticed. In fact, just two weeks ago, he was named the national high school pole vault coach of the year.
This year, Marshfield's track and field season will be dedicated to Coach Sol to honor him and his legacy.
Solomon lost his life on Jan. 16 to cancer.
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master
- PV Lover
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Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
Under the photo in the link in the above post is another link to some video of the event. I missed it the first time I went to the site and so I'm posting that video link here in case others might have missed it.
http://www.kcby.com/news/local/38312994.html?video=YHI&t=a
- master
http://www.kcby.com/news/local/38312994.html?video=YHI&t=a
- master
-
rainbowgirl28
- I'm in Charge
- Posts: 30435
- Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 1:59 pm
- Expertise: Former College Vaulter, I coach and officiate as life allows
- Lifetime Best: 11'6"
- Gender: Female
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- Favorite Vaulter: Casey Carrigan
- Location: A Temperate Island
- Contact:
Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/20 ... 749834.txt
Solomon remembered for work with athletes
By John Gunther, Sports Editor
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Stan Solomon was compared to three coaching icons; remembered as a great teacher, teammate and friend; and praised for his caring attitude toward student-athletes and philosophy of living a life of service to others. His memorial service Sunday afternoon at Marshfield High School truly was a celebration of his life.
Solomon, who coached at Marshfield for more than four decades, died last week from extensive blood clotting. In the past, he lost a kidney to cancer, and in the week leading up to his death, his health faded rapidly.
But Sunday’s service was upbeat as more than 800 people, including a 15-member ukulele band from Hawaii, showed up at Pirate Palace to honor his memory.
Solomon was a football and track star growing up in Hawaii and at Willamette University. At Marshfield, he coached football and girls basketball and track, but became renowned in the past decade as an outstanding teacher for pole vaulters, coaching seven different state champions in the event. During Sunday’s service, the school’s pole vault standards were set up in the gym, with one bar set at the boys school record held by Trevor Woods and another at the girls school record of Moriah Roberge.
Nathan Woods, Trevor’s brother and a former pupil of Solomon, said the pole vault concept of raising the bar was perfectly fitting for Solomon.
“It was something he was able to get out of all his athletes,” Woods said. “He was able to get us to heights none of us could imagine.”
Solomon trained his students using the most modern concepts available, including drills so insane “that we couldn’t figure out how they would help us,” Woods said, though he added that it was Solomon’s personal relationships that made him such a great coach.
“He got success out of us by his patience for us and truly caring about his athletes,” Woods said, adding that he was one of many athletes and fellow coaches who were Solomon’s hunting and fishing partners.
Solomon also always paid extreme attention to detail, no matter what sport he was coaching.
He served as an assistant football coach throughout his tenure as a teacher at Marshfield, which ended in 1994, and was defensive coordinator for the 1992 state champion squad, with a keen eye for how different defenses would work against opponents. He also was head girls basketball coach for a dozen years, including leading the Pirates to their only state tournament trophy — the consolation title in 1980 — and broke down even jump shots to their very fundamental parts.
Julie (Goodrich) Bright, who had her brightest days as an athlete in track and field competing in the long jump after high school and also played basketball for Solomon.
Her biggest struggle in that sport was making layups, which countered the benefits of her great speed. She often would steal the ball, run down the floor and miss the shot, and said Solomon worked with her for hours on layup drills after practice.
“Basketball really never worked out for me, but all the work on the layup was good for the long jump,” she said.
Solomon was a great coach because he was a great motivator, took time to know his athletes and was a great man, Bright said.
Fran Worthen knew Solomon both as her first track coach in the summer program when she was in seventh grade and as a mentor for her tenure as Marshfield’s head track coach, which ended last spring.
She spoke of how he was the first track coach at Marshfield to film athletes to show how they could improve their events and worked with them on drill after drill, breaking events down to their fundamental parts.
“Coach Solomon was a skill and drill coach,” Worthen said, adding that one of many ‘Solyisms,’ very familiar to all his athletes, was, “If at first you don’t succeed, try it Soly’s way.”
Another Solyism referred to Solomon’s constant yearning to improve Marshfield’s facilities so the athletes had a better chance to succeed, and also be safe.
“If we’re not improving the facilities and equipment, then we’re not doing our job as coaches,” she said.
Solomon also believed in using sports as a way to help athletes pay for college and was more than happy to help pole vaulters from other schools.
“Stan was color blind,” Worthen said. “He may have bled purple and gold, but he didn’t care where an athlete lived or went to school.”
While Solomon served as a mentor for Worthen, he did the same for new Marshfield head coach Rich “Mac” McIntosh, who was Solomon’s first state-champion athlete as a hurdler.
Solomon convinced McIntosh to join the track team for the first time after he was cut from the sophomore basketball team.
“Stan taught me how to hurdle, but also how to train and compete — and how to coach,” McIntosh said.
The coach said Marshfield will dedicate this season to Solomon, and that his memory will be preserved through the years.
“Stan Solomon lives in me, and he lives in every one of the thousands of athletes who had a chance to call him coach,” McIntosh said.
Before he was a standout coach, Solomon was an All-American in football at Willamette University, where he was an all-conference player all four years and still holds the school rushing record.
Jim Booth, a freshman at Willamette during Solomon’s senior year, spoke on behalf of the school and recalled him having the nickname Stanley “King” Solomon. “Needless to say, by the end of that season, I knew why.”
In the first game of Willamette’s unbeaten 1960 season, Solomon scored the winning touchdown with no time left on the clock after executing a perfect on-side kick. Later, Solomon, who used a bare-foot kicking style, had the game-winning extra point in a victory over Linfield.
Booth added Solomon was more than just a great football player.
“Even then, Stan was a quiet and humble guy, who treated me, a lowly freshman from Yoncalla, with respect and encouragement,” he said.
Marshfield athletic director Greg Mulkey said that with his coaching longevity, Solomon was Marshfield’s Joe Paterno, referring to the longtime Penn State coach.
“His commitment to the school and his commitment to kids and people is the same as Joe Paterno,” Mulkey said.
He went on to say Solomon was Marshfield’s John Wooden, referring to the famed UCLA basketball coach’s attention to detail as a teacher and quest for perfection.
And Mulkey added that Solomon was Marshfield’s Tom Landry, like the great Dallas Cowboys coach a man of integrity and honor.
In one of the particularly light moments of the service, Solomon’s daughter, Denise, a professor at Penn State, later made a clarification to Mulkey’s statement.
“We need to clear up one thing,” she said. “Joe Paterno is Penn State’s Stan Solomon.”
Denise Solomon also encouraged the people in attendance to remember one other important element of her father’s life — his insistence on always being happy.
“To honor my father’s memory, today you need to do something that makes you happy,” she said. “And tomorrow, you need to do something that makes you happy. And every day, you need to do something that makes you happy. And you need to share that happiness with others.”
Solomon remembered for work with athletes
By John Gunther, Sports Editor
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Stan Solomon was compared to three coaching icons; remembered as a great teacher, teammate and friend; and praised for his caring attitude toward student-athletes and philosophy of living a life of service to others. His memorial service Sunday afternoon at Marshfield High School truly was a celebration of his life.
Solomon, who coached at Marshfield for more than four decades, died last week from extensive blood clotting. In the past, he lost a kidney to cancer, and in the week leading up to his death, his health faded rapidly.
But Sunday’s service was upbeat as more than 800 people, including a 15-member ukulele band from Hawaii, showed up at Pirate Palace to honor his memory.
Solomon was a football and track star growing up in Hawaii and at Willamette University. At Marshfield, he coached football and girls basketball and track, but became renowned in the past decade as an outstanding teacher for pole vaulters, coaching seven different state champions in the event. During Sunday’s service, the school’s pole vault standards were set up in the gym, with one bar set at the boys school record held by Trevor Woods and another at the girls school record of Moriah Roberge.
Nathan Woods, Trevor’s brother and a former pupil of Solomon, said the pole vault concept of raising the bar was perfectly fitting for Solomon.
“It was something he was able to get out of all his athletes,” Woods said. “He was able to get us to heights none of us could imagine.”
Solomon trained his students using the most modern concepts available, including drills so insane “that we couldn’t figure out how they would help us,” Woods said, though he added that it was Solomon’s personal relationships that made him such a great coach.
“He got success out of us by his patience for us and truly caring about his athletes,” Woods said, adding that he was one of many athletes and fellow coaches who were Solomon’s hunting and fishing partners.
Solomon also always paid extreme attention to detail, no matter what sport he was coaching.
He served as an assistant football coach throughout his tenure as a teacher at Marshfield, which ended in 1994, and was defensive coordinator for the 1992 state champion squad, with a keen eye for how different defenses would work against opponents. He also was head girls basketball coach for a dozen years, including leading the Pirates to their only state tournament trophy — the consolation title in 1980 — and broke down even jump shots to their very fundamental parts.
Julie (Goodrich) Bright, who had her brightest days as an athlete in track and field competing in the long jump after high school and also played basketball for Solomon.
Her biggest struggle in that sport was making layups, which countered the benefits of her great speed. She often would steal the ball, run down the floor and miss the shot, and said Solomon worked with her for hours on layup drills after practice.
“Basketball really never worked out for me, but all the work on the layup was good for the long jump,” she said.
Solomon was a great coach because he was a great motivator, took time to know his athletes and was a great man, Bright said.
Fran Worthen knew Solomon both as her first track coach in the summer program when she was in seventh grade and as a mentor for her tenure as Marshfield’s head track coach, which ended last spring.
She spoke of how he was the first track coach at Marshfield to film athletes to show how they could improve their events and worked with them on drill after drill, breaking events down to their fundamental parts.
“Coach Solomon was a skill and drill coach,” Worthen said, adding that one of many ‘Solyisms,’ very familiar to all his athletes, was, “If at first you don’t succeed, try it Soly’s way.”
Another Solyism referred to Solomon’s constant yearning to improve Marshfield’s facilities so the athletes had a better chance to succeed, and also be safe.
“If we’re not improving the facilities and equipment, then we’re not doing our job as coaches,” she said.
Solomon also believed in using sports as a way to help athletes pay for college and was more than happy to help pole vaulters from other schools.
“Stan was color blind,” Worthen said. “He may have bled purple and gold, but he didn’t care where an athlete lived or went to school.”
While Solomon served as a mentor for Worthen, he did the same for new Marshfield head coach Rich “Mac” McIntosh, who was Solomon’s first state-champion athlete as a hurdler.
Solomon convinced McIntosh to join the track team for the first time after he was cut from the sophomore basketball team.
“Stan taught me how to hurdle, but also how to train and compete — and how to coach,” McIntosh said.
The coach said Marshfield will dedicate this season to Solomon, and that his memory will be preserved through the years.
“Stan Solomon lives in me, and he lives in every one of the thousands of athletes who had a chance to call him coach,” McIntosh said.
Before he was a standout coach, Solomon was an All-American in football at Willamette University, where he was an all-conference player all four years and still holds the school rushing record.
Jim Booth, a freshman at Willamette during Solomon’s senior year, spoke on behalf of the school and recalled him having the nickname Stanley “King” Solomon. “Needless to say, by the end of that season, I knew why.”
In the first game of Willamette’s unbeaten 1960 season, Solomon scored the winning touchdown with no time left on the clock after executing a perfect on-side kick. Later, Solomon, who used a bare-foot kicking style, had the game-winning extra point in a victory over Linfield.
Booth added Solomon was more than just a great football player.
“Even then, Stan was a quiet and humble guy, who treated me, a lowly freshman from Yoncalla, with respect and encouragement,” he said.
Marshfield athletic director Greg Mulkey said that with his coaching longevity, Solomon was Marshfield’s Joe Paterno, referring to the longtime Penn State coach.
“His commitment to the school and his commitment to kids and people is the same as Joe Paterno,” Mulkey said.
He went on to say Solomon was Marshfield’s John Wooden, referring to the famed UCLA basketball coach’s attention to detail as a teacher and quest for perfection.
And Mulkey added that Solomon was Marshfield’s Tom Landry, like the great Dallas Cowboys coach a man of integrity and honor.
In one of the particularly light moments of the service, Solomon’s daughter, Denise, a professor at Penn State, later made a clarification to Mulkey’s statement.
“We need to clear up one thing,” she said. “Joe Paterno is Penn State’s Stan Solomon.”
Denise Solomon also encouraged the people in attendance to remember one other important element of her father’s life — his insistence on always being happy.
“To honor my father’s memory, today you need to do something that makes you happy,” she said. “And tomorrow, you need to do something that makes you happy. And every day, you need to do something that makes you happy. And you need to share that happiness with others.”
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Re: Coach Stan Solomon passed away
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/si ... /story.csp
Roberge gets over
The sudden loss of her coach has not slowed the Marshfield star
BY STEVE MIMS
The Register-Guard
Posted to Web: Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009 12:00AM
Appeared in print: Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009, page C5
Sports: Home: Story
COOS BAY — Moriah Roberge keeps breaking records and reaching new heights while looking to break more records and clear higher heights.
Her personal best and school record in the pole vault is now up to 12 feet, 4 inches after she cleared that bar in a meet at Churchill last week. The Marshfield senior is the only girl in the state to clear 12 feet this year.
Roberge — known to most as ‘Bubba’, a nickname given by her father — raised the bar to 12-7 at Churchill and barely missed one attempt at that height before a hand injury forced her to call it a day.
“That jump at 12-7 was real good, it had a chance,” she said. “I thought I had it up, but then at the last second it fell.”
Another shot at 12-7 is the next step for Roberge, the defending 5A state champion who has signed to compete at San Diego State next year.
“She set the goal at the beginning of the year to do 12-7, and on her attempt at Churchill she got her hips over and we really thought she had a good jump there,” Marshfield coach Mac McIntosh said. “She typically does well at Grants Pass, which is this weekend, so we are hopeful she can reach that milestone.”
Once she does, more milestones remain.
“If I go 12-9½ I qualify for Junior Olympics, so I want to try and make it there,” Roberge said. “If I go 13 feet, that would be the best in the state, ever. I have dreams of going 13 feet, but I would be very satisfied with 12-7 or 12-9.”
Roberge’s mark of 12-4 ranks fifth in state history for all classifications. The state record in the pole vault is 13-0 set by Sarah Sasaki of North Clackamas Christian in 1999.
“Moriah has a dream, a dream that she and Stan Solomon shared about going 13 feet,” McIntosh said. “That would put her in a whole different league of high school vaulters. Those two talked about it in the context of setting a record high enough that it would not be broken for a long time.”
Roberge is vaulting this season for the first time without Solomon, the longtime Marshfield coach who passed away in January.
“I think he’d be really happy with me going 12-4,” said Roberge, who gets emotional when discussing Solomon.
Solomon’s loss is still felt deeply at Marshfield, where he was a beloved teacher and coach for 48 years. He served as head track and field coach for 25 years. As the vault coach, he helped mentor eight state champions in that event since 1999.
“Those are his most recent accomplishments, but before that he coached the girls basketball team to the state tournament and coached track in addition to football and other things,” McIntosh said. “As a P.E. teacher, he literally trained thousands of kids who went through the program here during his 48 years. You can’t go anywhere in Coos Bay and mention his name and not have somebody tell a story about him. He was Soly. Programs have their institutions and he was ours.”
Roberge is working this year with coaches Stuart Woods and Dave Eckes, who both have sons who won state vault titles under Solomon at Marshfield.
“When Stan passed away, we really wanted to try and keep the support system around Bubba that she could respond to and have trust in, and it is there,” McIntosh said. “Dave was Stan’s protege and between he and Stuart, Bubba trusts them and they know what they are doing. We are confident that the three of them will reach those milestones.”
So is Roberge, who is adjusting to her new coaches.
“It’s a lot harder, because you don’t have all that knowledge, but Stuart and Dave are doing great,” she said. “When you have someone coaching you from seventh grade, it is different. They are doing the best they can, and they are doing a great job.”
While carrying on the legacy of Solomon, Roberge is also continuing a family tradition in the pole vault. As a junior, she became the third Roberge sister to win a state title, and as a senior she’s gone higher than her sisters did before her.
The Roberge family has sent a vaulter to state each year since 2000 and captured six district titles and three state titles in the last seven years.
It started with Celina Roberge, who went to state three straight years and capped her senior year in 2002 with a district and state title. Muriel Roberge arrived at Marshfield the following year and won four straight district titles and a state championship in 2005.
“I started at the beginning of my seventh grade year, that was the year you could started pole vaulting,” Moriah Roberge said. “I saw my sisters doing it and obviously decided to do it as well. It was my main event in middle school and I always liked it.”
Moriah Roberge finished second at district in the vault during her first two years before capturing the title as a junior. She went on to win state with a mark of 11-9.
The three Roberge sisters shared the school record at 12 feet before Moriah broke it with a mark of 12-3 earlier this season. She upped that mark to 12-4 last week.
Roberge started the season late because of a quadriceps strain suffered in basketball. Then she was off on vacation for spring break.
“I think I’m doing pretty well this season, even though I had some things going on,” Roberge said.
In addition to working with new coaches and getting a late start, Roberge has also started using longer poles.
“I think that I am making good progress; I’m where I need to be,” she said. “I think I am doing the right things, moving up on my poles. I haven’t moved up since my sophomore year, but I am using bigger poles and getting upside down, so it is good progress.”
While the Roberge name has become synonymous with success in the pole vault, Moriah is more than a vaulter.
In the fall, she placed seventh at the district cross country meet while helping the Pirates win the team title. In the winter, she earned second-team all-league honors in basketball while helping Marshfield reach the state playoffs.
Even this spring, she is showing off her versatility. In addition to the vault, Roberge ranks fourth in 5A in the javelin and is also competing in the long jump and 4x100 relay.
“She has a reasonable chance at qualifying in all three individual events for state,” McIntosh said.
There she’ll have one last chance to add more records to her family name and the legacy of Stan Solomon.
Roberge gets over
The sudden loss of her coach has not slowed the Marshfield star
BY STEVE MIMS
The Register-Guard
Posted to Web: Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009 12:00AM
Appeared in print: Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009, page C5
Sports: Home: Story
COOS BAY — Moriah Roberge keeps breaking records and reaching new heights while looking to break more records and clear higher heights.
Her personal best and school record in the pole vault is now up to 12 feet, 4 inches after she cleared that bar in a meet at Churchill last week. The Marshfield senior is the only girl in the state to clear 12 feet this year.
Roberge — known to most as ‘Bubba’, a nickname given by her father — raised the bar to 12-7 at Churchill and barely missed one attempt at that height before a hand injury forced her to call it a day.
“That jump at 12-7 was real good, it had a chance,” she said. “I thought I had it up, but then at the last second it fell.”
Another shot at 12-7 is the next step for Roberge, the defending 5A state champion who has signed to compete at San Diego State next year.
“She set the goal at the beginning of the year to do 12-7, and on her attempt at Churchill she got her hips over and we really thought she had a good jump there,” Marshfield coach Mac McIntosh said. “She typically does well at Grants Pass, which is this weekend, so we are hopeful she can reach that milestone.”
Once she does, more milestones remain.
“If I go 12-9½ I qualify for Junior Olympics, so I want to try and make it there,” Roberge said. “If I go 13 feet, that would be the best in the state, ever. I have dreams of going 13 feet, but I would be very satisfied with 12-7 or 12-9.”
Roberge’s mark of 12-4 ranks fifth in state history for all classifications. The state record in the pole vault is 13-0 set by Sarah Sasaki of North Clackamas Christian in 1999.
“Moriah has a dream, a dream that she and Stan Solomon shared about going 13 feet,” McIntosh said. “That would put her in a whole different league of high school vaulters. Those two talked about it in the context of setting a record high enough that it would not be broken for a long time.”
Roberge is vaulting this season for the first time without Solomon, the longtime Marshfield coach who passed away in January.
“I think he’d be really happy with me going 12-4,” said Roberge, who gets emotional when discussing Solomon.
Solomon’s loss is still felt deeply at Marshfield, where he was a beloved teacher and coach for 48 years. He served as head track and field coach for 25 years. As the vault coach, he helped mentor eight state champions in that event since 1999.
“Those are his most recent accomplishments, but before that he coached the girls basketball team to the state tournament and coached track in addition to football and other things,” McIntosh said. “As a P.E. teacher, he literally trained thousands of kids who went through the program here during his 48 years. You can’t go anywhere in Coos Bay and mention his name and not have somebody tell a story about him. He was Soly. Programs have their institutions and he was ours.”
Roberge is working this year with coaches Stuart Woods and Dave Eckes, who both have sons who won state vault titles under Solomon at Marshfield.
“When Stan passed away, we really wanted to try and keep the support system around Bubba that she could respond to and have trust in, and it is there,” McIntosh said. “Dave was Stan’s protege and between he and Stuart, Bubba trusts them and they know what they are doing. We are confident that the three of them will reach those milestones.”
So is Roberge, who is adjusting to her new coaches.
“It’s a lot harder, because you don’t have all that knowledge, but Stuart and Dave are doing great,” she said. “When you have someone coaching you from seventh grade, it is different. They are doing the best they can, and they are doing a great job.”
While carrying on the legacy of Solomon, Roberge is also continuing a family tradition in the pole vault. As a junior, she became the third Roberge sister to win a state title, and as a senior she’s gone higher than her sisters did before her.
The Roberge family has sent a vaulter to state each year since 2000 and captured six district titles and three state titles in the last seven years.
It started with Celina Roberge, who went to state three straight years and capped her senior year in 2002 with a district and state title. Muriel Roberge arrived at Marshfield the following year and won four straight district titles and a state championship in 2005.
“I started at the beginning of my seventh grade year, that was the year you could started pole vaulting,” Moriah Roberge said. “I saw my sisters doing it and obviously decided to do it as well. It was my main event in middle school and I always liked it.”
Moriah Roberge finished second at district in the vault during her first two years before capturing the title as a junior. She went on to win state with a mark of 11-9.
The three Roberge sisters shared the school record at 12 feet before Moriah broke it with a mark of 12-3 earlier this season. She upped that mark to 12-4 last week.
Roberge started the season late because of a quadriceps strain suffered in basketball. Then she was off on vacation for spring break.
“I think I’m doing pretty well this season, even though I had some things going on,” Roberge said.
In addition to working with new coaches and getting a late start, Roberge has also started using longer poles.
“I think that I am making good progress; I’m where I need to be,” she said. “I think I am doing the right things, moving up on my poles. I haven’t moved up since my sophomore year, but I am using bigger poles and getting upside down, so it is good progress.”
While the Roberge name has become synonymous with success in the pole vault, Moriah is more than a vaulter.
In the fall, she placed seventh at the district cross country meet while helping the Pirates win the team title. In the winter, she earned second-team all-league honors in basketball while helping Marshfield reach the state playoffs.
Even this spring, she is showing off her versatility. In addition to the vault, Roberge ranks fourth in 5A in the javelin and is also competing in the long jump and 4x100 relay.
“She has a reasonable chance at qualifying in all three individual events for state,” McIntosh said.
There she’ll have one last chance to add more records to her family name and the legacy of Stan Solomon.
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