Harvey J. Roloff

1918 - 2006

Harvey John “Harv” Roloff, 87, died March 20, 2006 of alzheimers-related illness in Carlsbad, CA. Graveside services will be at 10:00 am, Monday, March 27, 2006 at the Milton-Freewater Cemetary, Milton-Freewater, Oregon. Friends who wish to pay their respects may call at the Munselle-Rhodes Funeral Home, 902 S. Main, Milton-Freewater, OR from 1-5 and 7-9 pm on Sunday, March 26, 2006.

Mr. Roloff was born April 5, 1918 in Lind, WA to Matilda Suko and John Roloff, who's German "Auslander" forefathers emmigrated from a war-torn Germany in the early 1800's to Tarantino/Kulm, Bessarabia, Russia after Catherine the Great opened areas to foreign settlement. The families then emigrated to the US in 1901, homesteading and farming in the Warden/Othello area of southeast Washington. Mr. Roloff grew up in Dayton, WA and later in Milton-Freewater, OR on the family apple, cherry and prune orchard/farm, attending Tum-A-Lum Grade School and McLoughlin Union High School, where he was All Eastern Oregon in track, football and basketball, earning a scholarship to Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR. At Pacific University, he lettered 4 years in football and baseball, was selected All Conference tackle in football in 1938, his team sharing the Northwest Conference championship and played in played San Jose State in a bowl game in San Jose, CA that year; they won the conference football championship outright in 1939, He earned a BS degree from Pacific University in Physical Education in 1941.

After graduating from Pacific University, Mr. Roloff served in WWII in the US Navy as a Chief Specialist ‘A’ in the Gene Tunney Program, training naval recruits at the Recruit Training Center in San Diego, CA until 1943 when he was assigned to the Mental and Orthopedic Wards at Long Beach Naval Hospital to work with injured sailors. He married Eileen Lyons in 1945 and had two children, John Scott, born in 1947 and Judy Lynn, born in 1949. After the war, Mr. Roloff earned a MS degree in Physical Education from the University of Oregon, and began his coaching career at Pacific University for 10 years as head basketball and track coach and assistant to Paul Stagg, the son of Amos Alonzo Stagg, in football. The football teams, staring Fran Buckiewicz, Al Goertzen, Joe Koauwai, John Zavodsky, Glenn Zeller, Ron Haworth, Dan Hess, Bob Sandgren and Marvin Bilbler, shared conference championships with Lewis and Clark College in 1951 and College of Idaho in 1952. Coach Roloff's basketball teams at Pacific, staring Dan French, Norm Agee and Norm Hubert, won a conference championship in 1953. The following two years they were second in the conference going head to head with an Elgin Baylor-lead team from the College of Idaho. He was also a scout for the Baltimore Colts for 15 years sending 6 top canidates to the pros, including R. C. Owens from the College of Idaho. From 1947 to 1955 he completed cognate work towards a doctorate degree at Portland State University and University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA.

In 1956 he joined the Athletic Department as a coach and professor at California State University, Sacramento in Sacramento, CA. For 32 years he taught and coached at CSUS including: head coach in track, cross country, basketball and men and women’s golf, as well as assistant coach in football. His track and field teams recorded 67 wins against only 22 losses, and won the first of three Far Western Conference track and field championships, under his guidance, in 1964, after a season of being un-beaten in dual-meet competition. His cross country teams at CSUS earned 8 conference championships in 11 seasons, and 25 college All-American Award Winners were developed under his tutelage. His woman’s golf team won the first AIAW Division III Championship by 49 strokes in 1981, his men's golf teams also doing exceptionally well. He entered active retirement as a Full Professor Emeritus from CSUS in 1983, continuing to coach mens and womens golf until 1988.

Coach Roloff's honors include: Phi Delta Kappa honorary, NAIA Vice Chairman, Research and Statistics Committee, Basketball National Association, Track and Field National Association, NAIA District 2 Hall of Fame both as a player and coach, NCAA, Division II, College Athletics Award of Appreciation for 42 years of dedicated service to college athletics, Golden West Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1979, and Pacific University Athletics Hall of Fame for coaching basketball and football, in 1995. He was a charter member of the Elks Lodge of Carmichael, CA and member of Sierra View Country Club of Roseville, CA. Mr. Roloff’s hobbies were ocean fishing, golf and traveling the western US in his RV.

Harvey is survived by his wife, Eileen of 61 years and daughter, Judy Lynn both of Oceanside, CA, and son John Scott of Oakland, CA, sisters Inez Lamperti of College Place, WA and Oleida Voage of Tacoma, WA. He was preceded in death by his parents John and Tillie Roloff and brother, Walter Roloff.

The family suggests donations be made to the Harvey Roloff Memorial Scholarship Fund at Pacific University, c/o University Relations, Pacific University, 2043 College Way, Forest Grove, OR, 97116, 503-352-2211. A similar fund at California State University Sacramento is being researched.