Coach Gordon Mouser

Hi, we are raising money in memory of Coach Gordon Mouser. The dollars raised will support a memorial boys soccer scholarship for a graduating athlete at Centennial High School.

Gordon Mouser, one of the early pioneers of high school soccer coaching in Oregon, where his 275-71-45 record at Centennial High School in Gresham, 1983 OSAA State Championship and 1994 Oregon Boys Coach of the Year award made him one of the most recognizable and beloved figures in Oregon prep sports, died in Portland on Labor Day. He was 83.

Mr. Mouser was a talented multi-sport athlete at Sisters High School, who quarterbacked the 1957 Outlaws to the State Class B Championship in addition to being a 2nd Team All-State basketball player and first-place finisher in the pole vault at the Hayward Relays. He is a two-time inductee to the Sisters High School Sports Hall of Fame.

A graduate of Portland State University who became a teacher with a strong interest in both music and theatre, Gordon went on to co-found the New Century Players in Milwaukie, Oregon, and served on the Board of Directors of Portland’s Stumptown Stages, where his youngest son Kirk is the Artistic Director. As a young actor himself, Gordon had a supporting role in the 1963 thriller film, “Strike Me Deadly,” directed by the late former Oregonian, and cult movie auteur, Ted V. Mikels.

Gordon and his wife Janet, who met in college, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last year. They have resided lovingly together for nearly the entirety of those six decades in the Portland metropolitan area.

Gordon was born in King Hill, Idaho, the youngest son of Melvin and Catherine Mouser. He had two sisters, Lois and Colleen, and a brother, Howard (Marc). He is survived by his wife Janet, sons Chris and Kirk, brother Howard (Marc) and grandson Sam, whom he often referred to as, “The joy of my life.” Gordon was thankful for the loving support given to him by his many nieces and nephews, sister-in-law Linda, and Julie and Sonya, his two daughters-in-law. Those whom Gordon leaves behind who gave him special friendship and support over the years include the Martin, Marchant, Goebel, Lesch, Tolonen, O’Gara and Foster/Martinez families.

Words from Gordon’s personal journal about his friends: “They are all permanently engraved on a list I hold in my heart.”