Seaside won the 1994 championship 27-14 in Eugene.

The fall of 2019 sees two major anniversaries in the history of Seaside and its championship Seagulls football teams.

The Gulls took their first state championship 60 years ago, on Saturday, Nov. 28, 1959, defeating Vale, 28-21.

Thirty-five years later, on Dec. 3, 1994 the Gulls won their second championship, defeating Brookings-Harbor High 27-14 in Eugene. This year marks the 25th anniversary of that championship.

One man was a big part of both championships, Jim Auld, Seaside High School class of 1961. As a player, Auld played a key role in the 1959 championship. As a coach, he helped to lead the 1994 team to their crown. We spoke to Auld in the Signal office.

  

Q: Were you born in Seaside?

Auld: I was born in Portland in 1943. I moved here when I was 4. I have two sisters. My dad had the Coca-Cola distributorship in Astoria. His family went to Astoria and we settled here.

Q: Tell me about your own sports career.

Auld: I started Babe Ruth ball through Seaside Kids in 1956.

Q: You were a junior at Seaside High School when the team won the 1959 football championship. What was that like?

Auld: A great team — ‘59-’60 was my junior year and we were 12-0. That was the only undefeated team we’ve had in Seaside. A great group of guys. Frank Buckiewicz was coach. He went on to Portland, to Grant (High School). Chet Bowser stepped in and took us our senior year. We had so many good football players, running backs — they just kept coming.

And we beat Vale, at Vale, 28-21, and Dave Wilcox was a senior for them. Of course he went on to Oregon and the NFL and is in the Hall of Fame. That was the only game he ever lost in high school. He was the fullback.

The next year, my senior year, we were still undefeated, but we lost the semifinal game. We won 22 or 23 consecutive games.

Q: You guys dominated the league.

Auld: For 10 years.

Q: Did you play in college?

Auld: I played at Pacific University. I played a year of football, then two years of basketball and four years of baseball.

Q: What did you do next?

Auld: I graduated and was at Banks High School for five years.

I got drafted, then came back for a year to Banks.

This job (in Seaside) opened up in 1971-72. I came in as an assistant football coach and the head baseball job. Larry Elliot wanted the basketball head job.

Q: Who was the head football coach at the time?

Auld: Neal Maine. I never was head football coach. Then Bruce Vuzzell took it. He had it for about six years, then Mike Corrigan, and then Stubby Lyons, around 1980.

Q: What was your role on the championship 1994 team?

Auld: I was the line coach. Stubby was the head coach.

Q: What made that ‘94 team so successful?

We had some big kids on that team. (Ben) Archibald was a junior, Adam Israel was a sophomore — those were big, fast kids. Casey Jackson as a running back. Interesting, the starting three running backs, Jake Brown, Casey Jackson and Jason Bartlett, were three legs of the short relay championship team — state record holders. The fourth leg, Scott Reilly, was our backup running back. That’s how much speed we had in that backfield.

Lance Lyons was the quarterback and he was a heckuva player too. You have a Nate Burke, who was the defensive player of the year in the state.

The key to the whole thing was Wally Hamer and conditioning. He was the defensive back coach. Those kids worked so hard. They’d run sprints. We’d have them in the weight room. They were in great shape. They couldn’t get enough. They thrived on it.

And the teams we played in the playoffs — they were all good. There were no “gimmes” in the 4A at that time. We had to travel to Burns and beat them on their field, then we had to go to Molalla. They had a great team. We beat them in a big rainstorm game.

Then we went to Junction City and Justin Wilcox was their quarterback. Dave’s son, who’s coaching at Cal now. He had not been beaten in high school. We beat them in overtime, then we had to play Brookings-Harbor in Eugene, that one ended up at 27-14.

Q: Was the ‘94 team undefeated then?

Auld: No! We lost 28-21 to Astoria during the regular season. Astoria was good that year.

Q: How did last year’s Seaside football team rank with those great teams?

Auld: It was a good team. There was no question about it.

Q: What highlight jumps to mind from last year’s Gulls’ football season?

Auld: Watching Alex Teubner do what he did. Forty-four touchdowns.

Toward the end of the season I could see where it was headed. I went to (coach) Jeff Roberts and said, “Jeff, do you realize what’s going to happen here in this next game or so?”

He kind of looked at me.

“Alex is going to break the record Steve Picard set back in 1957-58.”

In Steve’s senior year, he scored 35 touchdowns 210 points, the state record at that time.

Q: You were on that team.

Auld: I was a freshman when that occurred. Steve Picard was a senior. He was a state track champ in the 100 and the 220. He was a great athlete. He was from Tahiti — we called him the Tahiti Flash. Neal Maine was the other running back. Neal was a senior when I was a freshman.

Q: Teubner reminded you of that?

Auld: It’s an incredible achievement what Alex did last year — I mean, 44 touchdowns, 2,500 yards rushing, and passes caught for another 400 or 500 yards. He’s an extraordinary athlete.

Alexander Teubner scored 264 points on touchdowns. I’m not even sure if they know how many 2-point conversions he had.

I said, “Jeff, you need to record this. This is posterity. This is an achievement. Years from now someone will ask, ‘How many points did that Teubner kid score?’”

Q: Are you following his college career?

Auld: He’s at Boise State. He walked on and he opened some eyes right away. Whatever he did in practice, they liked what they saw.

Q: What do you see in his future?

Auld: He’s good. He’s a great defensive player. He’s going to make some specialty teams and open some eyes.

Q: What do you see ahead for the Gulls this year?

Auld: This year these kids have a new coach (Aaron Tanabe). He’s going to do a good job. It’s a different team, they’re going to have to re-identify themselves, which they will. We lost all the backs. That’s the way it goes.

Q: What about Banks? They have some top talent.

Auld: Their leading scorers are gone too.

Q: Seaside is sighing in relief.

Auld: I watched the East-West Shrine Game, with (Banks’ Hayden) Vandehey qb-ing, (Blake) Gobel a really good receiver. I watched that game and shook my head. I don’t know how we stayed with them. They all graduated.

Q: When did you retire?

Auld: 1998.

Q: Did you take a new career?

Auld: Guess what? When you retire, you need something to do. I’m staying with Seaside Kids, the Hall of Fame committee. This is a big year for us.

Q: What’s your message for today’s athletes?

Auld: I like to see three-sport athletes. It bugs me to death to see students on one sport. I think you need to be diversified. Play soccer, play whatever, but refresh yourself a little bit.

Q: How do you stay fit?

Auld: I play golf just about every day, and walk. I belong to a little fitness gym.

Q: Do you play pickleball?

Auld: No. Never! That’s crazy!