2009 Award Winner Phil Knight

Before there was Nike, there was Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc., a partnership formed in 1964 on a handshake by Phil and his former track coach at the University of Oregon, the legendary Bill Bowerman. Phil and Bowerman shared a passion to help athletes reach their full potential and that passion, combined with a business plan that Phil hatched while earning his MBA at Stanford, planted the seed for what would become the largest sports and fitness company in the world. Blue Ribbon grew and a name change to Nike took place in 1971.

The first line of Nike shoes debuted in 1972. In the 36 years since then, Nike, under Phil’s direction, has grown to over $16.0 billion in annual revenue.

The brand is marketed in over 160 countries and employs over 30,000 direct employees and over 1.0 million when indirect labor is included in the totals.

So often, the person with the idea is not suited to the leadership required to take that idea to greatness. That is not the case with Phil Knight. He has been there, in charge, every step of the way.

Phil’s quiet contributions to the city, state and our school merit more attention than he desires — so we leave it at that with our thanks.

Phil has previously been honored with his induction into the CHS Sports Hall of Fame, the Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame, the University of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and the state of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

2009 Award Winner Mel Krause

All-City honors in three sports while a student at Commerce High were just bullet points on the early resume for Mel Krause. After CHS, Mel went on to the University of Oregon where he played both baseball and basketball. Following graduation, he began a teaching and coaching career that brought him to five high schools, one junior college and back to the University of Oregon.
As coach, he led two basketball teams (Franklin and North Eugene) to the Oregon state basketball championship. He also coached Sheldon High School’s baseball team to the state championship in 1966. In 1970, Mel was named coach at the University of Oregon. During 11 seasons there, Mel’s teams won two Pac-8 Conference championships.
As a player, Mel’s exploits on the field as a professional for both the Salem Senators and the Eugene Emeralds resulted in his being named to the 50th anniversary All-Star team for the Northwest League. His baseball career also included work as a scout for the San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers. More recently, Mel was actively involved in the successful movement to bring back baseball to the University of Oregon. He is member of the U of O Hall of Fame as well as those of the State of Oregon and the PIL.
As a member of the CHS Sports Hall of Fame and as co-founder of the Commerce-Cleveland High School Alumni Association and as its original scholarship chairman, Mel continued to have an impact here at CHS. The CHS Sports Hall of Fame was renamed in his honor on February 22, 2008-shortly before his passing in June of this past year.
The measures of a man are not his individual accomplishments but the accomplishments of others who give credit to the teachings of that man. By this (and any other) standard, the Mel Krause that we knew was a very successful human being.

2009 Award Winner Anne Reifenberg

After Anne graduated from CHS in 1974, she moved on to Colorado College in Colorado Springs where she received her political science degree in 1978. After a year serving as legislative assistant to Oregon’s Senator Bob Packwood, she continued on the journalistic path begun when she was the editor-in-chief of the CHS Tomahawk staff.

She returned to Colorado Springs to work as a reporter focused on city and state politics for The Colorado Springs Sun. After two years, she moved to Texas first working for the Fort Worth Star Telegram where she covered the federal criminal and civil courts system and the John H. Wood murder trial.

From there, Anne moved to The Dallas Morning News where she opened that newspaper’s first regional bureau in Oklahoma City. Her focus there was on the oil and gas industry. She was named 1993 Texas reporter of the year for, among other things, her pieces on the collapse of the Soviet Union, oil drilling impact on Siberia, and coverage of the Persian Gulf War. During that time, Anne was the lead writer and project manager on a series about violence against women that won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1994.

Anne’s next stop was the Wall Street Journal where she served for the next ten years with varied roles including senior special writer covering the oil and gas industry, editor of weekly regional business editions in the Pacific Northwest and Texas and Brussels bureau chief responsible for coverage of European politics, the EU government and NATO.

The Los Angeles Times was her journalistic home beginning in 2003 with editing roles for that company’s West magazine and its business section. The 2007 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award for West followed a complete overhaul and re-launch of this Sunday magazine in 2007.

In July, 2008, she left the Times to become editor for the Los Angeles bureau for Bloomberg News.

Anne also serves as an adjunct faculty member for the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication.

2009 Ceremony

The first 3 recipients of our new distinguished alumni award, The Order of the Feather, are Phil Knight, Mel Krause, and Anne Reifenberg. Their biographies, shown here, speak to the levels of continuous achievement each has displayed in their careers. We are proud of them as our first winners and proud to say they have our school as a part of their history.

While a significant purpose for this award is to acknowledge Commerce and Cleveland High School graduates who have achieved significant success in their chosen endeavors, we also want to inspire the current students by meeting with and learning from these distinguished alums. In that vein, Anne Reifenberg came to Portland from Los Angeles and spent time with two journalism classes, led by journalism teacher Andy Sorensen. According to some students who were able to meet with Anne, the reaction was “awesome!”

On Friday, January 23, a reception in honor of the recipients was held at Waverley Country Club. A current CHS student-musician and two others performed as a string trio as guests entered the reception. The current editor-in-chief of Cleveland’s Clarion newspaper covered the story of the reception, and was one of the journalism students who benefited from Anne’s visit to CHS earlier in the day.

Roy Love, a member of the CCHSAA Board of Directors and friend and classmate of Phil Knight, served as presenter of the first award. He recounted Phil’s interests and accomplishments in high school, at the University of Oregon, and then later professionally. The award was accepted by Harvey Jones, Keith Krupke, and Earl Snyder, all of whom have been friends of Phil’s since high school.

Jack Dunn, former CHS teacher and baseball coach, presented the many accomplishments of his long-time friend, Mel Krause. Jack recounted Mel’s personal athletic achievements, his leadership of the University of Oregon baseball program, his successful coaching of high school teams, and his deep interest in seeing young student-athletes succeed in life (not just in athletic endeavors). Mel’s award was accepted by his widow, Jan Krause. We had previously announced this award and the fact that Mel was one of the first recipients at the Scholarship Luncheon last spring, so that Mel could know of this award. After the luncheon, he wrote a letter to the CCHSAA Board of Directors saying: “Please convey my thanks and gratitude for being one of three honorees to The Order of the Feather… This is a complete surprise, and one that I will cherish.”

Jan Watt, who was Anne Reifenberg’s journalism teacher at Cleveland and who is currently in charge of special projects at CHS, presented the award to Anne. Jan talked about having to make the decision about who would be editor of the high school newspaper, and finally deciding that Anne was the best person to lead it. She said that she was gratified that her decision was correct, as proved out by Anne’s award-winning journalism career. In her statement of appreciation, Anne said that she was very pleased to receive the award and that her only journalism class – ever – was the one taught by Jan Watt! Afterwards, Anne wrote the following note.
“I just returned from a week in the home office where everyone was impressed with my recent honor-and awestruck that a public high school alumni association is so active. That’s Cleveland, I told them, where the incredible isn’t all that unusual. What was incredible was the honor of being among the first in the Order of the Feather, and the wonderful reception and ceremony that you all arranged. It was beyond anything I could have imagined. My friends and family had a grand time, and you can imagine how tickled my parents were. My thanks to everyone involved. My next assignment is to sign up for the alumni association myself, and round up some other members of the class of ‘74 to do the same. As my nephew said, “you guys rock”. Warmest regards-Anne.

The Order of the Feather

Commerce-Cleveland High School has had multiple identities and symbols. As Commerce, we were the "Stenogs" for stenographers and the symbol was a quill (feather) and pen. As Indians, we were tribal with a headband, bare chest and running. Inside that headband was a feather. The "Order of the Feather" ties to that heritage. The interlocking letters represent the two names used on the school at 26th and Powell.

Criteria and Process

CCHSAA Distinguished Alum Citation

“The Order of the Feather”

Purpose

These awards should highlight Commerce/Cleveland alums who have significant accomplishments in their chosen field and are those alums who become “beacons” for current students. These awards should highlight to current students what is possible for them if they study and work hard, while living an honorable life.

Eligibility: Graduates from Commerce or Cleveland High School (Portland, Oregon) The Nomination Process: Nominations are accepted at any time during the year. The nomination form is found on this website. Double click to open and print. There are two pages to the form. Each page must be opened separately and printed separately. Entries should be mailed to: CCHSAA PO Box 82898 Portland, Oregon 97202

Criteria for Selection:
Awards are intended to honor:
Outstanding service to one's profession

such as (but not limited to) the following:

Business
Law
Leadership
Medicine
Horticulture
Journalism
Media Arts
Sports

Service to one’s community, such as

(but not limited to) the following:

Community Service (non-profit work)

Public Service (police, fire, etc.)

Education

Government Service

Military Service

No more than 3 citations will be granted in any year The graduate should have demonstrated significant accomplishment in his/her chosen field

Nomination Form