Barney Holland, Aug. 5

I recently read about the passing of Barney Holland a former high school basketball head coach in Oregon. That’s what the headlines basically stated, but Barney Holland also meant a lot to the athletic history of the Bay Area and Marshfield High School in particular. Holland played for the Pirates and earned a spot in the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. After graduating from MHS, he attended the University of Oregon where he continued his basketball career under another Marshfield Hall of Famer, Bill Borcher. During the 1953-54 season, Holland was third on the team in scoring at 172-points. When his Duck career ended, he went on to coach and teach at North Eugene. A team in the same league as Marshfield. It had to be special for him to return to Coos Bay each season to play the Pirates in the same community where he cut his athletic teeth, the Pirate Palace. Holland always had solid teams, but his best was his two-year run in 1976 & 1977 that ended with state titles. Over those two-seasons his Highlander team only lost two games. At the center of that achievement was a high-scoring guard his teammates called “Squirrel.” That was Danny Ainge. He was First Team All-Tourney in both of those title runs but joining him on the First Team for that second Blue Trophy was another Bay Area connection, point-guard Rodger Bates. Bates is the son of former Southwestern Oregon CC coach Dale Bates. The Bates Family moved to Eugene when Dale Bates accepted the head coaching position at Lane CC. Rodger ended up at North under Coach Holland. The younger Bates did make it back to the South Coast eventually but as a teacher/coach at Reedsport. His Brave teams were consistently in the State Tournament. Bringing all of this full circle is where we began in the Marshfield Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame inductees are honored with a place in the Pirate Palace at MHS. Look up on the walls next time you enter the legendary gymnasium, and you’ll find Holland and Borcher’s biographies. But, just to tighten the circle a little bit more, you’ll also find that Bates’ connection exists there as well. No, not Rodger, but his sister Cheryl who is also a member of the MHS Hall of Fame (State Track Champion One Mile Run 1973). It’s fun connecting historic dots, especially when those dots create interest and bring back fond memories. Barney Holland is one of those fond memories. He was quite the athlete and quite the coach.