McLoughlin 9/13/25

The road north out of Pendleton across the rolling hills of northeast Oregon is pretty monotonous this time of year, and I can’t imagine it’s much different the rest of the year.  It’s all hay fields and corn, and more corn and hay fields.  Most of the hay was newly cut, but most of the corn was still standing, which was a little surprising for so late in the summer.  There were lots of onion trucks taking their full loads to wherever they take them, but I’m not sure what a freshly-harvested onion field looks like so we probably passed a lot of them too.  But the area isn’t completely devoid of appeal.  There is something about the golden, almost monochrome, look of the mostly treeless hills as they roll off to the mountains in the distance.  Everything is gold or beige, and you can see for miles in every direction.  Which means you get glimpses of the Walla Walla Valley long before you get there, and the green depression in the landscape lets you know you’re getting close to Milton-Freewater well before you actually get there.

Though the northern part of the valley, in what is now Washington state, had been a center of trade for decades and settled much earlier, the southern part on the Oregon side wasn’t settled by white men until the 1860’s.  The main settlement in that neck of the woods was Milton, which was incorporated in 1886.  But some Milton residents weren’t happy with the strict temperance laws the town imposed and went off to start their own town, presumably to drink to their hearts’ content.  They didn’t go far, though, and their new town was within walking distance of Milton.  They called it Freewater, and promised new settlers free residential water rights in an effort to attract residents.  By 1907 the Walla Walla Valley Railroad was running a line between Milton and Freewater to Walla Walla, allowing its fruit, vegetables, wheat, and people to reach the rest of the nation for the first time.

A new high school opened roughly on the border between the two communities in 1922, named after Dr. John McLoughlin and known locally and throughout the state as Mac-Hi.  It’s an impressive sight today, and I can only imagine it was even more so a hundred years ago.  The classic architecture and red and white brick still make it a landmark in the town.  Eventually the citizens of both towns recognized the benefits of consolidating their efforts.  The costs of police, fire, and electrical services could be reduced, while enhancing the ability to attract new industry. After an election in November of 1950, the towns were merged in 1951, and 3,850 people lived in the new city of Milton-Freewater. 

By the 1960s, Milton-Freewater proclaimed itself the pea capital of the world, which is better than the pee capital of the world.  There were several pea canneries in the town, and they had an annual Pea Festival. But by the end of the 1970’s the economy had changed, and pea harvests in the area declined.  The canneries shut down and they relinquished their title as the center of the pea universe.  The town survived that calamity, though, and appears to be thriving producing other things, though none of them will ever have the cachet of peas. 

Just a year after that merger of the two towns back in 1951, McLoughlin High School had what was probably its biggest night ever.  1952 was an outstanding year for high school basketball in the state of Oregon, and more than 70 years later, 6 of the top 15 single-game point totals by an individual player are from that year.  It’s still the only year that the 50-point mark was reached by a single player on 8 occasions, and the state single-game scoring record was broken four times in that one season.  First, the old record of 59 points was topped when Lincoln’s Swede Halbrook scored 66.  Then Gerry Bloom of Crow scored 67 in one game, only to have Halbrook take the record back with a 71 point effort against Roosevelt.   He got to enjoy that record for less than a day before Jerry Crimins of McLoughlin scored 26 points in the fourth quarter for a total of 73 in a 116-63 win over Hermiston.  All these years later, that record is still unbroken.

As far as I know, McLoughlin High has never produced any professional football players, but the town of Milton-Freewater was the long-time home of a former major-league baseball player.  He wasn’t exactly Moonlight Graham of Field of Dreams fame, but he was pretty darned close.  Unlike Graham, Oscar Harstad did get to bat during the single summer he played for Cleveland in 1915.  In fact, he got up to bat 16 times, recording two hits, one RBI and one run scored.  His .125 batting average can be excused by the fact that he was a relief pitcher who threw 82 innings in 32 appearances for the Indians that year.  He had a 3.40 ERA, and a 3-5 record.  He wasn’t terrible, but by that August the Indians were well on their way to finishing 44.5 games behind the Red Sox in the American League, and Oscar played his final game on August 28.  And that was that. 

Oscar, or Stardust Harstad, as I’ve christened him, whose dad had been the first president of Pacific Lutheran College in Tacoma, had attended high school at the Pacific Lutheran Academy, and he returned to the Pacific Northwest.  He became a dentist and set up a practice in Milton-Freewater where, a la Moonlight Graham, he served the small community for over 50 years.  His daughter, Dorothy, was an OSU grad who later became an instructor at the university, and Oscar and his wife eventually moved to Corvallis in the early 1980’s to be near her family.  Unfortunately, by 1985 both Oscar and his wife Josephine had died, but Stardust Harstad is at his rest now in Corvallis when he’s not appearing at a cornfield in Iowa.  In an unlikely coincidence, guess who had the highest batting average on that 1915 Indians team?  That would be one Shoeless Joe Jackson!  Jackson also played his last game for Cleveland that August.  He was sold to the White Sox, and the rest is history.  If you haven’t seen Field of Dreams this will make sense when you do.  And shame on you.

 In an interesting side-note, one person that Oscar did not play with was Nap Lajoie.  Lajoie was probably the only player so good that his team was named for him, but after he was traded to Philadelphia prior to the start of the season, it wouldn’t have made sense for the team to be called the Cleveland Naps anymore while Nap played for another team, so that 1915 season was the first for the Cleveland Indians.  Lajoie finished his career with a .339 batting average and 3,251 hits, and went 7 for 8 on the final day in 1910 to win one of his 5 American League batting titles.  Or did he? 

One Milton-Freewater native who possibly gained greater fame than either Jerry Crimins or Stardust Harstad was Buck Flower.  Buck was a uniquely versatile Hollywood actor who played everything from a bum to a tramp.  He was equally as good being a drifter as he was being a wino.  Some of his other credited roles were “Beggar”, “Drunk Gambler”, “Old Man”, “Workman”, “Redneck”, “Homeless Man”, “Vagrant”, “Stranger”, and “Hobo”.  Yes, Buck could do it all, and was always willing to stretch himself as an actor, as long as he could play a bum of one sort or another.  The amazing range of his talent kept him employed mostly in B movies from the early 70’s into the new century, but everyone knows him best from his role as the bum “Red” in Back to the Future.  Buck passed away in Los Angeles in 2004.

What did Oscar Harstad, Jerry Crimins, and Buck Flower all have in common?  None of them have ever seen the McLoughlin Pioneers football team win a state championship.  The Pioneers have been playing football since 1919, but are still looking for their first state title.  After the weinerpus season they went winless for 3 straight years, but last season they won two games under new coach Vince Roff.  They lost their opener last week to Ontario, but still have a chance to improve on last season, and a win in this game against Blanchet Catholic of Salem would go a long way toward that goal.  The Pioneers compete in 3A Special District 6, along with Umatilla, Vale, Burns and Nyssa.  Blanchet also lost their first game of the season, but one of these winless teams would be a winner by the end of the day. 

The football field, Shockman field, is a long block west of the school, so the teams have to change at the school and walk over.  But we had The Bucket and drove right up to the edge of the cyclone fence in the gravel parking lot just outside the south end zone.  It was another hot day with temperatures in the high 80’s, and the first thing we noticed was that the grandstand was uncovered.  We hastily made our way through the turnstile to the ticket table, only to be informed that there was no entry fee.  I don’t know if it's the same for all Pioneeers games, but it was a pleasant surprise.  Then Mrs. Ednold found us a couple of seats at the very top of the bleachers just covered by the sliver of shade cast by the press box behind us, and that made all the difference.  It was still hot, but at least we weren’t exposed to the direct sun.

East side visitors seating

The bleachers were of the standard aluminum variety, and though there were smaller portable bleachers across on the visitors’ side the Blanchet fans chose to make their own section on the far north end of the grandstand, and there was plenty of room for them.  There is a nice rubber running track around the field which was all roped off, making it difficult to get any good pictures, but we had a great view from where we were and we were in the slow-growing shade.  The field in the middle of the track was a nicely green gridiron that didn’t show the tell-tale signs of having been marked off by a robot: The lines were done well, but not perfect. 

When the action began, I mentioned to Mrs. Ednold that this could be a very long game for the Fighting Pioneers.  The Cavaliers from Blanchet ran the ball down their throats on a 60-yard touchdown drive that left me feeling very pessimistic about the home team's chances.  Blanchet had several very large players and their running back was among the largest.  He wasn’t fast, but even when the defense would meet him at the line of scrimmage they couldn’t bring him down before he had gained at least five yards.  The Mac-Hi cheer team, consisting of about a dozen girls and one guy, wasn’t spectacular, but they didn’t wilt out on the hot track in front of the student section and kept the crowd in the game even when things were looking bleak.

The pioneers were smaller, but were quick and tough.  I still think if Blanchet would have stuck to their running game they would have scored over and over again, but they didn’t.  They insisted on mixing in some passing plays, many of them resulting in sacks and almost none of them for completions, and they didn’t score again in the first half. Mac-Hi had scored a touchdown of their own before halftime, and that’s when I learned, almost incredibly, that they are also using my own high school’s fight song as their own.  This is the fourth school we’ve visited this season, and all four are pretending that the song doesn’t belong to some other school.  At first it was just a little strange; now it’s getting downright scandalous.  But I got over it because the Pioneers went to the break only down 2, 8-6.

Although we didn’t get any of the standard halftime entertainment of dance routines or a marching band, the band did stay in their spot in the student section and play several funky numbers that were very well done.  This wasn’t the usual classic jock-rock stuff they played during the game.  It was jazzy and bluesy and when they got going nobody missed the dancing girls.  For some reason the Mac-Hi band was dressed more like Cavaliers than Pioneers, but they looked sharp in their outfits and hats and you can tell someone at the school thinks a good band is something worth having, and it is.  The music also allowed me to visit the concession stand without missing anything on the field.  It was too hot for coffee, and you already know what gatorade tastes like so I won’t tell you, but I can say that Mac-Hi has some of the best popcorn you’re likely to find at a football game.

When the teams came out for the second half things were much the same as the first.  The Blanchet run game was still hard to stop, but they’d stop themselves every time they dropped back to pass, and the Pioneers couldn’t string enough good plays together to score any points either.  Fortunately, the Pioneers had junior running back/safety Dallen Duncan on their team to make big plays on both sides of the ball, including a punt return for a touchdown to give them the lead at the end of the third quarter, 12-8.  When they managed another touchdown in the fourth quarter, along with a kicked extra point to make the score 19-8, we finally felt like Mac-Hi was in control, and that turned out to be the final score.

By the end of the game our little patch of shade had grown considerably, and the next few rows in front of us were also able to enjoy it.  The stands had also continued to fill up throughout the game so that the Mac-Hi section was pretty well full by the time the game ended.  Back in the first quarter I wouldn’t have believed it, but the Pioneers have one win in the books, and I don’t think a few more this season is out of the question if they keep improving. 

We got back in The Bucket with the knowledge that we have already brought victory to four teams this season with the prospect of several more.  We’ve never had an undefeated season, but it’s still a possibility for 2025, and most teams can’t say that.  That was a comforting thought as we pointed The Bucket back west and headed for home.