During the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, Astoria High School was a breeding ground for some of the finest prep football linemen ever produced on Oregon soil. Del Bjork and Elliott Becken started it all under John Warren as coach. Paul Hawkins, Chuck Hancock and Ron Smart carried on the tradition. By the mid-1950’s, the torch had been passed on to the rugged Dave Urell.
Urell, listed as a 192 pounder, was a demon on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage. He averaged nearly 10 unassisted tackles a game. In a 19-14 win over Milwaukie High School, Urell personally put an end to Mustang plays 14 times and recovered a fumble. A week later at David Douglas, he was credited with 12 solo tackles and an interception.
Astoria’s only loss of 1956 was a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Gresham High School on the Grophers home turf. The Gopher’s all state quarterback, Bob Schloredt, felt the presence of Urell all night and time after time was scrambling to get away from the quick and strong Urell. Schodent later became an All-American at the University of Washington and earned the MVP trophy of the 1960 Rose Bowl.
Urell, along with Keith Korpela, were co-captains for the Fishermen of 1956. Urell, an offensive tackle, teamed with Korpela, a guard, to open huge holes on the right side of the Astoria line for the running backs to break through the opponents defense. Many of the 35 touchdowns the locals scored that season came from hitting the right side of the line where Urell and Korpela were moving bodies out of the way.
Soon after entering high school, Urell dropped baskeball from his athletic resume, but would always point with pride his part in the 8th grade hoop squad coached by Jack Mudd. That memorable 1953 Explorer team rolled to a 19-0 record.
Upon graduating from AHS in 1957, Urell took his game to the University of Oregon where he would earn three letters as a starter on the Duck offensive line.
In 1960, as the only returning starter from the mobile and scrappy front line of 1959, Oregon finished the regular season with a 7-2-1 record and was selected to meet Penn State in Philadelphia’s annual Liberty Bowl. Before a national audience, Oregon fell to the Nittany Lions 41-12 in sub-freezing weather.
At Oregon, under Len Casanova, Urell was named co-captain of the Ducks in his final year, along with quarterback Dave Grosz. At seasons end, Urell was name All-Coast by the Associated Press.
Urell’s outstanding play during his senior season earned him a spot on the West squad for the annual Shriners East-West All-Star football game in San Francisco. This was the second time an Astoria grad earned the right to play with the nation’s best. Del Bjork (1931) also played in the All-Star game in 1935.Urell played the entire game on offense. Keeping the pressure off UCLA quarterback, Bill Kilmer from the likes of Mike Ditka, was not an easy job. The East Coast team went on to claim a 7-0 victory before 60,000 fans.