News Releases

August 28, 2012
For Immediate Release
For additional information: 
Barbara Kerr, APR
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Telephone: 360-992-2921
Email: bkerr@clark.edu

 

Colleague. Coach. 
Mentor. Legend.

Clark College remembers
Skeet O’Connell


On Sept. 13, Clark College will honor the legendary coach
with a celebration of his life in the athletics building which bears his name

Skeet O'Connell buttonVANCOUVER, Wash. – In the athletics building which bears his name, Claude “Skeet” O’Connell will be honored during a remembrance and celebration of life on Thurs. Sept. 13.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the gymnasium of the O’Connell Sports Center on Clark’s main campus.

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps

Speakers will include Clark College President Robert K. Knight, Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt, former Washington state Rep. Robert Schaefer and former Clark College Athletic Director Dennis Huston.

Guests who require accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at (360) 992-2314 or (360) 991-0901 (VP), or visit Gaiser Hall room 137 by Sept. 6.
  

About Claude “Skeet” Wilson O’Connell

Skeet O'Connell coachingA mentor to numerous alumni who still speak gratefully of his influence, Claude “Skeet” Wilson O’Connell was born in Concrete, Wash. on Jan. 8, 1916.  After graduating from high school in Odell, Ore., O’Connell received a bachelor’s degree in education from Western Oregon State University and a master’s degree from Washington State University.

His teaching career began in 1941 in Vancouver Public Schools. In 1946, he joined the staff of Clark College when it reopened after World War II.  He served as Director of Athletics and Physical Education at Clark for 41 years, coaching basketball, baseball and golf.

In 1960, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association, District II.  In 1981 and 1982, he was named Coach of the Year by the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC).  In 1989, he was inducted into the NWAACC Hall of Fame. Additional honors include inductions into the Clark County Rotary Club Hall of Fame and the Randy Myers Foundation Hall of Fame.

Skeet and Stellamae O'ConnellIn 1986, the Clark College sports center was named in his honor.  In 2009, the building was rededicated following a two-year renovation.

In 2012, O’Connell was inducted into the inaugural class of the Clark College Athletics Hall of Fame.

Skeet O’Connell died on July 14, 2012.
    

 

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