On Jason Vondersmith, Drew Rasmussen, Cole Rueck and other topics …

Jason Vondersmith was a newspaper reporter for nearly 40 years in the Portland area

Catching up on some sporting topics I would like to address …

• The opener is a sad one. Jason Vondersmith, whom I worked alongside for nearly 20 years at the Portland Tribune before my retirement from the newspaper industry in 2020, passed away Sunday after cardiac arrest. He would have turned 61 on Wednesday.

Vondersmith, Steve Brandon, Dwight Jaynes and I were the core of the sports department when the Tribune began operation in 2001. All of us had worked previously at The Oregonian. We were a major part of the Trib’s early success, which included awards as the nation’s best non-daily newspaper twice in our first five years. Jason also served as entertainment editor with the Trib, for whom he worked until 2025. His final gig was as a writer and editor with Oregon ArtsWatch.

Jason was a prince of a guy, easy-going and friendly. He loved sports, he loved his job and he loved people. He was a pleasure to be around and to work with. He will be missed.

• When Tampa Bay Rays ace Drew Rasmussen stuck it to the Yankees in the opener of their sweep in the AL Division Series, it wasn’t like it was the first time.

The former Oregon State right-hander lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the eighth inning, but finished allowing just one hit with two walks and 10 strikeouts in a 1-0 masterpiece. Fox analyst and Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez called Rasmussen “literally perfect,” even though it wasn’t, literally. “I was really impressed by the young man,” Martinez said.

So were the Yankees, as they have been often. In four of his five outings against the Bronx Bombers this season, these are Rasmussen’s cumulative totals: 27 2/3 innings, one earned run, eight hits, four walks and 34 strikeouts. (The outlier came in a 12-4 loss on July 9, when the Yanks tagged him for seven hits and six runs in 2 1/3 innings.)

Rasmussen, 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA during the regular season, will probably be runner-up to the Yankees’ Cam Schlitter (14-6, 1.95) for the American League Cy Young Award. I think Drew would be happy to settle for a World Series ring.

• A move is afoot to erect a bronze statue of Terry Baker — the only athlete ever to win football’s Heisman Trophy and play in basketball’s Final Four — on the Oregon State campus. My only question: Why hasn’t it already happened?

Stay tuned.

Portland’s Travis Parrott is headed for induction into the PNW Tennis Hall of Fame (courtesy Brian Parrott)

• A source tells me that Jack Neer, Travis Parrott and Brian Parrott are headed for induction into the Pacific Northwest Tennis Hall of Fame.

Neer, 93, was Oregon State singles champion eight times and Oregon State Seniors singles champ an incredible 15 times. Travis, 46, was an NCAA doubles champion at Georgia, played the ATP circuit for seven years and won the 2009 U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Carly Gullickson in 2009. His father Brian, 79, was an outstanding player in the Northwest but more well-known as promoter of three Davis Cup ties in Portland, the Louisiana Pacific Indoor and a plethora of exhibitions featuring the world’s greatest players. My only question: Why hasn’t it happened already?

After five months on the PGA Tour Americas circuit, Corvallis native Cole Rueck will attempt to qualify for a PGA Tour card at Q-School

• Switching to golf, Cole Rueck wet his feet in professional golf with a stint on the PGA Tour Americas circuit after turning pro in April.

The son of OSU women’s basketball coach Scott Rueck, who played collegiately at Boise State, made the cut in five of his 14 events and pocketed $7,414 in official earnings, earning him a No. 108 ranking on the Americas tour.

Rueck’s best finish came in July when he tied for 15th in the Explore NB Open in Fredericton, New Brunswick, at 18-under 266, winning $3,712. He made the cut in his last two events, finishing tied for 32nd in the Digital Commerce Group Open at Victoria, B.C. — which included an opening round of 7-under 63 — and tied for 58th in the ATB Class at Edmonton, Alberta. Out of 38 total rounds, Rueck had 29 with scores of 72 or better.

Cole, 22, has a busy fall planned. He will be married to Sadie Bernard on Oct. 24, and after some honeymoon time with his new bride, will head to the PGA Q-School for the second of four stages from Dec. 1-4. The goal will be to qualify for either the PGA or Korn Ferry tours.

• With the emergence of Oregon State’s Braden Atkinson as the premier quarterback in the Pac-12, it’s fair to wonder what might have happened had Tristan Ti’a stayed with the Beavers.

Ti’a, impressive when he finally got his chance to play as a true freshman late last season, entered the transfer portal and signed with Auburn. Had he stayed, would coach JaMarcus Shephard have still brought on Atkinson? Would the Beaver offense have hummed with the 6-2, 215-pound Ti’a at the controls as a sophomore? If there were a competition, would Atkinson have beaten out Ti’a for the starting job?

At Auburn, Ti’a is the backup and heir apparent to starter Byrum Brown, a senior who also transferred after last season. Brown followed his coach at South Florida, Alex Golesh, who became Auburn’s head coach. Ti’a is 2 for 4 passing for 39 yards in his brief appearances for the Tigers, who are 3-2 going into games with Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss the next three weeks.

Former Oregon State football star Dylan Wynn, now with the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, says he is excited with the direction his alma mater’s program is headed

• Dylan Wynn is 33 and in his 12th season of pro football — two with the Cleveland Browns and the last 10 in the Canadian Football League. Wynn, now with the Montreal Alouettes, was a four-year starter as a defensive lineman at Oregon State from 2011-14, a second-team All-Pac-12 selection as a senior.

Wynn made a trip back to his alma mater in the spring and visited with JaMarcus Shephard. He says he has followed the Beavers closely in the new coach’s first season.

“I hadn’t been back to Corvallis since my pro day (in 2015),” says Wynn, who won a Grey Cup with Toronto in 2017 and is a three-time CFL East All-Star. “It was great to stop by. I got to meet the coaching staff and take a trip down memory lane. And I got to see my (D-line) coach, (Joe) Seumalo, who is on the staff now.

“I am excited to see what Coach (Shephard) is doing. He is a high-energy, genuine guy. He truly cares. I love how he does things. Things are going in the right direction in Corvallis. I just hope they keep hitting paydirt.”

• From the “thought-I-had-seen-everything” department: Ty France’s flyball that hit a cable on the roof of Miller Park and might have cost the San Diego Padres the opener of their NL Division Series with the Milwaukee Brewers.

The ball bounced off the cable into the glove of the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio in deep left field for the second out in the top of the ninth inning. Ground rules said if the ball hits the cable (or roof) in fair territory, it’s a live ball and the batter is out if caught. The ball appeared to be hit in fair territory — though that was subject to opinion and not fact — and came down in fair territory. Had it hit the cable in foul territory, it would have been a dead ball.

Bad ground rules. Once the ball hits the roof or cable, it should be a dead ball, period.

With the ball’s trajectory, it appeared to me that without the roof/cable, France’s “major league” flyball would have been a two-run homer and given the Padres the lead. As it was, the Brewers closed out a 3-2 win to take a 1-0 lead in a series they would wrap up in four games.

The retractable roof was closed because of rainy weather conditions. Had the game been in San Diego, that wouldn’t have been necessary. Extraordinarily bad luck for the Padres.

• Remember when Deion Sanders was the darling of the college football coaching profession? In 2024, Colorado, with his son Shadeur and Travis Hunter leading the way, finished 9-4, and Deion was being hailed as the next great thing as Colorado left the Pac-12 for the Big 12.

Without Shadeur and Hunter, the Buffaloes went 3-9 in 2025. This season, they are 2-3 after successive losses to Northwestern (41-7), Baylor (23-13) and Texas Tech (29-7) heading into Saturday’s matchup with 12th-ranked Utah.

In comments to the media after the loss to the Red Raiders, Sanders threw his quarterbacks under the bus, specifically redshirt freshman Julian Lewis, who lost his job to junior Isaac Wilson before the Texas Tech game.

“We have one glaring problem,” Sanders told reporters. “You guys know darn well what it is. Let’s stop the foolishness. We have to play better at one specific position. It’s blatant. I’d respect ya’ll a lot more if you said it yourself.”

Looks to me like coaching isn’t a strong point in Boulder, either. At one point, Sanders had to call time out because Colorado had only eight players on the field. After the timeout, the Buffs had only nine. They also threw a zero-yard pick-six when Texas Tech’s John Curry intercepted a Wilson pass in the Colorado end zone.

• Finally, per The Athletic: In the first academic year of colleges being able to pay their athletes, Division I programs paid $1.77 billion to nearly 35,000 men and women. Not sure whether to gasp or cry.

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