Andy Tullis / The BulletinFormer Bend High School football coach Craig Walker, right, and his former player current NFL football player, Ryan Longwell, left, share a laugh during a moment to talk in the library after an assembly honoring Bend High School alumni.

The three graduates honored at Bend High School’s alumni recognition assembly Friday didn’t necessarily stand out in high school.

One was quiet, unusually focused, and made it a priority to get all his schoolwork done on time. Another was just a regular guy who played sports and was involved with the drama club. Another did well in school, was the editor of the yearbook and loved ham radio.

Despite being unassuming in their teens, Ryan Longwell, Craig Walker and Robert Foley went on to not only have incredibly successful careers in their fields, but also made a difference in the lives of thousands of people.

“The idea when we began this is that we would highlight people who paid it forward to their community,” said Gary Whitley, Bend High counselor and one of the main organizers of the annual recognition event. “And that’s a theme that we continue with this year.”

Each year, the high school recognizes graduates who have gone on to do remarkable things. This year’s group featured Oregon Court of Appeals Judge Foley, recently retired Bend High School teacher and football coach of over 30 years Walker and NFL kicker Longwell.

The alumni were honored during an assembly Friday morning in the high school’s gym and later with a reception in the school’s library. Both Walker and Longwell attended the event. Foley, who died in 1997, was represented by his children and great-grandchildren.

“It’s really cool to be able to share this experience with my family,” said Sydney Levine, 17, a Bend High senior and Foley’s great-granddaughter, making her the third generation of her family to attend the school. “It’s cool to have the whole school honor him.”

Foley graduated from Bend High in 1929, where he pursued ham radio. He served as Deschutes County district attorney, served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps’ legal division in the South Pacific during World War II and was appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals in 1969. Sydney never knew her great-grandfather because he died the year she was born, but she said she feels a special connection to him.

Ian Levine, 15, a Bend High School sophomore and Sydney’s younger brother, also attended the event, as did three of Foley’s five children.

“I think he is so proud,” Terry Foley, Robert Foley’s oldest son, said of his father.

In addition to serving as the grounds for a family reunion, the event also brought together a football coach and one of his most successful players. Longwell, who graduated from Bend High in 1992, and went on to be a kicker for UC Berkeley’s Cal Bears, the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks, got the opportunity to see his old coach for the first time in five years.

“He (Walker) didn’t have to do what he did for me,” Longwell, who now lives in Orlando, Florida, said. “As a sophomore, he put me on the varsity team and gave me a chance. He was an integral part of my success.”

Walker, who graduated in 1974, said he didn’t plan to come back to Bend High School after he graduated. He attended Western Oregon University, known then as the Oregon College of Education, and taught in Baker City for two years. Jobs were scarce, then, Walker said. And when he discovered that there was a teaching opening and coaching opportunity at Bend High, he applied.

He was hired in 1981, and became an important member of the school until last year, when he retired.

“The things he’s done behind the scenes for Bend High … most people will never know about,” Whitley, the counselor, said. “His contributions have gone so much beyond just athletics. What he’s contributed to the school is amazing.”

Walker, for his part, credits his family and co-workers for his accomplishments.

He said that when he was in high school, he considered himself just a regular guy. He played football and baseball, and was part of the drama club, the latter of which made a lasting impact on him.

“Being in drama kind of taught me to step outside of myself,” Walker said. “It prepared me to be a teacher.”

Walker has kept in touch with Longwell throughout both of their careers, the way he has done with many of his players. He considers this part of continuing “the long blue line,” a term used around Bend High that means you stay connected to your fellow classmates, students and teachers.

“It’s kind of a corny term, in all honesty,” Walker said. “But it basically means you stay in touch. At Bend High, we have a culture where we honor our future, and we honor our past, too.”

When Walker’s former student Longwell attended Bend High in the early ’90s, the now-retired NFL player said he was quiet, focused, and made sure he did well in his schoolwork. Though it’s been a long time since Longwell walked the halls of his old high school, when he visited Friday morning he said he easily found his old locker. The school has changed in some ways since he graduated, but in other ways, he said it’s just as he remembered.

“It’s changed, but it still has that same vibe,” Longwell said. “There’s an aura here that never leaves. And that’s a good thing.”

Whitley said Longwell was recognized by the high school not only for his career, but also for the charity work he’s done with the Special Olympics, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Athletes in Action.

Longwell said the lessons he learned out on Bend High’s football field and in the school’s classrooms have stayed with him.

“Before games, he (Craig Walker) used to say to us, ‘It’s a great day to be a Lava Bear,’” Longwell said. “And it still is today.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0354,

mkehoe@bendbulletin.com.