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Jim Eckman Honored at Yreka Elks Invitational
Yreka - In a neat gesture to one of the area's great educators and coaches over the decades, Mr. Jim Eckman was honored at the recent Yreka Elks Invitational, and the Varsity races in that competition are now named the "Jim Eckman Classic-Varsity Races." It is super to see when someone who has invested so much in an area is rewarded during their lifetime with recognition such as this, with Jim an amazing person who has had a tremendous effect on the community where he worked for so many years. A teacher at Yreka High School from 1970 until 2003, Jim served the local area as an educator, coach of the cross-country and track and field teams, eventually the school's athletic director, and still found to be involved in local politics up to the level of serving as the town Mayor three different terms (1976-78, 1980-82, and 1994-96). He was a member of the City Planning Commission from 1972-1974, and was on the Yreka City Council between the years of 1974-1982 and 1990-1996. His success in all these areas brings to mind the phrase, "they broke the mold here." His teams and individuals were very successful in the two sports, with one inclined to believe he had no problems gaining the attention of his government classes he taught while he was on the local City Council or serving as Mayor. He was involved with a number of significant Yreka town projects during the years there, including the Greenhorn Park Development (where the Yreka Elks Meet is held), the Yreka Town Theater and Community Center, a Senior Citizen program that included a nutrition element, a Yreka Tourist infromation center, and had a leadership role in the formation of the Yreka YMCA. We guess somehow he found enough hours in the day! His Cross Country teams were among the state's most powerful at the smaller school level, with his Track and Field teams every bit as strong, and some members showing individual excellent results at the Statewide competitions. With Championship level squads in the Northern Section each year, four times he had Cross Country squads finish in the top five at the State Meet, with his 1991 Boys third in the Division IV State team title run, and the Girls fourth at that meet. Aaron Gillen had a super individual series of individual runs at the State Meet, placing third in 1992, sixth in 1993, fourth in 1994, and winning the State Division IV championship in 1995. Jamie Herbst (1993) and Gina Blanchard (1994) from the Girls team also finished among the top ten in the State individually for Yreka during Eckman's coaching tenure there. In Track, Jim Frey was the State Mile Champ in 1983 at 4:08.82 (and second in 1982 at 4:10.32), with Aaron Gillen taking the State 3200 Championship in 1996 at 9:03.96. The Track and Field program was very successful in all event areas, and Jim was always forthcoming with credit to his fine staff of Assistants at Yreka. He had Susan Schaap place in the State High Jump in 1998 and 1999, Jeremy Moore medal at State in the Pole Vault in 1989, with a historically strong weight program having Aaron Connor place in the Discus in 1987, with Stephanie Smith and Donna McKennon placing on the Girls' side in that event during the mid-1980's. Jim's athletes were always well-balanced people and just the greatest kids that you knew had their athletic and personal careers developed in just the right manner through their involvement with his Yreka program. This success was not achieved with a huge community of talented athletes living right down the street from the high school. Jim would tell of mid-evening bus trips home up the I-5 from the Redding area after competitions where the bus would stop so families in the far flung attendance area could drive out to the highway to pick up their students and try to get them home at a decent hour to some spot off the beaten path. He took us out to show us where Aaron Gillen's family lived "off the grid," which meant the electricity wires stopped far short of their house, and he is probably the only modern state champion who lived in a house that was forced to generate its own electricity. How many state champions like Gillen have had their morning local training program interrupted when his mother was worried that the local mountain lion might attack him during his runs? Our complaints about the cool winter weather that greets us in Fresno sometimes at the late November State Cross Country competition were quickly quieted when Jim Eckman told us about the serious snow and ice forecast during his group's drive north from Fresno, with the spare time that period of year spent putting up "storm windows" (what, we wondered were storm windows?). Behind a great man is usually a great woman, with his wife Charlene, who he married in 1966, along for this great ride, with a visit to their carefully restored Victorian home that qualified for the Historical Registry, a joy. Charlene is a Midwest native, who spent her career teaching art in schools, and currently is involved with local art programs in Springfield, Oregon, where the family moved after Jim's retirement. They had two children, John and Nate, with Nate coaching in Roseburg, Oregon currently. Jim taught in the South Bay area of greater Los Angeles from 1967 through 1970 and spoke of he and his wife making the big move north to Yreka and leaving the big city behind at that time. During the Yreka career Jim won a number of area and statewide awards, the California Teacher of the Year in Politics in 1974, Norther Section Athletic Director of the Year 1998-99, California Girls Athletic Director of the Year 2001, and Yreka Citizen of the Year in 2001. We were so excited to hear of this award, and there is no one more deserving. Jim has settled near Eugene, Oregon, once again becoming the headquarters of United States Track and Field, with involvement with the University of Oregon and its track meets there, and we assume he will be a part of the operational end of the Olympic Trials and other competitions held there. (thanks to Pam Borg and Charlene Eckman for information used in this article)
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