Camas coach’s lessons help soldier face adversity in combat zone, life

As the Camas High School football team enjoys another state title, I hope the players realize how lucky they are to play for Jon Eagle. Jon Eagle is, 20 years later, one of my most revered mentors. Whether they realize it or not, Coach Eagle, through football is teaching them more than Xs and Os, but rather life lessons that will carry these young people into adulthood. Much like former Washington Huskies head coach Chris Petersen’s Built for Life program, Jon Eagle made me built for life, and has been doing the same for area youth for 30 years. The intangibles learned playing high school football in the Pacific Northwest have stayed with me through life’s trials and tribulations — they are an integral part of who I am in the 20 years since last donning a helmet and pads.

The football coaching staff at Evergreen High School in Vancouver in 1999 was excellent. Led by Jon Eagle, Dan Kielty, Mike Kesler, Cale Piland, and the late Mark Rego, they taught us many lessons, the most important of which was resilience. The ability to bounce back from the game’s setbacks allow all of us to bounce back from life’s setbacks.