Humboldt Athletics Hall of Fame
It may have been the first time the sun convinced anyone to come to Humboldt County, but it may have been the most valuable.
Alaska native Dave Navarre, a 1985 HSU business administration graduate and two-time All-American wrestler, entered the HSU Hall of Fame in 1998. Luckily for the now-defunct wrestling program, it was a quirk in the normally gloomy North Coast weather that brought Navarre and his talents to HSU.
Navarre and three friends happened to visit the area on a sunny day in 1980 during a recruiting trip. The excursion left the quarted impressed.
"Me and three buddies wanted to attend a school in a small town on the coast of California," said Navarre, who lives in Arcata with his wife, Stacey, and their children. "We wanted to move down to the lower 48s and find out what life down here was like."
Arcata fit the mold, and the wrestlers were Lumberjacks that fall. It didn't take long for the illusion of a sun-drenched California town to be shattered, however.
"That first year I think it rained 40 days straight or something," Navarre said. "It ran a couple of my buddies off, but I love the area."
The Arcata weather definitely represented a change for the better for Navarre. Kenai is located on the Cook Inlet, southwest of Anchorage. While the town experiences milder weather than most of Alaska, winters are much more bearable on the North Coast.
Navarre, an Alaska state champion in high school, didn't know much about the HSU wrestling program coming in, but he soon learned what kind of team he was joining. The Jacks placed third in the NCAA national tournament in Navarre's freshman year.
"You immediately knew it was a first-rate program," he said. "We were always proud of being part of the team."
As it turned out, Navarre's team was proud to have him. He placed no lower than second in the Northern California Athletic Conference championships during his tenure at HSU – twice winning individual titles – and helped the Jacks win three conference team titles. His college career came to a pinnacle in his junior and senior years when he attained All-American status.
"He was a small kid, but he made up for it in tenacity," said former HSU wrestling coach Frank Cheek.
Navarre not only worked hard for himself, Cheek said, but also stood up for his teammates. Cheek recalled a season when Navarre took it upon himself to help a blind teammate during workouts.
The successful career at HSU left Navarre with several warm memories. Many of them, he said, involve the bond he shares with his fellow wrestlers.
"Being part of a team like that is kind of like being part of a fraternity," Navarre said. "It was really kind of like being part of the franchise."
Navarre also said he has fond memories of Coach Cheek, the successful coach of that franchise who always spoke his mind.
"I think Coach Cheek was a great coach," Navarre said. "He built a great team. He made us want to win, and we did. Everybody knew where he stood, but we also had a great time."
It was usually most exciting to watch Navarre wrestle, Cheek said, after the grappler had been injured just enough to fire him up.
"I always liked Dae to lose a little blood, because that got him going," Cheek said. "It wa like a trigger."
