The Siuslaw High School football team arrived in Brookings in the early afternoon of Nov. 9, 1963, to square off against the previously unbeaten and No. 2-ranked Bruins.

It marked the first postseason game in school history and third-year head coach Erv Garrison had the Vikings ready. An hour before kickoff, he led them to a dark room under the gym floor. As part of their pre-game ritual, the players lie silently together for about 10 minutes, collecting their thoughts and thinking about their assignments on the gridiron.

Above, in the Brookings locker room, the Vikings could hear loud music, laughter and reveling.

Suddenly, Garrison burst into the downstairs room and flipped on the lights. A scowl occupied his face.

According to Siuslaw quarterback Jim Weber, Garrison declared, "boys, there's no need for us to play this game because Brookings has already won it! They're up there celebrating! They're dancing on your grave!"

Garrison, who died at his home in Milwaukie on February 6, knew football. He also knew how to motivate.

Breathing fire, Siuslaw romped to a 42-14 victory behind a three-touchdown performance from all-state running back Tooey Emery. A week later, the Vikings defeated Junction City, 13-0, in a muddy state quarterfinals game in Florence before suffering their only loss of the season, a heart-wrenching, 7-6 semifinals squeaker to North Catholic in another mud bowl at Hans Petersen Memorial Field.

Garrison served as the Vikings head coach for only four seasons, but he kick-started a culture of winning. He cultivated a work ethic and a supreme confidence in his players that would continue over the next half-century under Len Lutero and Tim Dodson, when Siuslaw emerged as one of the top prep football programs in Oregon.

"Erv raised everyone's expectations," said Weber, the starting quarterback on the 1963 squad. "He told us that if we put in the time and outworked other teams that we had a right to think we were going to win. And the guy had charisma. He was fun to play for."

That charisma shined brightly during a team meeting prior to the 1961 season, Garrison's first at Siuslaw. Dennis Howell, who had just moved to Florence from Eugene, was sitting in a corner by himself. Assistant coach Dick Smith told Garrison he thought Howell was on the verge of quitting the team.

"I put my arm around the kid and told him to hang in there, that we had big plans for him down the road," said Garrison in a 2016 phone interview from his home in Milwaukie.

The coach wasn't exaggerating. A punishing fullback and search-and-destroy linebacker, Howell emerged as the top defensive player all three years he wore a Siuslaw uniform and was named to the East-West Shrine all-star game following his senior year.

Tragically, Howell died in a logging accident in Thorne Bay, Alaska on October 29, 1973.

Garrison was also an excellent track coach. The Vikings took home a state trophy (fourth place) in 1964 under his guidance and produced two state champions, Les Conley in the 100-yard dash and Emery in the 220.

"Erv lifted up the entire school and actually, the entire town," Weber said. "He created a climate of excitement at Siuslaw."

Garrison left Siuslaw after the 1964-65 school year and had stints at Milwaukie (1965-73), David Douglas (1974-78) and Canby (1979-90) high schools. He posted a 90-36 record at Canby and twice took that school to the large school state semifinals. His overall record, through 32 seasons, was 185-120-1.

"Canby was a moribund football program when Erv showed up," said Mike Doty, one of Garrison's top assistant coaches and Canby's eventual head coach. "The year before he arrived they went 0-9 and scored their only touchdown on the last drive of their last game.

"It took him a couple years, but he got the program rolling," added Doty. "He was an old-school, blue-collar coach who demanded a lot from the kids. But he was also a great storyteller and motivational speaker and he had a great sense of humor."

Doty said Garrison had trouble remembering some of his players' names. To solve the problem he would take photos of them and post them in his office with their names under the pictures.

"That's Erv," said Doty. "He was such a character. In his later years (at Canby) he took on a grandfatherly aura. People loved him."

Garrison ran the Wing-T offense at all of his stops. The scheme involves a lot of misdirection plays and creates considerable confusion for opponents. Several of Garrison's protégés became head coaches at other Oregon high schools and continued to run the Wing-T.

"You can take undersized kids and turn them into 160-pound guards," said Doty. "They are out pulling on a lot of plays, blocking and sealing linebackers. Quickness is more important than size. Erv also had a rotation going where he used a lot of kids. They bought into it and were always fresh."

Garrison was born in Aberdeen, Wash., on June 2, 1933, before his family moved to Tillamook, on the northern Oregon Coast, when he was six months old.  

His father was the foreman of a logging crew, and it wasn't long before young Erv was tagging along, setting chokers, falling timber and running equipment.

He attended tiny Nehalem High School, which is about 25 miles north of Tillamook, and emerged as a standout in football (as a single-wing quarterback), basketball, track and baseball, graduating in 1952.

Garrison loved being in the woods and planned on a career of logging. But one day an assistant football coach from Oregon State showed up at his home with a scholarship offer. It was too good to pass up.

Garrison didn't stay in Corvallis long, however. He dropped out of school after one year and then got drafted, but was turned away when he flunked his physical because of a bum knee.

A year after that, he began attending Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University), where he played for legendary coach Bill McArthur.

One of Garrison's teammates was Darrell "Mouse" Davis, who revolutionized  football with his pass-happy, "run and shoot" offense while coaching at Hillsboro, Sunset and Milwaukie high schools in the 1970s and later at several college and NFL teams, including a six-year stint as head coach at Portland State.

Garrison and Davis became lifelong friends and often met for lunch in recent years.

Garrison also starred in track at OCE, finishing fifth at the national meet in the javelin in 1958 with a throw of 217 feet, 5 inches. He earned his degree in education later that year.

In September of 1958, Garrison landed his first teaching and coaching jobs at Knappa High School, along the Columbia River in northwest Oregon.

After serving one year as an assistant, Garrison took over the head coaching job and guided the Loggers to back-to-back playoff appearances, including a run to the Class B state semifinals in 1959.

The following spring, Garrison got a call from Siuslaw Superintendent Dick Shollenberger, who was searching for a head football coach.

"He had gotten my name from McArthur," noted  Garrison. "They were good friends. He (McArthur) apparently thought I was a pretty good coach."

More than pretty good, it turns out.