Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
As gifted of an athlete as Linfield has ever seen, O.J. Gulley excelled at two sports as a key member of three Northwest Conference championship squads. Nearly 20 years after playing his final game, O.J. joins the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.
His presence on the basketball court and football field was nothing short of electrifying. With the ball in O.J.’s hands, anything was possible.
O.J. made a name for himself on the basketball court at Reynolds High School in east Multnomah County. He helped lead the Raiders to two Mt. Hood Conference championships, including his senior year when he was selected as the MHC Player of the Year and earned first team all-state honors.
After graduating from Reynolds High, O.J. initially attended Oregon State University where he was encouraged to walk on to the basketball team. But a painful and lingering knee injury prevented him from ever competing in a game for the Beavers.
Linfield coach Larry Doty had recruited O.J. while he was in high school, and as it turned out, close friend John Broussard had made a commitment to play for the Wildcats. John convinced O.J. to join him at Linfield, where the physical demands wouldn’t be as severe as they were at OSU.
The timing of his transfer could not have been better. O.J. joined a veteran basketball squad led by standouts Grant Ebright, Rob Emerson, Ian Hartman, Evan Wilson, Scott Turner, and Ryan Kruse.
With O.J. in the lineup, the Wildcats went on to win the 2001 Northwest Conference championship and with it, a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Looking back on it now, O.J. very much enjoyed playing with such an unselfish group of players who all sacrificed for one another. “They were all leaders, both on and off the court. That year, we had some battles against another great team in Lewis & Clark and we were relentless. Practices were challenging every single day because we all wanted to make each other better.”
Individually, O.J.’s awe-inspiring play earned him three consecutive first team all-conference awards.
Though he only played one year of high school football, O.J. longed to get back out on the field. At Linfield, his superior leaping ability combined with raw athleticism made him ideal as a defensive back. It took a few games for him to grasp the complicated techniques of playing cornerback. Before long, O.J. had secured a starting spot, earned all-conference recognition, and was a key member of the Wildcats’ 2004 national championship team.
Perhaps O.J.’s greatest individual accomplishment in football came in a 2004 playoff game against Wisconsin-La Crosse when O.J. returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown, a record that can never be broken. He would end up setting a single-season record that year for most interception return yards.
O.J. remembers how football practices at Linfield, just like basketball, were ultra competitive. “We had a top-level defense, as well as a high-scoring offense, and neither side wanted to back down to the other. The film sessions taught me how detailed you must be to be successful at anything. We never talked about wins as a team, but we constantly talked about doing all the little things and paying attention to detail. I use those lessons in every aspect of my life to date.”
Graduating from Linfield in 2005, he taught and coached at Reynolds and Liberty high schools. O.J. began working at Liberty as a social studies teacher before becoming head boys basketball coach. During his three years in charge, he guided the Falcons from a dismal 2-12 Northwest Oregon League record in 2013 to playing for the league championship in the season finale the following year.
When he was offered a promotion to vice principal at Liberty, O.J. made the difficult decision to step away from coaching. He most recently spent seven years as principal of Evergreen Middle School in Hillsboro. With a dream of one day returning to his home state of Arkansas and purchasing a piece of property to raise horses and cows, O.J. moved a step closer by accepting an assistant principal position at Hillcrest High School, just south of Salt Lake City.
O.J. says his experiences in athletics at Linfield taught him the qualities that make a great leader. “I learned life is about what you make of it. If you want something, you have to go out and do the work to get it. You can never expect anything to be given to you. If you do, you’ll always be on the outside looking in.”
