Dick Prather memories of teaching and coaching
Richard “Dick” Prather remembers well the students he taught and coached during his 20-plus years in the McMinnville School District.
And they remember him, especially the swimmers, divers and gymnasts whom he coached at McMinnville High School in the mid- to late-1960s and 1970s. So well, in fact, that many of them gathered Sunday to honor their former coach, who was in town for his 65th high school reunion – the Mac High Class of 1959.
“There’s a special bond between athletes,” Prather said in an interview prior to being surprised by his “kids,” now in their 60s and 70s. “Students you see every day in the classroom for a short while. You spend long practices with athletes, travel, go to games” and share the joy of winning and frustration of losing.
His daughters, Bambi and Tiffany, who graduated from Mac High in the 1980s, arranged the surprise party at The Preserve, formerly called the Bayou and now home to The Nines golf course, just south of McMinnville.
Prather and his wife, 1960 MHS grad JoAn Prather, came to the event center thinking they were meeting friends Ted and Donna Marr for lunch. JoAn knew, but Dick didn’t, that the event taking place under a big white tent was for him.
Reuniting with the athletes, some of whom he hadn’t seen in decades, capped off a weekend of reminiscing.
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Prather, now retired, and his wife live in Arizona, but both grew up in McMinnville.
A native of Oklahoma, he moved to town at the start of seventh grade after attending “seven different schools in seven years,” including those in the Yamhill Carlton District and Newberg after his family moved to Oregon from the Midwest.
As a fifth-grader in Carlton, he learned to swim in the outdoor pool – a skill that later would serve him as a high school and college athlete and as a coach.
He attended junior high school in the building now known as the Adams Campus, at 13th and Cowls street, the first junior high building in Oregon.
There he met lifelong friends such as Wayne Rieskamp, Jim Hayes, Allen Larsen and the late Gary Schroeder.
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When the Class of 1959 went on to the old high school., his junior high principal, J.B. Conaway, went along to lead that building. Later, Conaway became an instructor at Linfield College, now university, and the two met again.
Prather had just returned to the hometown college after a year at Willamette University. At the Salem school, he had been studying political science and economics with plans to become a lawyer like another of his MHS classmates, Elliott Cummings.
Conaway suggested that the younger man go into education. Prather said no.
“I didn’t want to be a teacher,” he said. Looking back, though, he admitted, “he was right and I was wrong.”
Additionally, he said, “I’ve never regretted not being an attorney. I liked teaching and enjoyed coaching.”
During college, he worked at a variety of jobs in McMinnville – as a lifeguard at the pool, a clerk at Miller’s Department Store, at the Atlas Bakery and as a shoe salesman at Redmond’s and the Shoe Horn. He drove a school bus, as well.
After graduating from Linfield, Prather returned to his alma mater as a social studies teacher; he also taught drivers’ ed at times. He said he had a hard time, at first, relaxing around his former teachers – he kept calling his new colleagues “Mrs. Six, Mr. Klein, Mr. Bates,” etc.
“They told me to call them by their first names, but it was still difficult,” he said.
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Prather coached JV football one year and was an assistant wrestling coach the next.
Then, when Mac High needed a swim coach, Prather got the call. The district sent him to clinics to learn about coaching.
Later, when the district wanted a gymnastics team, he took that on, as well, starting the program from scratch.
Both Prather and the students enjoyed the training and competitions.
His swim teams, who practiced in the outdoor pool adjacent to the current aquatic center, won league and district championships. They “did okay” at state – one relay team placed second in Oregon.
“They were 1/10th of a second behind, and both teams (first and second) broke the state record,” he recalled.
Prather has fond memories of all the teams he coached and the individuals, such as Mary Skophamer, Richard Pratt, Susan Heller, Kathy Dickey, Mike Gammon and the Denman brothers.
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Although he liked coaching and teaching at Mac High, in the later 1970s Prather decided “I need to stretch.” He became an assistant principal, then principal of the junior high.
During his years there, McMinnville built a new junior high building – what is now known as Patton Middle School. He recalls leading meetings for junior high parents in order to get them more involved with the school.
When Jens Robinson became superintendent in the early 1980s, Prather moved to the district office as director of personnel. He held that position for several years before moving to LaGrande to become a superintendent. He saw Robinson often – the former superintendent had moved to northeast Oregon as well to become dean at Eastern Oregon University.
After nine years as superintendent, he retired. But he continued working in education as an interim superintendent and a high school principal in Washington for a few years.
McMinnville had about 16,000 residents when he left his hometown school district, he said, marveling at how much the city has grown in the ensuing years.
He and JoAn have visited from time to time to see friends, attend earlier reunions and visit family. But this visit was especially special, he said, because he was able to visit with old classmates – and the former athletes who took him by surprise.
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