Dave West

In the 1960’s it was not uncommon for an athlete to play whatever sport was in season, but there would be only a handful who could perform at the highest level possible. Dave West fits that mold and then some.

Three years as a starter on the football team and all-state status as a senior was followed by all-league honors on Pete Bryant’s basketball squad. As a senior, after not touching the shot put in over a year, West quickly showed his strength, tossing the 12 pound shot a distance that had never been attained at Astoria High School before.

Today, Fishermen coaches would do cartwheels to see an athlete of Dave West’s caliber strolling the halls Astoria High School. On the hardwood, West was a reserve as a junior on the 20-6 Fishermen cage squad that won the Metro League title and advanced to the state tournament. In his senior year he stepped up to the first unit, earning honorable mention on the All-Metro League hoop squad. He followed Gerry Wood in scoring with 211 points in 22 games and poured in a career high 18 points against Ft. Vancouver.

As a freshman, West was one of the cogs to help coach Doug Clark compile a perfect 19-0 record. A year later, West and his teammates finished 16-6 and Metro League Junior Varsity champions. As a senior on the 1963 football team, West was named team captain and would start his third consecutive season as the Fishermen quarterback. His outstanding play on the defensive side of the pigskin earned him 1st team honors as a defensive back on the All-Metro League team. He had gained honorable mention status on the All-Metro team as a junior.

In a 13-6 win over Gresham, West galloped 10 yards for a touchdown and hit Pat Arnold for a score from 55 yards out. Although Astoria finished 2-7 on the gridiron in West’s final year, he was selected for the Shrine All-Star football game, played at Portland’s Multnomah stadium.

West earned a letter as a sophomore shot putter on the track team. His best reported effort was a toss of 42-1. He sat out of track as a junior, but would explode on the local track and field scene in late April of his senior season. West became Astoria High School’s first 50-foot shot putter with a heave of 50-1 in a meet at Beaverton. A few days later at the Lower Columbia Invitational at St. Helens, West uncorked a career best of 52-1 1/2. That distance stood as the AHS school record until Jim Cathcart erased it in 1976 with a 56-4 effort.

At the time of West’s induction into the Astoria High School Hall of Fame, he was still listed as the 5th best shot putter to ever attend Astoria High School. Just before he graduated, at the annual father and son banquet, West received the Chris Pohl Memorial Trophy as Astoria’s most outstanding football player. Later that evening, he was awarded Astoria High School’s Most Inspiritional Basketball player