Jeff and Paul Durham Leave Oregon / Hawaii better places!

Coach Jeff Durham, who coached at Forest Grove High School in the 60', 70's and 80's, and took the Vikings to the state Championship against Sunset in 1976, died today after a long illness. Jeff, whose father, Paul, was a longtime coach and athletic director at Linfield College and later AD at Hawaii, was a fixture in Oregon high school football. He also taught history at Forest Grove High School, was the AD at both Forest Grove and McMinnville High Schools. He will be missed.

 

His Father Paul Durham was a class guy too.  My dad played aginst him back in the 1950's and said Paul would always find him after the game and congratulate and coach him up a bit.  I know that Jeff was a super class guy.  These men is are the type of people / coaches we should all aspire to be.

Here is an excerpt on Paul who died recently in Hawaii. He left his Mark on the world and in the end that is all we can strive for.

"Paul Durham, Linfield College, University of Hawaii
Before becoming the director of athletics at the University of Hawaii, Paul Durham coached and served as the director of athletics at his alma mater, Linfield College. He was one of the founding fathers of the college's athletics program. As Linfield's football coach for 20 years, he guided the Wildcats to six conference titles, two NAIA championship games and posted a record of 122-51-10. He is ranked second on the college's all-time list for victories. Durham's 1961 team, which was the first undefeated team in college history, was inducted into the Linfield College Hall of Fame in 2005. At one point, Durham was the director of athletics, football coach, a faculty member and sports editor of the News-Register. In the summer, he ran the city recreation program, taught summer school and coached softball. Durham moved to the University of Hawaii in 1968 as the university's first AD. He grew the university's athletics from a club program to the threshold of Division I and played a major role in moving the Rainbows into the Western Athletic Conference. Although he retired from the athletics department in 1975, Durham continued to teach classes in the College of Education until 1981. He was inducted into Hawaii's Circle of Honors in 1997 and into Linfield's Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural year. The foyer into Linfield's athletics complex bears his name. In 1962, he earned the NAIA Coach of the Year and Oregon Man of the Year awards. He was also inducted into the Los Angeles Football College Hall of Fame in 1975. Durham graduated from Linfield College in 1936 and is one of the few student-athletes in college history to earn 10 or more varsity letters"

Paul was inducted to the The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.

Here is to Paul and Jeff Durham who left a huge impression on the thousands of people they helped and represented Oregon in a way few have ever done.

Great Job Guys!