Mike Meno

If there was ever a person that meets the requirements of a contributor to make the Astoria High School Hall of Fame, Mike Meno would certainly fit those requirements.

In the fall of 1974, Meno started donating his time and expertise to the football team as a Physicians Assistant under Dr. Blair Henningsgaard, the long time doctor for Astoria High School athletics. Currently each year the boys and girls top Scholar-Athlete is awarded the Dr. Blair Henningsgaard Award.

What made Meno so unique among medical caregivers was the amount of time and dedication to AHS athletics. Starting in 1975, until his move to the Long Beach Peninsula in 1988, he conducted free of charge, annual sports exams for all Astoria High School athletes. Even as he was over in Washington, he performed voluntarily the wrestling weight and body fat analysis for the high school’s wrestling team until 1999.

For the football team, he was there for Al Jacobsen, Bill Parrish twice, Miles Brenden, Howard Hosley and Greg Hoff, where he was in attendance at home and traveled on the team bus for all away games. He attended practices one or two times a week and all home JV football games. He felt that the majority of injuries that occurred happened in practices rather than games. Mike was known for a unique way to treat cramps that athletes would get in their muscles. He would pinch the upper lip of the athlete and because this hurt so bad, the athletes cramp would disappear. It worked!

Maybe Meno’s biggest contribution was in the basketball program where he again attended every home game and traveled on the team bus for every away game. He was such an important figure he was asked to sit on the team bench for every game. He started this in the John Deeder era of 1975-78 and then continued the next 11 years under Mike Goin’s regime. He was an invaluable person for dealing with injuries, rehab, and strategies. His famous saying was “You’ve got to make your free throws.” Besides all of the regular games and practices, Meno gave up much office time traveling to tournaments and state tournaments. As you can see, if there ever is a person who fits the mold of an AHS sports contributor, it is Mike Meno.

After leaving the Astoria community and moving to Ilwaco, Washington in1988, he served as Ilwaco City Councilman and Mayor until 2002.