Mick Challenge: A Worthy Cause And a Friend Worth Remembering
Mickey Riley holds his son, Healy, and Jim Wilson’s twins, Evi and Esti, circa 1998. (Courtesy Jim Wilson)
By Jim Wilson
Mickey Riley passed away in 2011 at 51 after a six-year battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Shortly thereafter, a group of close friends established the Mickey Riley Foundation, aimed at keeping the name of the former Oregon State baseball standout alive through scholarships, activities and events.
As a foundation board member, I have found that endeavor to be one of my life’s most rewarding experiences. Mickey was a great Beaver and even better friend to a ton of people.
“Mick had a great ability to make friends,” says Jack Riley, Mickey’s father and the coach who won 613 games in 22 seasons as Oregon State’s baseball coach, second only to Pat Casey in the program’s 115-year history.
Now the MRF is preparing for its 10th annual Mick Challenge on Monday, August 16, a fund-raising golf tournament that has blossomed into a popular event with a reunion feel.
“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” says Mickey’s son Skyler, a current board member whose team is always a threat to win the tournament. “I remember the first year so vividly. And years two through nine have just flown by.”
Mickey moved to Corvallis in 1972 when his dad was named the Beavers’ baseball skipper. I first met him that year at a sixth-grade flag football practice as we both tried out for the quarterback position.
“I showed up the first day wanting to play quarterback and the biggest guy on the team already had the spot,” Riley liked to say. “So I figured I’d play receiver.”
Mickey and I played with and against each other throughout our schoolboy years, then connected as baseball teammates at Oregon State. We were roommates during our college days; 23 years ago his son, Healy, was born on the same day as my twin daughters.
From left, Jim Wilson, Kerry Eggers and Mickey Riley during the 1982 NCAA Tournament at Palo Alto, Calif. Wilson and Riley were on the Oregon State team facing Stanford in the Regional; Eggers was covering the tournament for The Oregon Journal. (Courtesy Jim Wilson)
At 5-6 and 135 pounds, Riley started for four years at OSU and earned All-Pac-10 accolades in 1982 as a switch-hitting second baseman. He excelled defensively, was a great baserunner and was an absolute pest at the plate. He had exceptional bunting skills, rarely struck out and walked a bunch; he still ranks No. 5 on the Beavers career walks chart with 118.
But his contributions as a teammate are what separated Mickey. He was like another coach on the field, not just barking orders, but understanding team dynamics, giving small cues to players and recognizing egos and personalities. He dedicated his efforts to winning the game.
As laser-focused as he was on the field, Riley was the complete opposite off the field. Easy-going, soft-spoken and extremely witty, he had a twinkle in his eye and always had a quip ready to make folks smile.
Mick was everybody’s friend.
After college, he had a tryout with the Cleveland Indians and played professionally in Australia, where he met his wife, Lisa. After returning to the United States, he transitioned his passion from baseball to golf, using his sharp skills and understanding of the sport to become a fantastic golf instructor.
“You’re the only guy I couldn’t fix,” Riley once told me with his trademark smile.
Mickey later worked as an athletic director at Lower Columbia Community College in Longview, Wash., before moving back to Australia. Shortly thereafter, the symptoms began.
“I had some numbing in my left hand and it hurt to swing a golf club,” Riley said. “The doctors were thinking carpal tunnel and I figured surgery would set me back a few months.”
As it turned out, the news was much different for Mickey and the repercussions would stretch well past his immediate family.
“First I questioned the diagnosis, then I started questioning myself; what did I do wrong?” Riley said. “At some point, I just realized it was real and I needed to make the most of what I have left.”
And that’s what he did. Even through the hardest times, he kept a positive attitude and remained as likable and easy-going as ever.
The Mickey Riley Foundation
Inspired to keep his spirit alive, a group of friends founded the Mickey Riley Foundation. The current board includes four of Mickey’s childhood friends — myself, Bill Heck, Tim “Trombone” Tubb and MRF president Jon McHenry. Along the way we added ex-Beaver baseball players Allen Snelling and Brooke Knight. The most recent addition was Mickey’s son Skyler.
Jeremy Shires (far left) and Tom Eggers (far right) join board members Jim “Whale” Wilson, Jon McHenry, Tim “Trombone” Tubb and Bill Heck for a pre-tournament confab at the Oregon Coast. (Courtesy Jim Wilson)
“It just doesn’t seem like work when you really like the people you’re working with and you believe in the cause,” says Heck, partner of a successful tax and wealth management firm in Corvallis.
Each year, the foundation grants two $5,000 scholarships to student-athletes from Corvallis and Crescent Valley — the high schools that Riley attended. I have been inspired by the quality of applicants, which has been exceptional. Reading the stories of these youngsters has been uplifting. In all, the foundation has donated more than $100,000 to scholarship winners.
“The oldest scholarship winners are now nearly 30 and are well into their professional careers,” McHenry says. “There are some very impressive kids in that group. I’m proud to have been able to help them out along the way. And they all know who Mickey Riley is!”
The foundation also added Mickey’s name to the title of the Corvallis American Legion program’s iconic Fourth of July tournament in 2011. Now in its 44th year, the tournament was renamed the “Mickey Riley Star Spangled Banner Tournament.”
Over the years, the MRF has been blessed with too many generous donors to list. Corvallis natives and childhood friends Roger Worthington and Harold Reynolds have each made significant contributions. Worthington is a successful litigator and owner of Worthy Brewing in Bend; Reynolds broadcasts on the MLB Network after a sterling major-league career.
The 1972 Corvallis Boys Club All-Star team, which includes Mickey Riley (bottom row, second from right), MRF President Jon McHenry (middle row, far left), major league All-Star Harold Reynolds (middle row, second from left), Worthy Brewing owner Roger Worthington (middle row, third from left), Kerry Eggers’ brother Tom (top row, second from right) and Jim Wilson (top row, far right).
“I would have never played professional baseball without Mickey,” says Reynolds, a two-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and the 1987 American League stolen bases leader during his 12-year big-league career. “He made me interested in baseball and had such a great way with people. I’m so glad I grew up in Corvallis at that time with him in my life.”
The Mick Challenge
To help pay the bills and create an event that brings friends and family together, the foundation created The Mick Challenge, a five-player scramble staged at Corvallis’ Trysting Tree Golf Club. The tournament has remained strong and has a cult-like following that continues to reach new people.
“The Mick is probably the best tournament of its size in the Northwest,” Jack Riley says. “This thing is real important to our family.”
Trysting Tree general manager Sean Arey was Mickey’s brother-in-law and has been eager to support any cause involving Mickey.
“The turnout for ‘The Mick’ speaks volumes about the impact he had on the people around him,” says Casey, the man who coached Beaver baseball teams to three College World Series titles. “It’s a reunion of great people, members of the baseball fraternity, golfers and Beavers.”
Over the past nine years, there have been some interesting challenges. Always slated for the third Monday of August, the 2017 tournament fell on the same day as the “Great American Eclipse.” With the potential for traffic debacles being reported, many golfers decided to pass.
“That was really unfortunate, because the traffic wasn’t too bad and the golf course was in the path of totality,” says participant Rob Closs, the likable former Oregon two-sport star whose personality is similar to that of Riley. “We sat on the back deck of Trysting Tree as it got dark and watched the total solar eclipse. It was mesmerizing. I can’t even remember the golf.”
Last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic put most events on hold, foundation members considered canceling the event.
“We contacted our past golfers, and the response was overwhelmingly strong in favor of playing,” McHenry says. “So we moved forward with the event with some distancing and safety protocols in place.”
As the years have passed and word has spread, the tournament has added golfers and evolved, using feedback from the players to build on the good and trim the fat in hopes of providing the best experience possible.
Looking Back on 10 Years
My involvement with the MRF has been an enriching experience. I have been able to work with old friends in a new capacity, reunite with great people, meet new friends, help the lives of some younger people — all in the memory of a great friend.
I have especially enjoyed working with fellow board members for such a worthy cause. Getting to know Skyler Riley has been a great benefit as has been getting to collaborate with Allen Snelling and Brooke Knight.
“A lot has changed in 10 years,” recalls Skyler, one of nearly 30 players to have participated every year. “The first few years I showed up with my single buddies and we just golfed. Now we are married and have kids and (participating in the tournament) has become a tradition. It’s fitting that the tournament is what it has become — a way for family and friends to come together and have a great time.”
One of my primary responsibilities for the tournament is contacting baseball players for the tournament. Each year, there are nearly 40 ex-Beaver baseball players who participate, including three full squads of Mickey’s former teammates.
“I can expect Jimmy to call sometime in June and tell me we’re his favorite group, and I tell him we'll be there,” says Scott Anderson, who was a year behind Mickey at OSU and went on to pitch in the major leagues. “Then he’ll call the next group and tell them the same thing.”
Former Oregon State players “Iron” Mike Gorman, Steve Smith, Jim “Lefty” Grove, Scott Anderson and Bill Gassaway — all teammates of Mickey Riley — pose during last year’s event. (Courtesy Jim Wilson)
All true. One of the great pleasures of the entire undertaking has been to watch a cause that was initially intended to celebrate Mickey’s life affect so many people in a positive way.
The MRF board members established a tradition the first year that is annually circled on my calendar — a two-day trip to Lincoln City in late July. Staying at the Chateau St. Jean (childhood friend Tom Eggers’ cabin), board members make all the final preparations for the August tourney, but still find time to tell stories, play cards, fish, catch crab ... and whatever else old buddies do to celebrate the life of their good friend.
(Editor’s note: I was also good friends with Mickey Riley. Jimmy’s portrayal of the little guy is spot-on. He was a fun guy, a funny guy, a caring person. The work of the foundation board members to keep Mick’s memory alive has been extraordinary, and the money raised and distributed to CHS and CVHS grads has gone to a good cause. “It’s been heart-warming,” Jack Riley, now 83 and still in excellent health, tells me. “I have so much respect for those guys on the board, and it’s really cool that Skyler is part of it now. (Wife) Jean and I meet all the applicants. There have been some really good kids get scholarships out of this.” If you’re interested in participating in the tournament, either as an individual or as part of or as an entire fivesome, go to the foundation website.
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