Coachbear 30: The Life and times of Coach Larry Geigle by Larry Geigle

Author:Larry Geigle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-01T22:03:13+00:00

Graduation from Linfield

(1974)

My final class at Linfield was student teaching. This is where the college would place you in an educational setting to give you a teaching experience. This experience would help you understand the everyday job of an educator.

My old high school football coach had moved to Hillsboro High School so I thought it would be great to do my student teaching with him. He accepted my application to be my advisor and show me the ropes. When I got to Hillsboro, I quickly learned that they had just won the high school 5A State Football Championship. Everyone at the school was pretty excited, including my old coach, Mouse Davis. After all his years of putting teams on the field, I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more.

After spending the next twelve weeks under Coach Davis’s watchful eyes, and teaching a number of different PE units, I was called into the office and told that Hillsboro School District liked what I had done in the classroom, and would like to interview me for a teaching position in PE. After meeting with them and going through the Hillsboro interview, I was not hired, so I went home. A few hours later that same day, my phone rang. It was Beaverton School District, wanting to interview me at Highland Park Middle School. They said they wanted to interview me at once. I think what happened is that Hillsboro had decided to hire another Linfield alumn, who had graduated from Hillsboro School District. They then called Beaverton and told them how much they liked me, and that’s when I got the call for my interview at Highland Park.

On the day of the new interview I can still remember driving up to Highland Park Junior High, where the interview was going to take place. I was nervous but optimistic and positive—an attitude that carried into the interview. The thing was, I was a very clean-cut young man, I loved helping kids, and they could see that. They could see that once I was experienced, I would become a great mentor for students in my teaching and coaching. When the interview was over, I left with a good feeling, knowing I had done well. I went home to my one-room boarding house, thinking how great it would be to be a teacher and coach at Highland Park. The next day I received a phone call and was offered the job. I accepted. Both excitement and fear set in. After settling down, I immediately jumped in my old leaky 1969 Buick Wildcat Battleship and drove down to Portland Volkswagen, where I traded that heap in for a brand-new bright-yellow VW Beetle. Back at Linfield I had needed money for school, so I sold the TR6 and bought the Wildcat—so it was nice to be back in a new-smelling car. My car payment was $50 a month, and my starting salary for teaching was a huge $575 a month! I was rich! After my car payment I still had $525 left.

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