Camas Hall of Fame Inducts Stellar Alumni, Former Coach at 6th Banquet

Dozens of supporters from near and far gathered at the Camas High School Main Commons Saturday evening to attend the 6th Camas High School (CHS) Hall of Fame Induction Banquet.

Attendees were greeted by the CHS Marching Band, Cheer Squad and a hearty welcome by Marcia Johnson, the Athletic Hall of Fame Chairperson; then treated to a delicious dinner and a series of tributes and official induction ceremonies.

Six individuals, and two teams were honored during the two-hour Hall of Fame event.

Lauren Rainey, Class of 1948
Introduced by John Skimas and accepted by Barbara Rainey Runyan.

Lauren played basketball, football, and baseball. In his senior year, Lauren set all the scoring records in basketball and led his team to the Washington State Basketball tournament that year. At the State tournament, he averaged 18 points per game! Lauren was also named to the All-Conference Basketball teams during his junior and senior seasons. In addition, Lauren contributed to the 1948 baseball team during his senior year.

Les Morsach, Class of 1958
Introduced by Tom Wallenborn.

From 1955-1958, Morsach played football, basketball, and track. He was a three-year starting varsity quarterback. He was the first Camas QB to lead team to a state championship. Morsach was a SW Washington first team All-Star QB two years in a row. Led team in passing yardage and passing touchdowns all three years, and received a football scholarship from Yakima Community College. He also participated in basketball, where he was a starting guard and in track, where he set school pole vault records.

Donald Huston, Class of 1961
Introduced by his brother, Denny Huston, who said “good coaches teach how to win.”

Huston played baseball and basketball. Two-sport star at Camas High School. He was the starting guard his junior and senior year where he was All League each year. He averaged 12.7 points per game, the assist leader, team captain and always assigned to defend the opponent’s top player. During his senior year, the team record was 19-1 and went to the State tournament for the first time since 1947. Huston also participated in baseball, starting at second base both his junior and senior years. Don then went on to play college basketball at Western Washington University followed by a career in coaching basketball for 25 years.

Bob Cameron, Class of 1971
Introduced by Doug Slyter.

Cameron competed in five sports: wrestling, football, basketball, baseball, and track. He earned 10 Varsity letters during his high school career, and during his sophomore year he qualified for the Washington state wrestling tournament, and in the spring he lettered for the baseball team; at the time a rare accomplishment. His senior year accomplishments included football team MVP, Team Captain, “Black Helmet Award” recipient and All league; baseball MVP, Team Captain, All League and Clark County All-Star; Basketball Team Captain. He was named Outstanding Athlete for CHS his senior year.

Brent Richards, Class of 2008
Introduced by Coach Roland Minder.

“Brent was quickly the team’s top scorer and won the All-League Academic Award. He was a huge part of our success in earning the State title that year,” said Minder. “He was all about the team. I felt a special bond with Brent and we felt the refiner’s fire. He scored 26 goals with 10 assists his senior year and earned a 4.0 GPA. He was the Columbia Region Player of the Year.”

Career stats: 83 goals, 32 assists. Freshman year: Varsity Offensive Player of the Year, All-Academic Award (3.95 GPA), 2nd Team All-League, League Champion. Sophomore year: Team won State Championship, All Academic Team (3.76 GPA). Junior year: Injured. Senior year: Gatorade State Player of the Year, Regional Player of the Year, and All-League Scholar Athlete (4.0 GPA). Brent also won the State Tournament Player of the Year where his high school team won the state championship. He was drafted by the Portland Timbers and played professional soccer for 10 years.

“There were a lot of people that were inspirational to me, I’m so thankful I got to grow up in this community,” said Richards. “Thank you.”

Coach Roland Minder
Introduced by Steve Hogan.

Coach Minder started his CHS soccer coaching career in 1993 as an assistant in the girls’ program until he was named the head coach in 2004 and served until 2018. He was the boys’ head coach from 1995 to 2017. In 38 seasons as head coach, his teams earned 30 League championships, won 24 District championships, had 33 WIAA State tournament appearances, 22 WIAA State Quarterfinal appearances, 14 WIAA tournament Final Four appearances, eight WIAA state championship game appearances, and earned five WIAA State championships!

Minder has been awarded: League Coach of the Year, Washington State Coach of the Year, NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year, NFHS Sectional Coach of the Year in 2011, NSCAA National Coach of the Year in 2016. His combined record for the boys and girls is: 589 wins, 106 losses and 46 ties.

“The game of soccer has always been an integral part of my life growing up in Switzerland,” said Minder. “It was a long road in building this soccer program. My first priority was to get the club and the high school to work together. It took a while, but we eventually started having success. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I dare describe it as a movement … This award is because of so many people, and represents all those who worked so hard for so many years.”

2005 Girls’ Soccer Team
Introduced by Minder.

They won the State Title in 2005, the first time for a Clark County team.

“They’re the greatest girls soccer team to ever play at Camas High,” said Minder.

2006 Boys’ Soccer Team
Introduced by Minder.

The won the State Title in 2006.

“This age group was special,” said Minder. “The coaches had a great rapport with the high school and we all looked forward to the year. Our nemesis was Columbia River, which caused us to place second in league … We defeated Lakeside for the title. I still remember the coach after the game from Lakeside because they were all over us … We had all the players behind the ball and we just defended, defended, defended. It was a phenomenal effort. We had skilled players but we had a great team effort. Everyone bought into the program and this team made history. It was the only time that both the girls and boys teams won a State Title in the same school year.”

At the conclusion, Johnson addressed the audience.

“I want to thank everyone for coming, and for your support,” said Johnson, who organized the event. “I just want to give a special thanks to the Hall of Fame committee. I couldn’t do this without your support. We select teams by application so you have to be nominated. I carry nominations from year to year and we go through tons of information and we select people we feel deserve it for that year. I also want to thank the Camas Athletics Booster Club. It takes a lot of money to do this.”