John Dirk Eggink Jr.

1931 - 2021

John Dirk Eggink, Jr.
1931 - 2021
John Dirk Eggink, Jr., passed away on May 8, 2021, ten days short of his 90th birthday. He was born on May 18, 1931 to John D. Eggink and Mabel Dawson Eggink in Portland, Oregon. Cremation services are being handled by City View Funeral Home in Salem, Oregon. A family Celebration of Life will be held later this summer when Covid restrictions are lifted.
While in college, he was active in student government and played varsity baseball. He was an undergraduate student at Vanport College (later becoming Portland State University) from 1948 to 1951. He journeyed to Southern Oregon College on a baseball scholarship and received his Bachelor's Degree in 1952.
He served his country in the U.S. Army from 1952-54 during the Korean War and was stationed at the Atomic Energy Commission's experimental site of Sandia Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was assigned to the Personnel Center of the Headquarters Company and earned the title of Personnel Supervisor.
He resided in Southern Oregon during the 1950's, teaching for two years at Grants Pass Junior High School. At this time he was accepted as a graduate student at Southern Oregon College and eventually received his Master of Science in Education in 1958.
Throughout his teaching career he continued the pursuit of excellence during the summer seasons. He was awarded grants by the National Science Foundation and studied at Kansas State University, the University of Vermont and the University of Portland.
With the exception of two years teaching in Grants Pass, Oregon, he spent his entire teaching and coaching career at Oakridge Junior and Senior High School. In addition to heading up the football program for 24 years from 1970 to 1994, he was the assistant baseball coach at the school for many years.
Coach Eggink found great satisfaction in starting new programs at Oakridge. As a young teacher/coach in the 1950's, he was instrumental in establishing a baseball program for 7th and 8th grade boys. In the 1960's his teams won many titles and tournaments. His players embraced the spirit of camaraderie and esprit-de-corps that was present on almost every Warrior football team. They developed a caring attitude for one another and learned the value of loving each other and the opposing teams.
At Oakridge High School he taught several classes, mostly in the Science cucrriculum His favorite teaching assignment was geology and at the urging of the administration, he built this class into one of the most popular in the Math-Science Department.
Coach Eggink retired from active teaching and coaching in 1994. After extensive traveling he and his wife JoAnne enjoyed a Sno-Bird residence in El Centro, California. They would return to their Oregon home in May of each year, residing in an active adult golf community called Salemtowne, in Salem.
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