Dave Nygaard

The induction class of 2005 might be also known as the induction class of the football linemen. Three of the individual athletes being inducted are football linemen who played for the purple and gold. Raleigh Stine (Class of 1914), Eilliot Becken (Class of 1934), and maybe the best of all of them — Dave Nygaard.

Dave, like a lot of high school athlete, was a late bloomer when it came to physically developing as an athlete. He was a good enough athlete to letter six times in four different sports. His first letter came in track his sophomore year, but track was not to his liking, and he switched to baseball his junior and senior years. Dave’s junior year also got him a letter in wrestling and football.

Nygaard’s development really started during his senior year while playing on Chuck Burn’s 1971 gridiron team . Playing for a team that went 3-5-1 on the year, he was so outstanding; he was selected as First Team All-League and Second Team All-State as a lineman, which is almost unheard of for a lineman unless your team is one of the top in the state. This made Dave a prime target of college coaches around the state, where he was recruited by Linfield College. He lettered his first two years for the Linfield team. He quickly became noticed as a very impressive lineman, as he made All-NW Conference and Honorable Mention NAIA All-American his junior year.

His senior year at Linfield is what may have made Dave one of the most decorated athletes to have come from AHS. Playing for a championship team at Linfield as a defensive tackle, he was recognized as a unanimous All-NW Conference, unanimous NAIA District 2 1st team and NAIA District 2 Athlete of the year in 1975. This was all for league and district 2 which is made up of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. On the National level, he was selected 1st Team NAIA All-American, defensive player of the year, and 3rd team Associated Press All-American.

His last honors came as a finalist for the Hayward Award, which is the most outstanding athlete of all sports and colleges in the state of Oregon for 1975. In 2005 he was inducted into Linfield College’s Hall of Fame.

Dave is married to Judy Angberg, class of 1973, and has a daughter Melissa who was an outstanding swimmer for AHS for four years. She still holds several records for the girls’ swim team. He is currently a partner in Warrenton Fiber with his brother and father.