I first became aware of Scott Gragg on a lunch trip to the Wooden Nickel shortly after my arrival in Silverton in 1997. There was a New York Giants Scott Gragg jersey on the wall and I got the lowdown on him from my food server.
Great story. Silverton High grad in 1990, college player at Montana and then 11 years as an offensive lineman in the NFL with the Giants, 49ers and Jets. Towns the size of Silverton don’t usually produce 11-year NFL starters. But then the story got better.
Gragg came back to Silverton in 2006 to coach football with the Foxes and teach math. He also coached at his other alma mater, Montana, before settling in at McNary High, first as athletic director and now as principal.
Quite a run, quite a run.
Gragg (Class of 1990) will be inducted into the Silverton Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, Oct. 7 (see information box for ticket info) along with the 1968-69 boys basketball team, girls basketball coach Tom Steers, three-sport girls athletes Mary Purdy (Class of 1989) and Linda Riedman (Class of 1993) and special contributor Chuck White.
“I’m honored to enter the SHS Hall of Fame,” Gragg told Our Town in email exchanges. “Most of my success was realized after high school. In fact, I would argue that my wife is more deserving of the hall of fame than me. I will always cherish the friendships and support I received from teammates and coaches. I’m also excited to be included in a HOF class that I enjoyed cheering on as a student and alum.”
Gragg’s wife, Toni (Trierweiler) lettered in volleyball, basketball, and track and field. She was a part of the 1989 girls state championship team which finished second the following year after rampaging through an undefeated regular season. She also placed at state in the shot put and held the school record for 20 years.
“My fondest memories as a student-athlete at SHS centered around the strong relationships created with teammates and coaches,” Gragg said. “This transcended football and basketball. I loved cheering on the girls at their two state championship runs at the Salem Armory. Winning a playoff game as a coach after a long drought at Silverton was a great memory.”
Gragg watched as the girls, coached by fellow inductee Steers, down Henley 51-46 for the AA title in 1989 and fall the following year to Vale by a 53-49 count in the title game. Gragg coached as the Foxes appeared in the 2007 and 2008 Class 5A playoffs, downing Hillsboro in 2008.
I interviewed Gragg in 2006 during fall camp for his first year with the Foxes. It was a lengthy session, but his most memorable answer was to a question I asked him about what outcomes he was looking for and what in his mind constituted success.
He said, and I’m paraphrasing, that he wanted his players to come back for their 5-year or 10-year reunions, hang out and talk about how they had a good time playing football at Silverton High. I found that inspiring.
Gragg and Toni met in their sophomore year at Silverton and have been married for 28 years. They live in Salem and have two children, Anna and Brian. Anna, a standout Division 1 volleyball player at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, is married and living in Montana. Brian is studying theater and sound production at the University of Montana, his dad’s alma mater.
Gragg clearly believes in education. He graduated from Montana with a bachelor’s in math … and kept on going, earning a master’s, his administrative license and his doctorate at George Fox University in Newberg.
I asked Gragg about his career path.
“I don’t think it was planned or expected,” he said. “However, looking back, I don’t think it could have played out more perfectly than it did.”
And if I had asked him in high school?
“I would have told you that I aspired to be a wildlife biologist somewhere in the Northwest.”
My sense is that he would have made an excellent one.
SHS Hall of Fame Gala
Saturday, Oct. 7, When: 6 p.m.
VIP reception 5:15 p.m.
Schmidt Pavilion, Oregon Garden
$50 per individual, $400 for a table of 8 (includes 8 drink tickets)
Tickets: www.silvertonfoxes.com (click on the Hall of Fame Gala tab)
email [email protected]
