Canzano: Custom high school uniform captures football, a father, and a small Oregon town
Updated Jan 09, 2019; Posted Aug 31, 2017
Nike designs special uniforms for Heppner High School football team
Gallery: Nike designs special uniforms for Heppner High School football team
By John Canzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
One of the University of Oregon's most influential boosters, Pat Kilkenny, has this saying that he likes to throw around all the time.
It's this: "He could have been from Heppner."
Kilkenny is talking about his hometown, of course. And he means the offering as the highest praise. It's quickly understood that being from Heppner -- population 1,291 -- signals that you're worth a damn. That your handshake is glue. That you understand family, service and community. That you can be trusted and it means that you care about others.
A gifted team of football uniform designers at Nike was recently tasked with grasping this concept for a project that was unveiled this week. They were charged with capturing the spirit of the small Oregon town that sits 185 miles east of Portland. They were told stories of Irish immigrants of the late 1800s -- including Kilkenny's own grandfather -- who must have stumbled upon acres of rolling hills that reminded him of the old country and thought, "This is it. I'm home."
The Nike designers were told about wheat, and football, and family.
"Heppner is probably like a lot of small towns in America," John Kilkenny, Pat's brother, said from his 8,000-acre ranch. "People work hard and they're tough."
Robert "Bob" Kilkenny was born in Heppner. He lived his whole life there, farming wheat and alfalfa and raising a daughter and four sons.
"Dad was the best," John said. "Salt of the earth. All about family. Very selfless. He always put his family ahead of him. He was so humble and hardworking. And he loved sports."
The elder Kilkenny loved people, and also, he loved Heppner. The evidence is everywhere. He bought backpacks and school supplies for children. He supported the county fair, the Elks Lodge, the church, and of course, the town sports teams. He donated books for classrooms. Of course, Bob never told anyone about it. But everyone figured it out.
"It was just something he did," said Pat Sweeney.
Sweeney, who was also born in Heppner, is the town mortician. Took over the funeral business from his own father years ago and is the only funeral director in three counties.
"I went to college, got married and the first thing I wanted to do is come back and give my family what I grew up with," Sweeney said. "We take care of each other out here. We watch out for each other."
Over the years, the people of Heppner have watched plenty of high school football. Maybe it's because you have to drive 45 miles to go to dinner and a movie. Maybe it's because in a small town, you know your neighbors names and their children's names. After all there are only 166 students in grades 7-12 of the Heppner Junior/Senior High.
"The community looks forward to those high school football games," Sweeney said. "It's the highlight of the week. That football tradition is so powerful. The Heppner program went 12 years without losing a league game. You know what that means? Some of the kids who were in preschool went all the way through high school without seeing the team lose a league game."
Bob Kilkenny watched that magical run of 81 consecutive league victories. Like other fathers in Heppner, he sent sons through the football program. Then, he rooted for everyone else's sons and grandsons. He talked football with the kids and wished them luck when he saw them in the grocery store. And why not?
"It's our identity," Heppner resident John Murray said. "It's what people talk about. Everybody goes to the game on Friday night. It's like Texas around here."
Murray is the town pharmacist. Second generation, of course. He was born in Heppner and came back to raise a family, just like so many others. He was an all-state high school football player himself. And his four sons played for Mustangs coach Greg Grant. Grant has won a pair of state championships and has an overall record of 243-54 in 27 seasons at the school.
Around Heppner, Grant is like Bill Belichick. Or may be Belichick is New England's Grant. Whatever the case, Grant's football program wins. But also, it fosters character, values and why it's important to be a good teammate. And it's those things the citizens here talk about before they talk winning.
"I couldn't think of a better place to raise a family," Murray said. "I could probably have made more money elsewhere, but my kids wouldn't have had the experience that they did. And I believe so much in that football program. It's like an extension of family.
"Family connections are important in Heppner."
Nike designed state-of-the-art uniforms to honor Heppner's historic success in Oregon High School football, and the late Robert Kilkenny, who passed away last summer at the age of 86. The Kilkenny family, pictured, from left: Kevin, Russ, Kelly, Pat and John. Robert is in front. (Photo courtesy of the Kilkenny family)
Bob Kilkenny died 15 months ago and his family held a funeral at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. He was 86. Everyone in town showed up to pay their respects, it seemed. And there was a lot of talk over the last year about how he might be best honored and remembered. But that Nike uniform design team heard about his passing and knew exactly what to do.
It went to work.
Kelly Kilkenny Hale, Bob's daughter, said of Heppner football, "It's what we did growing up - it represented how we lived our lives - it is part of who we are."
See, it's not just what Bob Kilkenny meant to Heppner. It's what Heppner meant to Kilkenny. It's what the town represents and means to the mortician, the pharmacist, the rancher and everyone in between. And it's glued together in a perfect fashion by that tiny and fierce high school football program that still somehow plays 11-man football.
"It's those kids and those coaches and that community that supports them," John Kilkenny said. "Dad was one of those guys who supported, but there's lots and lots of 'em."
Heppner's football team needed uniforms. When Nike offered to provide them, everyone in town figured the sports-apparel company would simply give the Mustangs a new set of uniforms with a Swoosh on the shoulder pad. Maybe new helmets, too. But on Wednesday, the Heppner High players were handed something that knocked the wind out of everyone.
On Wednesday, the football players in this small town were handed Nike Vapor Untouchable uniforms typically reserved for NFL teams. There were four jersey and pant combinations. There were four helmet designs. Featured in the new Heppner High uniforms are images of wheat in the stripes and shoulders. Also, a three-leaf clover and the initials "BB" are on the back of the helmet.
The initials stand for "Bad Bob." Because that's what everyone in Heppner called Bob Kilkenny.
Ending the story there would be good enough. But the best touch came in the details. It was something that "Bad Bob" and every father who ever felt tethered to Heppner would understand in an instant.
The jerseys weren't just placed in the players lockers. They weren't just folded and stacked on a shelf in an equipment room or put in a closet. The new uniforms were handed to each of the players in a deep and connective ceremony.
The players were presented the new uniforms by their fathers.
Said Pat Kilkenny: "Hopefully our dad is smiling."
-- @JohnCanzanoBFT