Brewer Billie
Graduating Class of 1911
Brewer Billie was one of the most colorful characters to ever wear the purple and gold of Astoria High School. Even his name leads one to believe that this native Astorian would have quite a career ahead of him.
Billie was a star lineman for the 1910 AHS football squad. He was the center for the AHS basketball team that played to the school’s first ever scholastic game on January 21, 1911, a 15-13 win over Cathlamet at the AAAA Gymnasium (now the west parking lot at Safeway).
He earned his high school degree in 1911 and headed off to Oregon State University for futher schooling.
After one year at Corvallis, Billie returned to Astoria and authored one of the most bizarre chapters in Astoria High School sports history.
Astoria High School had just moved into its new facility on Jerome Avenue and offered postgraduate courses to the young adults in the area. Billie enrolled in the upper level program, and with one year of college behind him and a OSU freshman basketball award in his scrapbook, Astoria High School was happy to welcome Billie back into its athletic program.
It would take a full football season and most of the following basketball season before someone cried foul!
Astoria defeated Claskanie 32-21 early int he 1912-1913 season, but CHS refused a return game, citing Billie’s eligibility as the reason. Astoria did not flinch, stating that Billie was qualified to play. They would then claim the Lower Columbia championship.
Billie was also in the starting lineup when the Astoria High School football team hosted the touring Wendell Phillips High School of Chicago on New Year’s Day of 1913.
Astoria had already played two basketball games when Phillips arrived from the East with losses to Boise HS and Washington of Portland. The locals, who had opened in September with wins over Jefferson and Lincoln, lost to the “windy City” eleven 13-0, but easily established a record for distance traveled by and opponent.
Once back on the OSU campus for good, Billie played three years of football and three years of basketball. He lettered three times as a gridder, and was selected Beaver team captain in his senior season.
Billie’s first caoching assignment was heading the athletic program at Washington’s Hoquiam High School. He quickly scheduled his alma mater and on February 5, 1917 on the floor of the Columbia Club gymnasium. Billie’s cagers returned to the banks of Gray’s Harbor with a 25-15 victory.
After one year in Hoquiam, he coached freshmen athletics at Oregon State for a number of seasons. His 1919-1920 Rook basketball team was one of OSU’s better first year clubs at the time. They recorded a fine 8-3 record, with two wins over arch-rival Oregon.