Three generations of Bulldogs

Baker quarterback Jesse Brown, No. 3, and his cousin, offensive lineman Chris Brown, are both members of the third generation of their family to play for the Bulldogs. Jesse’s father, Jim, and Chris’ dad, Rocky, both are former Bulldogs, and so is Pleas Brown, the cousins’ grandfather (and Jim and Rocky’s dad.)(Baker City Herald/Kathy Orr)

Maybe even good enough to play in a state championship game some day.

Well, it seems those dads, Jim and Rocky Brown, were right.

The Brown brothers are former Baker High School Bulldog players themselves. Jim, 53, is a 1974 BHS graduate, and Rocky, 52, graduated in 1975.

Their father, Pleas Brown, 92, of the BHS Class of  ’36, played five years for the Bulldog team. That was back in the days when the graduated seniors got to come back in the fall for one more sports season.

The three men gathered in their office at Lew Bros. Tire Service Wednesday to look back on their football days and to look ahead to Saturday’s state championship game in which Chris and Jesse Brown and their Baker teammates will try to beat Marist and win the school’s first OSAA state football title.

In the ’30s, the Bulldogs dressed down in the locker rooms of the Central Building, the former high school at Fifth Street and Washington Ave. The team then ran to the football field at the present site of the Baker Fairgrounds at Grove and Campbell streets for practice and afterward they’d run back to the school, Pleas says.

He was an end on the same team with John Carlson and Martin Chaves, who both went on to play football at Oregon State University, Rocky Brown said. Chaves played for the Beavers in the 1938 Rose Bowl.

Pleas said he blocked, tackled, whatever was needed, but “most of the passes they threw me went over my head.”

“He coached everything,” Pleas says.

Most notably, Allison’s BHS basketball team claimed the state championship in 1938.

Several years later, Brown became part of the Allison family.

“The coach wound up being my father-in-law,” Pleas said, and grandpa to Rocky and Jim.

Pleas and Allison’s daughter, Mary Jo, 78, have been married for 56 years. In addition to their two sons, the couple have an older daughter, Molly, who lives in Boise.

Allison later coached at Boise State University (Boise Junior College at the time). His career ended with the start of World War II, when all of his players were called to the service.

Rocky and Jim played for coach Joe Miller in the ’70s back when Baker was still part of the Intermountain Conference and traveled across the state to play Bend and Redmond as well as Pendleton, La Grande and Milton-Freewater.

Rocky played strong safety and flanker while Jim played defensive line and linebacker for the Bulldogs.

“It was tough competition,” Rocky said of the IMC.

And they remember those long bus rides to Central Oregon.

“It seemed like we’d always play Bend the weekend of opening deer season,” Rocky said. “We’d get home at 4 o’clock in the morning, just in time to jump in the pickup and go hunting.”

The Browns’ football legacy continued into its third generation when Jim’s and Rocky’s sons grew old enough to participate.

Rocky, the more dedicated football fan, recruited Jim to help coach YMCA flag football when their sons, who are now juniors, were fourth-graders. Jim wasn’t nearly as enthused about his role. (“He’s a cowboy at heart,” his brother explains.”)

But Rocky wouldn’t take no for an answer. He needed his brother’s help. But more than that, he needed Jim’s son, Jesse, who showed potential and before long began leading their Y team as quarterback.

Jesse wasn’t especially interested in playing the position. He saw himself more as a running back in those days.

But his coaches saw it differently and he’s filled the quarterback slot through Y play, into middle school and now as No. 3 on the Bulldog varsity squad. Jesse was a first-team all-star player in the Greater Oregon League this fall.

For that matter, Jesse wasn’t especially interested in playing football at all, according to his dad. His mother, Vicki, didn’t offer any encouragement either, for fear her slightly built son would get hurt.

“Rock was the one who really pushed football,” Jim says.

He recalled one incident during those early Y years when Jesse came over to him on the sidelines with his chin split open.

“I took him to the hospital, but there were a whole bunch of people waiting,” Jim said.

Instead of joining the crowd at the emergency room, he took his son home and super-glued the gap closed. Jesse has a scar to remember the incident, and needless to say, his worried mother was not happy.

Although Jesse has grown to 6-foot-1 inch and 180 pounds, Jim still sees his 17-year-old son as “a little skinny.”

But not as skinny as he was last year when Jesse advanced from the junior varsity team to varsity.

“I was the only one hoping my kid wouldn’t play,” Jim says. “I probably worry about them getting hurt more than Rock does.”

Rocky admonishes his older brother, assuring him that Baker High School’s weightlifting program led by teacher John Birkmaier has not left Jesse “skinny.”

And he describes his son, Chris, as “a big, strong kid.”  Chris, at 5-foot-10 and 220 pounds, wears No. 60 and plays at offensive guard and on the defensive line. Chris, who’s 16, was named to the Greater Oregon League’s second-team for his efforts on the offensive line this season.

What is it he likes about the game?

“I just like pushing people around,” he says. “I like being the boss.”

But Chris was also a reluctant beginner. He remembers his first day of Y flag football as a fourth-grader when his father urged him to try something new.

“I did not want to go play,” he said when he and Jesse and their dads gathered Wednesday night for an interview at his grandparents’ home after practice.

“He made me go,” Chris said, nodding toward his dad, Rocky. “The second day I liked it.”

And as for his mom, Diana, Chris says “I don’t think she really had a choice. He overpowered her.”

Chris is part of the offensive line that will be protecting his cousin when the Bulldogs play Marist at 11 a.m. Saturday at Reser  Stadium in Corvallis. The Bulldogs’ opponents boast a half dozen players weighing more than 250 pounds, and one 340-pounder.

Chris says he and the other linemen take their responsibility of protecting their quarterback seriously on every play.

“The team chemistry this year is the best I’ve ever seen,” Chris says. “Everybody on the team is like brothers. We’re all fighting for each other.”

Like the Browns, the majority of this year’s Bulldog varsity players started out playing flag football with the Y.

Six years ago, with the encouragement and support of the Browns and other dads as well as head BHS football coach Dave Johnson and his coaching staff, the Y switched to tackle football. This year’s seniors began playing in the tackle program as sixth-graders.

Gary Stalder, YMCA executive director, recalls telling the men the changeover would come with a hefty price tag of $16,000 to purchase the necessary equipment, including helmets and pads.

“We asked the Y to partner with us,” Rocky recalled. “We said we’d buy the gear — we were gonna do it anyway.”

And sure enough, the parent group came up with the money through grants and fundraisers and established the Quarterback Club to continue to support the program.

Since the beginning, the program has averaged 75 kids a year to feed into a successful middle school and high school football program, Stalder said.

As they look back over the season, Chris says he got an inkling that this might be the year the Bulldogs would make it to the championship after they beat Fruitland in overtime 34-28. Two years ago, the Bulldogs lost to Fruitland 71-0.

Jesse said he began to have hope after the Bulldogs defeated Astoria, the defending state champions, in a quarterfinal game last month at Bulldog Memorial Stadium.

A special highlight of the post-season was scoring on the first play of the game two weeks in a row, Jesse says.

That happened first during the Astoria game and again during the semifinal blowout against Phoenix Dec. 5 at Hillsboro.

In both cases, the opponents were totally deflated by the early scoring, Rocky said. “It took them forever to get their mojo back.”

Thursday was a big day for the team. First they were filmed by Fox Sports Northwest television in preparation for a Saturday-night delayed broadcast of the championship game. Next they celebrated with a dinner at the golf course for team members and their families.

Players boarded a bus to leave Baker City at 5 a.m. today with the goal of making history for their school and their community.

The Browns see this weekend as a culmination of the years they’ve spent supporting the boys in their efforts. That includes Grandpa Pleas who, along with his pal, John Bohn, hasn’t missed a practice all season.

Rocky Brown is a true believer.

“All those times of getting up to take them to 6 a.m. weightlifting — the ultimate goal is maybe someday you’re gonna make a state championship out of it,” he said. “I think we’re gonna win!”