With a freshmen and a sophomore in the starting lineup and just one starter back from the 1929 state tournament runner-up, most folks might have labeled their team as being in a rebuilding stage. Not Astoria!
With John Warren at the helm and a large contingent of current and future AHS Hall of Famer’s in the fold, locals soon felt comfortable that the 1930 team would soon bring glory to their hometown.
After recording an 8-0 mark in the Clatsop County League, the Fishermen rolled into the Willamette University gymnasium and held Ashland, Pendleton and host Salem each to 17 points on consecutive evenings. The fast-paced Astoria team showed once again that they were one of the superpowers of Oregon when they brought back their first of many state championship trophies.
Oregon Governor, A.W. Norblad, was thrilled to present the winners the championship hardware since he was an Astoria resident.
As state champion, Astoria received an invitation to attend Amos Alonzo Stagg’s national high school tournament in Chicago but due to the depression and limited funds, the champions were unable to make the trip. Athens, Texas defeated Jena, Louisiana by a score of 22-16 for the tourney title which left the team wondering how far they might have advanced if given the opportunity.
Astoria, 20-4 on the season, split games with Pacific Lutheran College and beat Centralia Junior College. Later in the season, Centralia beat Yakima JC 51-15 for the Washington State Junior College basketball title.
Warren dipped into the powerful junior high leagues for the first time, moving lanky Lewis and Clark school ninth grader, Pern Averill to the varsity. Averill’s 80 points in 1930 stood as the AHS frosh season scoring record until Eli Ettro topped Averill’s record 65 years later. Hall of Fame athlete and coach, Wally Palmberg was a sophomore on the 1930 unit. Palmberg’s list of achievements are listed elsewhere on this website. John Jeffers went on to play at the University of Oregon. Team captain, Herb Ystad, a first-team All-Tournament selection, played at Oregon State before joining Averill at Oregon Normal College.
In 1930, basketball had yet to celebrate its 40th birthday and a center jump after each score was still a part of the game. At 6’1”, Arne Lindgren was the tallest player on the court and dominated many of the jump balls. Time and time again, Lindgren, who had a great vertical leap, tipped the ball to his teammates to retain possession of the basketball.
Lindgren played one year of basketball at the University of Oregon before he caught the attention of legendary Duck track coach Bill Hayward. The coach convinced Lindgren that track was his sport and he became Oregon’s premier collegiate high jumper and long jumper during the mid-1930’s. He later became a prominent physician.
In the early part of the century, state tournament officials allowed teams to bring just eight players to the tournament. Other AHS team members that contributed to the state championship in 1930 were, Edward Malone, Alvin Zimmerman and Jasper Lowe.