Kent Oborn

PHS Class of 1963

Football, Basketball, Baseball, Track & Field

Kent Oborn, class of 1963, was a highly decorated multi-sport athlete. After a miraculous recovery from polio at the age of 3, Kent became an avid athlete. While at Payson High School, he played wing back (running back) on the football team, played guard on the basketball team, played 3rd base on the baseball team, and was a sprinter, long jumper, and high jumper on the track & field team.

Oborn was selected for All-American status in football his senior year, as well as All-State. He was also All-State in Basketball, Baseball, and Track & Field, placing 3rd in state in the 100 yard dash. In track & field, Kent was the PHS school record holder in the 220 yard dash with a time of 22.3. seconds.

He attended Brigham Young University on a football scholarship and also played basketball his freshman year. During his three seasons with BYU Football, he established himself as the best punt returner in school history, up to that point. He broke the record for the longest single punt return with a monster run of 94 yards (1965 against Arizona). Each season he played, he broke the record for most punt returns and most punt return yards in a single season: 22 returns with 278 yards in 1964, 25 returns with 332 yards in 1965, and 31 returns with 393 yards in 1966. In total, he amassed 1,003 yards of punt returns during his three seasons at BYU, also a school record. He was also part of the Cougars’ first-ever Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship in 1965.

At BYU, Kent majored in physical education and had been hired to teach and coach at PHS, but when he learned that he had been accepted to physical therapy school in Los Angeles, he turned his career in that direction. He and his wife Sharyl, also a physical therapist, owned their own physical therapy clinic in Orange County California, OTA Physical Therapy. His children are also accomplished athletes: Patrick is an ultramarathon runner, Gale was an All-American Volleyball player at BYU; and Spencer was an All-American Baseball player at BYU and Cal State Fullerton.

Inducted 2021