A former Philomath High baseball player, Paul “Jeff” Cochran, was the subject of a pregame memorial ceremony Wednesday at Terry Stephenson Field. The event coincided with the 56th anniversary of when Cochran was killed in action during the Vietnam War. Only 20 years old at the time, he died May 1, 1968, during the Tet Offensive.
Cochran played for the Warriors in the mid-1960s. A quick glance through the archives shows that he was a pitcher and according to a story published in April 1965, threw a three-hitter and struck out 13 in a 6-1 victory over Salem Academy. He graduated with the Class of 1966.
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Eric Niemann was serving as Philomath’s mayor in 2019 when the city received a property donation through the estate of Cochran’s mother, Beverly Durham, who had died in 2018. The home where Cochran lived with his grandparents while in Philomath was located at 1545 College St.
Durham left the lot to the city for the establishment of a veterans memorial park. Paul J. Cochran Veterans Memorial Park is not officially finished with a memorial yet to be installed but it’s been open for public use for several weeks.
“It has been with me for the last five years to be honest with you,” Niemann said when asked about his involvement to recognize Cochran with a ceremony. “It just really gripped me and it’s something I just really care deeply about. It just really feels like a responsibility to keep his legacy alive.”
Niemann has formed a bond with Cochran’s sister, Shane Fritz, who graduated with Philomath High’s Class of 1970 and lives in Stayton.
“As we’ve developed and reached milestones or achievements with the park, I’ve continued to text the family to keep them informed of the progress,” Niemann said. “So that’s been heartwarming to finally be able to deliver on Mom’s promise.”
Fritz said the occasion was bittersweet — it was the anniversary of her older brother’s death but at the same time, the event was appreciated. She excited to see that the park has finally become a reality.
“I am very pleased to see that my mom’s dream of having a park in memoriam for my brother has come to fruition,” Fritz said after the ceremony. “I appreciate the efforts of all of the people that volunteered to make it happen and for the guidance that Eric Niemann provided while he was mayor and since making sure that things all took place.”
Family members have made visits to the park.
“I just went over there today (Wednesday) and there were at least three families enjoying the park,” Sara Elkington said. “They did just place the sign that instead of saying ‘future home’ it actually has the name of the park. And then on the back it has Jeff’s story.”
The ceremony got started with the game’s participants from Philomath and Newport lining up down the first- and third-base lines while public address announcer Erin Haynes read their names. PHS cheer team members split up into two groups and entered the field on both sides carrying U.S. and 101st Airborne flags. Cochran served with the 101st “Screaming Eagles.”
Haynes read Cochran’s biography followed by a moment of silence.
Cheerleaders escorted family members onto the field. Baseball coach Levi Webber presented Fritz with a plaque to that featured a rubbing of her brother’s name from the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. Seniors Kash Lindsey and Mason Stearns, and junior Kayson Olsen presented flowers to family members.
The Oregon State Army ROTC color guard followed by entering the field and Philomath High School choir students Michi Araki and Kaylee Webster sang the National Anthem. Philomath Fire and Rescue was on hand with a ladder engine to display the U.S. flag just outside the left field fence.
Cochran’s nieces were also on hand for the ceremony — Lara Strubel, of McMinnville, and Sara Elkington, of Kennewick, Washington. They never knew their uncle with his death occurring before they were born.
Strubel said the ceremony was fantastic and admitted that she felt embarrassed because she got a little emotional.
“I think it’s pretty meaningful to see all these young men who are pushing an age where they could (serve in the military),” Strubel said. “My sister has a son who’s 10 and so just thinking about what that would mean as a parent of a family member — I was very appreciative.”
Elkington had a similar perspective.
“This was just very pleasant. Our uncle was honored before and it was also very pleasant and meaningful,”she said, referring to a 2019 Philomath Middle School Veterans Day program. “That was harder emotionally for whatever reason.”
Throwing out a ceremonial first pitch was Seth Elkington, Sara’s husband. Warriors catcher Grant Niemann was on the receiving end of what appeared to be a strike.
“I’m impressed with all the young people today, too,” Sara Elkington said, “and how much they can really conduct themselves — the cheerleaders, the team members, the ROTC.”
Niemann said he was happy with the way the ceremony came out.
“I was pleased with how it came together, I mean, there were a lot of moving parts from the fire department to the cheer team to the ROTC,” Niemann said. “We really hadn’t done a rehearsal and it all came off really well.”
Tying it all together was a game that featured a strong performance at Cochran’s primary position — pitcher. Starter Joe Barnes allowed just one hit over six innings and closer Logan Matthews set down Newport batters 1-2-3 in the seventh in a 7-3 Philomath victory.
Middle-school track feat
Move over, Brianna, your 24-year-old record in the middle-school 800-meter run has been broken.
Philomath eighth grader Reagan Nuño took first place last weekend in the Oregon State High Performance Meet in Corvallis at the Whyte Track and Field Center, an event that featured 38 colleges, several running clubs and five middle schools. Nuño won the 800 with a time of 2:25.80, which was 1.4 seconds faster than Brianna Anderson-Gregg’s time of 2:27.20 back in 2000 and is the fastest time in the state so far this season.
If that’s not enough, Philomath runners in their yellow jerseys finished 1-2-3-4 in the event. Eighth grader Cassidy Smart was second in 2:28.26, seventh grader Sienna Bushnell was third in 2:32.88 and sixth grader Olivia Hernandez finished fourth in 2:33.92.
The top three girls — Nuño, Smart and Bushnell — are all cousins to add another interesting layer to the performance.
By the way, Smart’s time ranks third on the all-time middle school list behind Nuño and Anderson-Gregg. Bushnell’s time is sixth all-time and Hernandez’s time ranks No. 8.
As for Anderson-Gregg, she went on to become one of the greatest PHS runners of all-time. In fact, she still holds the Class 4A state meet record in the 800 with a time of 2:12.78 in 2003.
Nuño’s record-breaking ways didn’t stop last weekend. In a meet Tuesday at Silverton, she broke the PMS school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.41. That broke a record set in 1988 by eighth grader Jamie Vandehey, who covered the distance in 1:02.64. Vandehey, who was a teammate of Nuño’s mother, Natasha, won the 400 at the 3A state high school meet in 1991.
On the subject of records, the middle school’s javelin marks were bettered this season. For the boys, eighth grader Jacoby Babcock had a throw of 150 feet, 4 inches at the Philomath Middle School meet on April 23. And for the girls, eighth grader Taylor Martin broke the PMS record with an 81-11 on April 17 at Silverton.
On a side note, the javelin has changed in terms of equipment in recent years. Six or seven years ago, a switch was made from the 300-gram tailwind javelin to the 450-gram aero javelin. Eighth grader Sara Bradley has the record for the girls’ tailwind javelin with a 97-8 in 2015. Eighth grader Adam Hernandez has the boys’ record at 146-1 in 2017.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
