Just two weeks ago, I posted a photo of Hillsboro, Oregon, legendary Track Coach Eldon Kellar. For decades Coach Kellar gave his life to the athletes of Hillsboro at our local high schools. No track and field cross-country event went on in Washington County and beyond that did not have Coach Kellar’s influence. He was a master coach and understood the human body, how to help athletes rise to the top, and to motivate them to become the best they could be. Hillsboro’s track and CC teams were top tier and the Coach touched the lives of thousands. He was so successful that in 2006 he was inducted into the National High School Coaches Hall of Fame. The Track area at Hare Field on Grant Street is named for the great man, and the Elden Kellar Invitational Track Meet is one of the great annual track and field events in the West. So we are working on a story about Elden’s life.
But something much more pressing came across my radar just as I began to work on that story. From legacy coaches and great men, we often find legacy children. In Elden’s case, that is most certainly the case.
Scott Kellar has been the boys’ basketball coach at Century High School since the Jaguars opened up in 1997. Like his father, Scott has changed the lives of thousands of students and athletes. He graduated from Glencoe High School and was part of the 1983 State Championship team that was 23-1. His Coach was legendary boys’ hoops, Coach Barry Adams. After High School, Kellar was a full scholarship basketball player at Western Oregon University, where he became a College All-American, leading the Wolves for four years and to a District 2 Championship in his Senior year. He is one of the premier basketball players to have ever risen from our town and this valley, and that is something to be said.
Last week I saw some social media posts on Facebook from mutual friends showing an emotional event in which Coach Kellar was coming to Century High School from the Hospital to coach his 400th win. Four hundred wins as a coach indeed put Scott in some rare air. Doing it while being treated for Cancer is an entirely next-level thing indeed.
His wife Katrina let me know that Scott had been in the ER for 2 1/2 days before he came to the game to be a part of the Jaguar’s win, #400. Scott was diagnosed with kidney cancer in May of ’22 and had one of his kidneys removed. He was doing treatment and all the right things to beat cancer, but a month ago, new imaging found the cancer had returned and was in his lungs. As soon as the game was over, Scott returned to the ER.
“He spent the 25 hours immediately following Friday night’s game in the ER as during the game, he developed symptoms resembling a stroke. Fortunately, all of the imaging and exams that followed ruled out a stroke. He still has right-sided facial paralysis and is being treated for Bell’s palsy,” said Katrina.
Scott has been in the hospital a great deal in 2023 and is battling a fever, chills, nausea, severe pain, loss of sleep, and almost everything one can imagine. This is one of those stories where the family and the cancer fight need the help of the community. Our community.
So, his family and friends and the basketball community need our help- all of your help, to raise some money for expenses they are taking on. A Go-Fund-Me has been set up and is well on its way to hitting the goal. I want to ask all of you to help, if you can, and to share this story with all of your friends and families. That is important to get the word out.
Hillsboro, let’s #RISEUP and recognize one of our greatest assets, Scott Kellar. Let us stand by his wife and his family to help them in this time of need. This is important, and we can do this!
Here is a fantastic tribute on YOUTUBE for Scott by his son, Joseph. It includes a tribute by WOU Coach Mark Adams who brought Scott’s story to ESPN, where he was broadcasting a game the other night as an announcer. Please watch this and share this as well! #Amazing stuff, folks.
