By KATHLEEN O’CONNOR/YachatsNews
Some people are born athletes and born to love sports. Some people are born to love people. Jack Boothe, the head football coach and GEAR UP coordinator at Waldport High School, fits in both of those categories.
Boothe was born and raised in Clatskanie, a lower Columbia River town with a high school almost the same size as Waldport’s. His mother grew up there, too, and Boothe’s grandparents lived just two doors away.
As a young child his favorite toy was his kid-size basketball hoop, and it quickly became evident that he was good at making shots. The whole family loves sports so they encouraged Boothe and by the time he was five he was playing basketball, football and baseball. The family spent almost all their free time supporting and encouraging Boothe and his sister in sports.
Boothe fell in love with football, and almost always played quarterback. His high school football coach, Sean Gorely, became his mentor and even allowed him to run plays for the JV team during his senior year. The thrill he felt the first time he ran a play that resulted in a touchdown confirmed what he already knew — he wanted to coach football.
After graduating from high school, he chose to go to Oregon State University to pursue a degree in education. He realized that teaching and coaching used the same people skills and provide the same rewards.
Question: You haven’t graduated from college yet. How is it that you landed the GEAR UP Coordinator position?
Answer: When I was an on-campus student at Oregon State University I earned extra money as a referee for high school basketball games. After refereeing a game in Waldport, I reached out to the administration, asking if there were any job opportunities. Waldport reminded me so much of Clatskanie … I felt at home here. The GEAR UP coordinator position came open soon afterward. Because it is a classified position, not a teaching position, I was allowed to apply even though I hadn’t yet completed my degree. I was hired in March 2023. I am currently taking classes online and will graduate next June.
And, the football team needed an assistant coach. How could I be so lucky?
Q: The GEAR UP program is relatively new. What is the goal of this program and how is it being implemented?
A: GEAR UP is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the goal is to prepare middle and high school students for post-secondary education of all types. Waldport was one of 10 schools in Oregon that was awarded the grant, and funding will continue through the 2028-2029 school year. It is managed by Oregon State University. GEAR UP is an acronym for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
We have quite a few things going on simultaneously at Waldport middle and high schools. One of the most important is called Career Connect. Approximately every other week we have someone come in to talk with the students about their career. Most recently we’ve had a city manager and an electrician, and coming up are a game designer, a nurse and a radio host. 20-25 students sign up each time. It’s one thing to read the description of job possibilities on paper, and quite another to get to talk with someone who is doing that job. We are constantly working to get our students to picture themselves in different roles.
During student conferences at the beginning of the year we work with seniors and their parents to define exactly what they want from their last year of school and figure out how we can help them. We have two “Leap into College” nights where students and parents get to attend up to four 30-minute workshops.
The coordinators from the 10 schools meet every week with OSU GEAR UP “success” coach Maddy Anderson to share ideas and results.
Q: How have the students received you, considering you are not too much older than they are?
A: Well, on my first day some of them did mistake me for a student, and we had a good laugh over it. I thought I could work well with the students, basically because of the skills I learned when I was a quarterback. In that position I had to look at the big picture and direct my fellow players about what to do. I was pretty sure I could transfer those skills to helping the students take advantage of the GEAR UP program.
I was more worried about how I would fit in with the staff and teachers since I had never held this kind of position, and because it was brand new. Everyone here at Waldport High School wants all the students to succeed, and I’ve gotten help from virtually all the teachers and staff to get GEAR UP off the ground.
Q: What are your thoughts about being the head football coach at WHS?
A: At a small school all the staff members must help in some way with extracurricular activities. Last year I got to be an assistant football coach, working with head coach Jeff Skirvin. And this year I was honored to become the head coach. It is truly a dream come true for me. When you work with students on a team you really get to know them. I’ve worked to try to figure out what each player needs from me so the team can succeed. And sometimes we all must work together to calm down if things aren’t going our way in a game. (Note: Waldport finished 6-4 this season, making the state playoffs for the first time in three years, but lost to No. 1-ranked Heppner on Nov. 9.)
Q: What do you like about living on the central Oregon Coast?
A: I like this community, maybe because I grew up in one just about this size. I like meeting people I know in the grocery store. I like knowing that the parents at this school back up the teachers. I like the genuine sense of community I have here because as the coordinator for GEAR UP I get to work with all the students, not just the football players. It’s a privilege.
Tell us a secret.
Football is pretty much always on my mind. All my pages of notes for my college classes have at least one football play sketched out at the top of the page. My friends have ribbed me endlessly about this.
- Kathleen O’Connor is a Waldport freelance writer who can be reached via email at kmoc8916@gmail.com
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