OROVADA - Just prior to the Bannock-Paiute Indian War of 1879 in Oregon, well known War Chief Egan (E-hee-gant/Ezich'que-gah [Blanket Wearer]) agreed, with some reluctance, to join the movement to go to war. Mounted on his buckskin war horse and accompanied by his wife, Evening Starr, his two teenage daughters, his oldest son Honey, daughter-in law Hattie and infant grandson Herbert, he led his three bands of warriors to the battle grounds, located near Pendleton, Ore.
Not long after the 3½-month conflict began, Chief Egan came to the conclusion that the goals of some of his fellow leaders did not coincide with his, and realized that there were some that he couldn't trust. In order to protect his family and the men he led, he felt the need to return to the agency. Leaving his son Honey with the rest of his men at the camp, he left with Evening Starr and his two daughters planning to meet with General Oliver Howard to negotiate a peaceful, bloodless surrender of the bands under his command. Unfortunately the meeting never took place as Chief Egan was betrayed and he, Evening Starr and their daughters were assassinated by his political enemies. The Chief's remains, retrieved by the army, were sent to Washington, D.C., where they remained in the Smithsonian Institute for 125 years. At that time the Egan family arranged to have the Chief returned to his home in Burns, Ore., for a Ceremonial Burial.
After the murder of Chief Egan, Honey Egan fled with his wife and son, to the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. As an adult Herbert married Alice Mattie (Camas) and some years later, their son Hubert, married Elaine (Black). In the next generation Willard Egan Sr. married Delia (Smart), the daughter of Steven and Mildred Smart of McDermitt. McDermitt Combined School Alumni Richard Egan - the great, great, great grandson of Chief Egan - was born at the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in 1965.
Willard was a Native American cowboy working for Pete Jackson on the Riddle Ranch, while living at the Flying H, and Delia worked as a cook on the ranch. Richard remembers speaking Paiute at home and going to a small "ranch school" before a school bus began picking him up to transport him to school in Owyhee.
His favorite grammar school teacher at Owyhee was Irene Thacker in the third grade and he liked Mr. Otheim, the wood shop teacher, in the seventh and eighth grades. An athlete, he liked all sports and he played basketball and participated on the track team. His love of football had begun when he played little league football in junior high and it continued on in high school, when he played for the Braves under Coach Robert his freshman and sophomore year.
His junior year, Richard says that he was looking for a change and took the opportunity to live with Dennis and Betty Smart in his mom's hometown of McDermitt to attend school. While Norma Jefferson was one of his favorite teachers, he (as many of her students have said) really enjoyed Barb Ferguson's history/government classes. "There was never a dull moment and her class was 'great'!" A memorable trip at that time was to Carson City to tour the State Capitol Building and the State Museums. Now playing football for the Bulldogs under Coach Moddrell - Richard received both offensive and defensive end 2nd honors that year.
Spending the summer in Owyhee, Richard was undecided about his senior year until Tex Northrup invited him to live with him and his wife Alvina (Pretty) (MHS 1970), to finish high school while working as a buckaroo at the Lucky 7 Ranch, west of McDermitt. Moddrell led the Bulldogs to a State Football Championship in the fall of 1982 and Richard won first team honors and was state B League player of the year. They ended the basketball season as runner up at state in 1983.
A year after graduation in 1983 Richard hired on steady at the Lucky 7 Ranch where he lived with his new wife Lori (Albisu) (MHS 1981) and took on the responsibility of fatherhood when their son Lowell was born. By 1989, though he still had relatives, including his mother, living in Owyhee his future was established in his adopted home town of McDermitt. Leaving the Lucky 7, he was employed by the Humboldt County School District as McDermitt's head bus driver and grounds keeper.
At that time McDermitt had enough kids playing sports that it required two trip buses for the away games; one for the boys teams and one for the girls teams. One tense experience driving a trip bus happened in the early 90's when he was responsible for the safety of both the junior varsity and varsity girls' basketball teams on a trip to Virginia City. It started to snow during the evening, and if you are familiar with the roads out of VC you know how crooked, narrow and steep they are. Richard said that it was close to a total white out, with relentless snow pelting the windshield, and he was barely able to see the sides of the road. After navigating the grade to the bottom, and finally out of the worst of the storm, both he and Coach Sherburn got off of the bus to walk around for a few minutes to settle their nerves. Coach Sherburn has never forgotten Richard saying, "I could kiss this ground!!" She is still quick to give him a ton of credit for getting them all safely home that night.
Richard has coached track for 20 years now and in 1991 filled the position of assistant basketball coach to Elmer Porter and soon was assisting John Moddrell in football. In 1996 he stepped down from football and concentrated on the basketball program. Richard says that he would not have wanted to miss the following experience for the world. His son, Lowell (MHS 2002), was about 6 years old when his grandpa, Sam Albisu, got him a basketball and hoop and Lowell never put it down. Not interested in football, when he started high school, Lowell would spend hours in the gym where his dad would shag basketballs for him as he honed his shooting skills. As the assistant coach to Pat Goff, Richard says that it was exciting to work with that athletic group of boys. It would be wonderful if every parent could know the thrill of watching their son and his talented teammates win a state championship game. The outcome was extra special in 2002 as it was the first state basketball championship for the McDermitt boys, and the team also won their league, regionals and the academic scholarship that year - the first time that all four awards had ever gone to the same team at state!!
Richard started as head basket ball coach in 2003 and found it rewarding to coach his second son, Lindsey (MHS 2009) born in 1991 (now working at the Marigold Mine), and he has put in a lot of miles to watch and video his daughter Ashley (MHS 2011), born in 1992 (now a student at UNR with plans to earn a degree in the nursing field), during her high school sports career.
He recently handed over the basketball coaching position to Lowell, a UNLV graduate with a Bachelors degree in Economics - now the McDermitt math teacher - and finds it is an honor to be assistant coach under his son. Richard believes that transferring to McDermitt all those years ago, and playing eight man football with a great coach, surrounded by teammates such as Nick Wilkinson and others who worked hard to be champions, helped him with his position today as head coach of the Bulldog football team. In 2010 he was named football coach of the year.
Richard only hesitated a second when asked if there were any memorable kids that come to mind after all these years of coaching. He says, "While there are so many outstanding kids, Clayton Easterday comes to mind as a kid who was talented, a good student and great to be around." More recently, while it is his privilege to be working with many exceptional kids, he would have to say, "A special work in progress is Justin Fettic who works hard, is talented both athletically and academically - and is an outstanding young man!"
Richard has ample opportunity to address the students at MHS and he would encourage them to "Seek all the education that you can get - with education comes opportunity!"
Why would Richard need retirement plans when he enjoys what he is doing so much? He says that all the kids keep him young. Both he and Lori, who has worked at the school as an aide for 27 years, love their work and they are very proud to have three children who are all second generation MHS graduates.
The newest edition to the Egan family is Lindsey's son who was born last fall. Richard and Lori now spend their free time enjoying their first grandchild - Andres - the great, great, great, great, great grandson of War Chief Egan.
Sharon Falen's column on McDermitt alumni appears the first Tuesday of each month in the Humboldt Sun.[[In-content Ad]]
