COOS BAY — Kent Wigle said the most special thing about being a coach and teacher is having life experiences to share with your players and students long after they’ve graduated.

Marshfield’s storied football coach shared another memory with some of his past players and assistant coaches Saturday as he joined the school’s half of fame along with a Harvard Medical School valedictorian, a track and volleyball standout who won two national titles in volleyball at Portland State University, a legendary three-sport coach, a pair of longtime booster club supporters and Marshfield’s 1955 state champion football team.

Several hundred people were on hand to watch Marshfield High School’s fifth annual induction held at the Boys & Girls Club of Southwestern Oregon. The event also included an auction to raise funds to help students pay for the school’s athletic participation fee.

Aside from Wigle, the 2005 National Football Coach of the Year, the 2007 class includes Dr. Ernest K. Manders; volleyball and track star Andy (Thompson) Crouse; basketball, track and football coach Stanley Solomon Jr.; and 1965 graduates Butch Shields and Lou Leberti, who both served on the school’s booster club board.

In addition, roughly 20 players from the 1955 football team were present.

“It’s a wonderful group of people that have each left their mark on Marshfield High School,” said athletic director Greg Mulkey, who emceed the ceremony. “They’ve added to the great history of this school and we’re proud of all of them.”

Wigle is entering his 20th season as coach of the Pirates this fall after taking over in 1988. Since then, Wigle has made Marshfield one of the more consistent programs in the state, having led the Bucs to 17 state playoff appearances, eight Midwestern League championships and a state title in 1992 — the same year he was named Oregon’s Football Coach of the Year.

From 1994 to 2000, Wigle’s teams won a state record 55 straight regular season games. His 298 career victories rank second on Oregon’s all-time prep football list. He has had only one losing season at Marshfield and owns a 19-0 record against North Bend, the school’s all-time rival.

Of the countless accolades he’s coveted in his 37 years of coaching, Wigle only spoke of one Saturday, his induction.

“If you’ve been in this business over the years, you become more emotional — it becomes hard to control your emotions, and I’m so happy to be a part of this special fraternity. My wife, Susan,” Wigle said before being cut off by a long applause. “We came here in 1988 ... and my experience here and the opportunity to meet and become close friends with so many people in our special community has meant so much to me.”

Wigle thanked many of those community members, including some of his former players who he strives to keep in touch with.

“Those are the type of people that are special,” Wigle said of the school’s supporters. “I’m so happy to be a part of this community, and I’m going to be around for a while — I don’t know how long ... but you’re going to have to put up with me for at least a few years.”

Adding to the special night was Wigle’s induction alongside Solomon, who was his defensive coordinator for several years.

“‘Soli’ was one of our first coaches,” Wigle said. “And he enabled much of our success because of his positive attitude and what he’s done for the young members of our community.”

Solomon has worn several coaching hats at Marshfield and has helped win state trophies with each program he’s graced. He was on Wigle’s staff during the team’s run to the 1992 championship and guided the girls basketball team to a consolation title as head coach during the 1979-80 season.

Those pale in comparison to the success he’s brought to Oregon’s track and field program. In his 40 plus years of coaching, he has fielded an impressive 12 individual state champions, including three who were crowned this year (one a two-event champion). Solomon also had two runner-up finishers in the meet.

“There is no other coach in the state of Oregon that has accomplished that. But you know the one nice thing — Stan’s got 25 years left in him,” Mulkey joked.

Solomon attended Willamette University where he earned several honors in football and track and field. As a running back, he was named Oregon’s Small College Player of the Year in 1960.

For his success, he thanked his mother who encouraged him to excel in both in sports and in the classroom while growing up in Hawaii.

“Before I went to college she said, ‘Stanley, don’t come home until you graduate,’” Solomon recalled. “I had a girlfriend in my hand at the time and she looked at me and went, ‘Wow, four years huh?’

“I didn’t go home until I graduated. I lost my girlfriend. I lost all the friends that she thought were going to get me into trouble. So I have her to thank.”

Like Wigle, Solomon paid tribute to his supporters.

“In my life ... a lot of good things have happened to me. But this to me is more rewarding than anything I could have hoped to have. And I would like to share it with all of the coaches I’ve worked with.”

Several of Solomon’s track and field champions were at the ceremony, including Crouse, who he coached in the early 1980s.

Crouse has a top-10 time in five events at Marshfield. She was a state qualifier in the 400 meters and part of a co-state champion 4x100 relay team. That same foursome set a school record that stands today.

She did all of this while leading the volleyball team to three district championships and two top-seven finishes at state.

Crouse was twice named to the first-team all district squad and was a co-district MVP in 1984.

“No one represented the purple and gold better than her,” Mulkey said.

Crouse went on to lead PSU to national titles both as a defensive specialist and a setter. Both teams are in the school’s hall of fame.

Crouse attributed much of her prep and collegiate success to her high school teammates.

“As all of you know ... there is no ‘I’ in team, and as a setter, you need hitters to make you look good,” she said. “I was fortunate to play with a lot of women who were talented, and they’re a lot of people who you know and are from around here.”

Of the six individual inductees, Mulkey said he had the most difficult time introducing Manders, whose resume took up two pages in the ceremony program. Manders’ success in academics at Marshfield overshadowed his success as a football player.

Both impressed the selection committee, Mulkey said.

“Dr. Manders was a two-time all-state offensive lineman. Now for most of us, that’s an honor in itself,” Mulkey said. “It was Dr. Manders’ success ... in the classroom during his time at Marshfield and his post-high school career that caught our eye.”

Manders is regarded as one of the top plastic and reconstructive surgeons in the world. He did his undergraduate and medical school studies at Harvard and has since gone on to teach surgery at Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh, where he and his family run the Promethean LifeSciences, Inc., a biotech company working to provide new medical technology.

Manders’ expertise in his field has carried down to two of his sons and his daughter, who all are working in medicine today. Manders’ other son, Jonathan, has joined a firm specializing in international law.

“Most importantly, tonight I want to thank all of you and Marshfield High School for making me what I am today,” Manders said.

Manders acknowledged the school as one his greatest support systems growing up.

“At Marshfield, we were told to spread our wings and fly,” he said. “What great encouragement we had around us. Growing up in Coos Bay was a blessing. Everyone wanted us to succeed.”

Manders was classmates with Shields and Leberti, a duo that’s helped raise more than $1,000,000 for Bay Area youths since the early 1980s.

Shields was on Marshfield’s booster club for more than 20 years and has been part of several athletic and fundraising organizations such as Southwestern Oregon Youth Activities. He is a founding member of the Boys & Girls Club of Southwestern Oregon and the Bay Area Sportsman’s Association.

Shields’ love for youth sports stems from his days playing football and basketball for the Pirates.

“The support I saw my teammates and community members give to me was like nothing I’d ever seen before,” he said. “I really feel that athletics teaches us a lot about how to live our lives. ... They teach us management skills; how to win, how to lose; how to handle success and setbacks — all things that are very important.”

Leberti shared the same thoughts.

“It’s just fun being a Pirate and giving back to the people around you,” he said.

Leberti was a booster club board member for 15 years and has branched his support beyond Marshfield athletics. He is an active promoter for the school’s fine arts and music departments and has been a member of the scholarship committee for the past 10 years.

Leberti worked hand in hand with Shields to keep Marshfield athletics going after the school district cut funding in 1988.

“When the program was being run on little funding, we said ‘That’s not how athletics should be at Marshfield,’” Leberti recalled.

The evening ended with the induction of the 1955 football team, an emotional gathering that brought much tribute to legendary coach Pete Susick, who died earlier this year.

The 1955 squad enjoyed an impressive 11-0 season capped with a 19-0 win over Gresham in the championship game. The Pirates’ title defended another won by the 1954 team, which was inducted into the hall of fame last year.

“They played with a bullet on their chest because everyone wanted to make sure Marshfield didn’t repeat as state champions,” Mulkey said. “But we all know the outcome.”

Susick’s son, Rick, spoke on behalf of him.

“My father liked to keep to himself, but he always showed great support for the men he coached,” Susick said. “As he probably told you, you all meant more to him than he did to you.”