Bill Lemmon coached Bellfountain of Oregon to the 1937 state boys’ basketball championship
(There is no claim of originality in this article. it was pieced together using info found on the Internet.)
In 1936-1937 season, the boys’ basketball team at Bellfountain High School won the Oregon state championship. (Bellfountain is in Benton County, about 18 miles from Corvallis, home of Oregon State University).
Burton
"Bill" Lemmon (a graduate of Tacoma’s Stadium High School and Willamette
University in Salem) was the coach. Bellfountain High had a total of 27
students, its basketball team had eight boys, none over 6-foot tall.
At that time Oregon had two classifications for
high school athletic teams. Enrollment numbers determined if a school was Class
A (larger) or Class B (smaller). Uniquely, if a basketball team won the B
championship it could challenge the Class A teams to play for the Class A title
in basketball. In 1937, Bellfountain did that: It won the B championship and
then won the A title.
Playing
at Willamette U in Salem, Oregon’s capital city, the Bellfountain “Bells” won the
Class B Championship. Then, in the A competition it beat Portland's Franklin High School in the semi-finals,
then, for the Class A title, defeated Lincoln High School of Portland by 14
points – Bellfountain’s closest game of the season. For the season, the Bells
had a 24-2 win-loss record.
To realize the size differential between the two
contenders, consider that Lincoln High in 1937 had almost twice as many
teachers as Bellfountain had students.
In
his education career Bill Lemmon would go on to coach boys’ basketball at
Stadium of Tacoma and Clover Park of Lakewood. He didn’t coach his children in
high school, but sons Dennis (Class
of 1962), and Pat (Class of 1966),
played high school basketball at Clover Park High and Lakes High respectively.
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BELLFOUNTAIN,
EATONVILLE, CLOVER PARK, STADIUM
After the 1937 school
year Bill Lemmon left Bellfountain to be head boys’ basketball coach at Eatonville, Washington.
After three years with Eatonville he went on to Clover Park, where he stayed five years and where one of his players later coached Lemmon's sons at the same school,
From Clover Park, Lemmon moved to Stadium High in Tacoma, where in 1931 he was a member of the Washington state champions playing March 11-14, 1931, in U of W Pavilion
(later named for Hec Edmundson) in Seattle. He coached for 12 years at Stadium.
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BURTON C. LEMMON
TNT/Tacoma
News Tribune Aug. 17, 1999 with editing and additional info added in 2022
Burton
Carlyle
(Bill) Lemmon, age 87, went to be with the Lord, August 11, 1999.
Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, April 9, 1912, he spent most of his
childhood years in Tacoma, Washington, where he died.
Always a diligent student and inspiring athlete, he
helped lead the Stadium High School in Tacoma boys’ basketball team to a
Washington state championship, completed college at Willamette University with
a degree in teaching foreign languages, married the love of his life, Isobel M. Morehouse, and began a
lifelong career as father, teacher, coach and community leader.
Bill carried the ability to motivate and inspire
academically, athletically and morally to all who touched his life.
In his first school year of teaching, 1936-1937, he
led Bellfountain, a small B school basketball team, to win the all schools
Oregon State Championship. He continued to coach and teach at Eatonville,
Stadium, Clover Park and Mt. Tahoma high schools in Washington.
Family was paramount in his life, and he worked
several jobs to provide a great home and environment on Steilacoom Lake for his
wife and five children.
With amazing energy, he always spent time building
personal relationships with his children, working, coaching, and maintaining a
home, yet never abandoning his many other interests which included reading,
prolific writing, humor, all manner of music and dance, philosophy, poetry,
languages and travel.
He took his family with him when he traveled overseas
to teach in Cardiff, Wales, Madrid, Spain and Puerto Rico, and an additional
year each in Torremolinos (Spain) and in the Philippines, once the family was
grown. Bill was always much more than a tourist, because he mixed right in with
the people, communicating, learning and sharing.
Everywhere he went, people asked him to be the
master of ceremonies, to speak of his travels, of living life to the full, and
of sound character. This he did well, lifting spirits with his beautiful
singing and speaking voice, his crisp sense of humor, dramatic presentations
and intelligent dialogue. His speeches carried the theme of God is love and
power, the blessing of freedom of speech, thought and will, sportsmanship,
strong moral character, thankfulness, optimism, spontaneity, and generous
living. These qualities he demonstrated by his life.
Burton C. Lemmon was a remarkable man with a
tremendous contribution. Those who knew him will be saddened by his departure,
but will understand and appreciate how their lives were enriched by his lively
presence and outstanding character.
As Bill joins Izzy (Isobel M. Morehouse) in heaven,
his five children, Michael, Rosemary, Dennis. Patrick and Sally, their spouses,
12 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and many friends will miss him. The
family is holding a private memorial service.
Izzy
and Bill met at Willamette U. They married in 1936 in Salem, Oregon. Isobel Montague Morehouse Lemmon was born May 3,
1912, Snohomish County, Wash. She died
at age 66 on Aug. 12, 1978, in Tacoma, Pierce County, Wash.
PHOTOS
=Coach Bill Lemmon on the far left with his 1937 Oregon
state high school championship “Bells” boys’ basketball team of Bellfountain,
Oregon.
=Bill Lemmon photo from his
1999 obituary in the TNT/Tacoma News
Tribune.
=If the newspaper "clippings" below are hard to read, click on each one for a larger version.
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