Robert Bergstrom

Bob Bergstrom was never known as a musician, but it seemed he was always playing second fiddle during his high school and college athletic career to a longtime teammate, Wally Palmberg.

Bergstrom and Palmberg were both members of the class of 1932 at Astoria High School. On the basketball court, Bergstrom did take a back seat to the All-American, Palmberg. Many in this hoop crazy town will have to be reminded of Bergstrom’s other athletic achievements.

In his junior year at Astoria High School, Bergstrom started to grab headlines for his play on the local high school circuit. His 236 points in 30 encounters was second to Palmberg.

Astoria was 23-8 for the 1930-32 season, and brought home the third place trophy from the state tournament.

A year later, Bergstrom and his Fishermen teammates were 29-4 and state champs for the second time in three trips to Salem. He was named to the first All-Tournament team., catching the eye of Oregon Sate coaching legend, Slats Gill.

On the mud flats of Scow Bay, better known as Gyro Field, Bergstrom earned a pair of letters in the Astoria backfield under John Warren. The Fishermen were 7-0-2 in Bergstrom’s final high school pigskin season.

After graduation, they both matriculated to Oregon State, gaining state wide attention for the exploits in a Beaver uniform.

As a freshman at Oregon State, Bergstrom joined with Palmberg and two other AHS grads, Ed Makal and Vince Zankich, to help propel the Rook basketball team to a 9-3 record. For the only time in his hoop career, Bergstrom led the Rooks in scoring.

With Palmberg’s star continuing to rise towards All-American acclaim, Bergstrom would watch his star take a different path – that as a team leader. He was named Beaver hoop captain his senior season as Oregon State registered a 16-9 record. In the 640 minutes of conference play during the 1936 season, only two OSU players totaled more than 500 minutes on the floor. Bergstrom ran up 547 minutes, while his running mate, Palmberg, led the conference with 611 minutes. Both former Fishermen were awarded their third varsity hoop letter.