Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
Athlete 1988 - 1991
Don Hakala Jr., Class of 1991, is selected to the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame for his contributions in basketball.
Hakala scored more points in one season than any other player in Linfield history and ranks second in career points.
He was chosen a first-team NAIA District all-star all four years.
His name appears 52 times in 34 categories in the Linfield record book, ranging from points to blocked shots and steals. Some of those are:
--Most points, season - 706, 1988-89;
--Second most points, career - 2,167 in 107 games, 1987-91;
--Most points, game - 45 vs. Concordia, 1990 (tied with Bill Machamer, 1957);
--Second highest average points per game, season - 25.2 in 1988-89;
--Fourth highest average points per game, career - 20.3 (his father, Don Hakala Sr., is fifth with 19.7 from 1963-66);
--Third most field goals, career - 704 (his dad is fourth with 642);
--Ninth most 3-point field goals made, career - 78;
--Most free throws made, career -- 681;
--Most free throws made, season -- 228 in 1989-90;
--Fourth most free throws made, game -- 18 vs. Eastern Oregon, 1991;
--Most free throws attempted, career - 850;
--Tied for highest free throw percentage, game - 1.000, 16 of 16 vs. Whitworth, 1988 and 15 of 15 vs. Oregon Tech, 1990;
--Most blocked shots, career - 108 (1+ per game);
--Second most blocked shots, game -- 6 vs. Warner Pacific, 1989;
--Second most steals, career -- 133 (1.2 per game).
After earning a bachelor's degree from Linfield in 1991, Hakala played professionally in Australia and coached high school and college teams.
Hakala's own high school coach at West Linn High School, Larry Doty, later was his coach at Linfield.
Hakala's father was inducted into the Linfield Hall of Fame in 2001.
Hakala Jr., who earned a master's degree in educational administration from Portland State, is a behavioral specialist at Walker Middle School in West Salem. He commutes to work from Eugene, where he lives with his wife, Christy, herself a former Wildcats women's basketball player.
