Athlete…sports official…organizer…journalist. The tags all fit when applied to Salem’s own Al Lightner (November 15, 1914 – September 20, 2002).
Lightner was born in Colorado, he attended grade and high school in Stockton, California and later attended Compton Junior College where he captained the baseball team which competed against major league great Jackie Robinson.
Al signed with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1938 and later played at Bellingham before coming to Salem in 1940 as a member of the first Salem Senator’s team. He made the Cherry City his forever home.
For five decades, Al Lightner’s contributions to sports were many. He started junior baseball programs and coached in youth leagues. But perhaps his biggest contribution as a participant was as a referee in football for 30 years and in basketball for 25 years. In basketball he was rated the No. 1 major college official on the West Coast: more than 20 years participating in 11 NCAA regional and four “Final Fours".
Lightner was as Oregon horse racing official for 30 years and sports editor of the Salem Statesman newspaper for 34 years.
Al Lightner was Inducted into the NAIA District Hall of Fame in 1976, the Stockton (CA) Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Willamette University Hall of Fame in 1994.