Every so often, a sports team has a chance to bring a community together in a way that will live on in the stories we tell our children and grandchildren. A story that defines a magical moment where the team and the town become one.
- Mark Yaconelli, founder of the Hearth
ashland oregon, summer 1989
In the summer of 1989, in the Shakespeare and peace-loving ‘hippy’ town of Ashland, Oregon, the unlikeliest football team ran through Lithia Park. They looked more like a cross-country team than Oregon's future State Football Champions. Until now, these diminutive, mostly Senior Grizzlies, were perceived as hacky-sacking ‘Quiche Eaters’ within the brutal rain-soaked and blood-stained smash-mouth pantheon of Southern Oregon high school football of the 80s. To be kind, up to 1989, Ashland Grizzly Football of the last 30-plus years was a RUNNING joke.
And yet they ran without any baggage from the past. Beyond the world-famous Elizabethan stages of Ashland’s renowned Shakespeare festival and below Mt Ashland, where many of them learned to ski with their dads. These outlier kids ran along the mythical Ashland Creek system, where water flowed as freely as Easy E and Metallica boomed out of their car speakers. As they dared and joked each other to drink the famous Lithia Water that tasted like farts, they knew that they were on the cusp of greatness.
ashland in 1989 was the last place yoU WOULD EXPECT a football DYNASTY to emerge.
even though the grizZLIES WERE A LAUGHING stock, SOUTHERN OREGON FOOTBALL IN THE 1980S was no joke. Roseburg and Medford dominated the state, in brutal fashion.
“Oregon’s version of friday night lights was a muddy and bloody affair. Roseburg epitomized that.”
— Former Oregon Ducks Head Coach Rich Brooks
“the university of medford was a real thing. speigleberg was a god, and before him it was bowerman. yes, the nike bowerman.”
— Emmy Winning Actor Ty Burrell
— Emmy Nominated Actor Tyler Burrell
“playing Roseburg was like playing against a team of paul bunyons.”
— NFL HALL OF FAMER TROY PALOMALU
“i think the grizzly soccer team outscored the football team in 1984.”
— HALL OF FAME ROSEBURG HEAD COACH THURMAN BELL
“roseburg football was three yards and a mouthful of mud”
— HALL OF FAME ROSEBURG HEAD COACH THURMAN BELL
“Ashland was barely big enough to be in the aaa division. they were the jeff spicoliS of high school football AND THE TEAMS OF SOC ATE GRIZZ MEAT FOR BREAKFAST.”
— ESPN Analyst Neil Everett
and yet, despite all this. In 1989, the quiche eating Grizzlies began one of the most unlikely sports dynasties in Oregon history.
a moment when a hippy town and a high school football team peaked at the same time.
how DID THIS HAPPEN?
Ashland in the early 80s had a magical way of drawing young families in and capturing them, with its mix of outdoor beauty, adventure, and world-class art scene. It was affordable then, especially if you were moving from California. The running joke in Ashland in the 1980s was that your plumber probably has an MBA from Stanford. In other words, ridiculously overqualified people chose Ashland as home, choosing community over career. These idealistic boomers were building a community for their kids to thrive in. Many left lucrative careers to become Teachers, cabinet makers, or in the case of our story, a High School Football Coach.
a visionary football mind
When Jim Nagel took the head coaching job at Ashland High School in 1983 his career was on the rise. His story parallels that of so many families who settled in Ashland then. While most people in the 1980s were trying desperately and shrewdly to climb up the career ladder for money and status, many of the people who moved to Ashland in the 80s were doing the exact opposite, in fact they were tossing the ladder away, and replaced the ladder with a community they intended to invest in and build for their kids to thrive.
This was Jim Nagel and his wife. At this point, he was already a highly touted and sought-after offensive coordinator from New Mexico and San Jose State, known for turning perceived roster weaknesses into strengths and wins. When the Nagels chose to live in Ashland, Jim was being pursued by multiple major Division 1 programs like Arizona and Illinois. Ironically, Ashland was the job every high school football coach ran away from. And yet, Jim Nagel ran straight for it, knowing full well he was running backwards against the forward current of his career.
The idea of building a program over time, committing to one place that you could raise a family and build a community was what drove Nagel to Ashland and to stay.
in 1983, Nagel had the ambition and vision to build something truly unique and special in a truly unique and special town. But he couldn’t do it alone…
…He needed a partner, a culture builder, a motivator. When he found Dave Kitchell he found the spark, and the heart and soul of what would become The Grizz.
‘We love and care for each other.’ - Coach Dave Kitchell
It almost didn’t happen. After a 1-8 season in year 2 of the Nagel era, the booster base and parents of the team were ready to send Jim Nagel and his next level off-season strength & endurance training packing. Two of his best players, Jim Breeze and Tony Champion, transferred to neighboring Phoenix High School because they were fed up with Nagel. Nagel was so convinced he was going to lose his job at Ashland he was already interviewing for the job at Grants Pass. It was season #3 when the Senior class, led by a three-year starting quarterback, changed the course of Ashland Grizzly Football history.
GREG WHITE.
When you hear Greg White speak about Grizzly football you will the hear the past, present, and future of the program. He’s the kid whose parents moved their family from Southern California to Ashland in the 70s for a better quality of life and to build a community. Greg Became the only 3 year starting quarterback in Grizzly history (until his son would do it later). He began when Coach Nagel began. He saw how the program was being transformed under Nagel, and he saw the pushback and the struggle to get it going. He suffered the worst season in Coach Nagel’s career when they went 1-8 and Nagel was on the chopping block. He watched his two best teammates transfer to neighboring Phoenix to get away from Coach Nagel. Then he saw The Grizz culture transform under Assistant Coach Dave Kitchell, and how that became the special sauce. In his final season as Quarterback while playing linebacker on the defensive side, he recovered a game-ending fumble against Grants Pass, which changed the course of the trajectory of the program forever, and epitomized the type of play that the Nagel Era Grizzlies became famous for. Greg White and the Grizz of 85, set the table for 89.
A special group was coming...
The kids whose parents moved to Ashland in the 70s were growing into a formidable force, and word of this special group spread to Coach Nagel.
As adolescents, we are almost wired to believe whatever we are told, especially by men of power or rank, so when this happens, when a man of a specific position of power makes a promise to a group of young boys, there’s an unspoken trust that this promise is life or death.
- Mark Yaconelli, founder of the Hearth
The legend goes that in 1985 a magical group of Ashland 8th graders had never lost a football game, which was hard to believe because that year the High School Grizzlies went 1-8 and Jim Nagel was in serious jeopardy of losing his job as Head Coach. Despite this, Nagel introduced himself to this group of boys and challenged them to make a promise even more ridiculous than the fart smelling water that flowed from their town.
A promise.
Coach Nagel’s promise was simple.
‘Dedicate yourselves to each other and to working year-round in the weight room and on your speed and endurance, and I promise you that together, I will help you build a football team that will win a state championship by your senior year.’
The promise was audacious and straightforward, yet the boys showed no signs of surprise or fear. Behind their watery young eyes were determination, purpose, and belief. Sitting before Nagel was a Magical group of young boys that were born and raised in Ashland, who’s parents chose to move them there in the 70s with the hopes of building a happy and healthy community for kids to thrive. This group was going to make good on that hope and promise.
chad cota
CHAD WAS AN OLYMPIC LEVEL DOWNHILL SKI RACER, AND THAT’S HOW HE PLAYED. IT ALWAYS LOOKED LIKE CHAD WAS RACING DOWNHILL WHEN EVERYONE ELSE WAS RUNNING UPHILL, AND HE WAS A HEAT SINKING MISSLE.
Chad demolishing a heisman canidate freshman year at Oregon.
bert petersen.
the closest thing to a real hippy kid on the team was quarterback bert peterson. he was cerebrial, he was creative, he deflected attention, and like the counterculture heroes that he idolized and his head coach, he thought different to.
the smurfs.
Matt Wells, Bobby Foote and Dan Buchanan were just about the most fun you will ever see on a football field. Like three little playground brats who stole your candybar and made you watch them eat it, while they stole your girlfriend to.
matt wells.
MATT’S BIO COMING
bobby foote.
BOBBY’S BIO COMING
dan buchanan.
DAN’S BIO COMING
Under coach nagel & coach Kitch the ‘Quiche eaters’ of ashland kiCked serious ass.
FOR 33 YEARS THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM AT ASHLAND HIGH SCHOOL WAS A PERENIAL JOKE. THE ‘QUICHE EATERS,’ THE ‘HACKY SACKERS,’ THE SOFT ‘HIPPY KIDS’ FROM ASHLAND. BUT ALL THAT CHANGED IN A RELATIVELY SHORT TIME ONCE THE NAGEL ERA BEGAN AND THE QUICHE EATERS MADE THEM ALL EAT THEIR WORDS.
ON THE VERGE OF A PERFECT SEASON
LEADING UP TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP, NO TEAM IN OREGON HISTORY HAD EVER PLAYED A PERFECT SEASON AND BEAT ROSEBURG TWICE IN THE SAME YEAR TO DO IT. THE GRIZZ WERE ON THE VERGE. THE ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE OF THIS SEASON IS A TANTALIZING DISPLAY OF YEARS OF HARD WORK AND TRUST, FOOTBALL GENIUS, LOVE AND COMMITMENT BETWEEN COACHES AND PLAYERS. A TESTAMENT NOT ONLY TO THE BONDING POWER OF SPORTS, BUT TO A COMMUNITY THAT WAS GALVANIZED BY THE EXCELLENCE AND BEAUTIFUL DISPLAY OF ATHLETICISM BY THE GRIZZLIES. FOR THOSE WHO WITNESSED THE GRIZZ OF 1989, IT WAS POETRY IN MOTION.
ONE OF the greatest FOOTBALL GAMES IN oregon history
THe entire town of ashland OREGON jumped in their cars and went to eugene. not to see THE GRATEFUL DEAD. BUT TO SEE their BOYS win a STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP.
In 1989, it was only fitting that Ashland's greatest challenge came from conference rival Roseburg, led by Oregon Hall of Fame Coach Thurman Bell and Gatorade Oregon Player of the Year, the 300-pound giant Heath Howington. Roseburg epitomized everything Ashland was not; they were the biggest high school football bully of the time, much like a character from a classic 80s movie. Having reached the finals for three consecutive years, Roseburg was a dominant force.
However, the Grizzlies managed to defeat them twice in the same season, including in the state final held at the legendary Autzen Stadium in Eugene. This game is still regarded as one of the greatest high school football games in Oregon's history. The two smallest players on the field, Matt Wells and Bobby Foote—affectionately known as 'The Smurfs'—made the most crucial plays. Wells kicked the winning field goal, while Foote blocked a last-second field goal attempt to seal the victory. Chad Cota had a one-handed interception that is the greatest athletic feat anyone has ever witnessed, which essentially cemented his full-ride scholarship to Oregon when Ducks Head Coach Rich Brooks, who was in attendance, saw it.
Together, The Smurfs accounted for 211 yards of offense and two touchdowns, in addition to disrupting numerous plays on defense. By beating the big bully Roseburg twice in one year, Ashland captured the championship and sent the now football-insane town of Ashland into a frenzy unlike anything it had ever seen.
In one game, this victory also fundamentally changed the landscape of Oregon high school football, disrupting, dismantling, and overthrowing the long-standing hierarchy of football elites for an entire decade to come.
THE KICK
AFTER A perfect season the grizzlies were champs! they did it with style, the smurfs, the finger tip catches, poise, swarming defense, in the trences, chad cota, the catch, the kick, the block!
the promise came true!
“chad cota won a full-ride with that catch .”
— Former Oregon Ducks Head Coach Rich Brooks
“IT WAS THE GREATEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAME THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN.”
— EMMY WINNER TY BURRELL
— Ashland Mayor Cathy Golden
“BERT HAD THE POISE OF A BUDdHIST MONK and the guile of A gunslinger.”
— Ashland Mayor Cathy Golden
“in one season the power structure of the southern oregon conference JUST flipped upside down”
— HALL OF FAME ROSEBURG HEAD COACH THURMAN BELL
“when ashland beat roseburg two times in the same year, that was a statement.”
— NFL Hall of Famer Troy Palamalu
— Ashland Mayor Cathy Golden
“we love and care for each other”
“THE KICK WAS ICONIC. THE BLOCK was triumphant.”
“THE SMURFS WERE SENSATIONAL.”
“THE ONLY THING BETTER THAN THE GAME, WAS THE PARADE.”
“PEACE, LOVE AND FOOTBALL!”
“ashland football was having it’s quiche and eating it to. the hippy kids WON! they redefined what oregon football looked like. paving the way for a style that would later define the ducks.”
— ESPN Analyst Neil Everett
As Ashland thrived in the 1990s, so did The Grizz. They dominated the state of Oregon for the entire decade, becoming the Roseburgs and a the Medfords or Oregon football. Nagel’s offensive genius continued to thrive, even as all the other programs in the state began to adopt the west coast offensive style of play and the off-season strength and endurance training. Under Coaches Nagel and Kitchell The Grizz played in 5 State Championships and won three. At the same time, making it as far as the semifinals 8 times.
The town of Ashland was booming right along with the football team. Rising real estate prices, combined with stunning arts and scenery, attracted retired Baby Boomers, displacing the types of young families who had settled there in the 70s and 80s. This eventually led to a decline in school enrollment, resulting in the closure of two elementary schools. Fewer students meant fewer football players, forcing the Grizzlies to drop three levels in Oregon High School football while rivals like Roseburg and Medford regained strength. The era of coach Jim Nagel felt like a fleeting moment of success, as the once-prominent town and team faced inevitable decline.
ashland oregon, spring 2025
The legend of Jim Nagel and The Grizz of 1989 has left an everlasting mark on Oregon football and the town of Ashland. Coach Nagel would go on to win National Championships with Southern Oregon University and Linfield College and is considered by many to be the greatest offensive mind in Oregon history. His players have played in Rose Bowls, NFL Championships, College National Titles, and World Series games. Outside of football, they have founded successful companies, are leaders in climate change science, lawyers, bankers, doctors, teachers, and many of them are Coaches and community builders. Most of them have families of their own.
There is an epidemic in our country now of young men without a purpose. In Ashland, Oregon, in 1989, HIGH SCHOOL football was that purpose.
- Mark Yaconelli, founder of the Hearth
Last fall, the Grizzly football team struggled to field a complete roster, competing for players and field time with the soccer team. They managed to win only two games and have dropped down three levels since their glory days in the 1990s. Across the United States, participation in team sports has nose dived. And the suicide rate amongst young men and boys is double what it was in the 80s and 90s. As the polorization of our political and economic climate has become extreme, there is a sense that we have lost the stories that brought us together as communities. Especially in team sports. We’ve lost the magical stories that bind us and the generations after us together.
But there is hope on the horizon.
REMEMBER THIS GUY?
Greg White is the guy who started it all with a fumble recovery that put The Grizz in the playoffs, that saved Nagels job and started what would become on of the most unlikely sports dynasties and legacies in Oregon football history. The kid who’s parents moved him from Southern California to Ashland for a better a life, to build a community. Greg has never left Ashland. He stayed and raised 3 sons who all played for The Grizz while he was an assistant. This Fall he begins the first season as Head Coach of The Grizz. The first alumnus Coach who was once a player. His strength is the combination of both the knowledge he gained playing quarterback for Nagel, and the culture he will adopt from Coach Kitchell. Already the number of boys trying out for the team has doubled since the low point of last fall.
Also, a new wellspring and story are slowly emerging. Young families are starting to come back to Ashland as the Boomers are fading away. And the kids of Ashland, whose parents settled in the 1970s and 80s, are returning as well, with their own kids. There is a feeling that Ashland’s community is on the verge of reinvention and rejuvenation. There is still that sense that this place has a special pull on people, that underlying feeling that…