Casto, Brack to enter Hall of Fame
Kory Casto and Randy Brack -- two North Marion baseball icons -- will enter the North Marion Athletics Hall of Fame this week with the fourth induction ceremony, held on Saturday, October 17.
Kory Casto, North Marion High School Class of 2000, is one of two baseball players to play Major League Baseball after careers at North Marion. Casto went on to play collegiately at the University of Portland. Casto's wildly successful career with the Pilots resulted in top ten career records at the school in slugging percentage (.526), runs scored (112), home runs (30), RBIs (141), and total bases (330).
Casto was nabbed by the Montreal Expos in the third round of the 2003 Draft and played in parts of eight minor league seasons. In under 800 minor league games, Casto slugged 95 home runs and drove in 455 RBIs.
The former Husky debuted in the MLB on April 3, 2007 in the third year of the Washington Nationals existance. Between the 2007 and 2008 seasons with the Nats, Casto logged 82 games picking up 42 hits, two home runs and 19 RBIs.
Randy Brack has been a fixture within the North Marion Baseball program for nearly 50 years. From his early days as a young bat boy for high school teams, to his high school career which included a state championship, to a 30-year coaching career, Brack's dedication to North Marion Baseball is admirable.
As a junior at North Marion in 1971, Brack and the Huskies claimed the school's first outright state championship, topping Sherwood 3-0. After playing collegiately at Oregon State and Willamette University, Brack returned to North Marion to teach and coach. His three coaching stints at the helm of the program (1979-1981, 1984-2002, 2009-Pres.) amount to 29 seasons as head coach of the program.
Brack's teams have compiled a 496-249 (.666) record, and Brack's 496 wins rank ninth in Oregon high school baseball history. Recently, North Marion has claimed three league championships in the last six seasons, has advanced to 12 straight postseasons, and has been one of the eight final teams in the state playoffs in the past two seasons. Four athletes from Brack's 2013 and 2014 teams are currently playing collegiately.
Casto and Brack become the eighth and ninth members of the North Marion Athletics Hall of Fame that were involved in baseball, joining Pat Chaffey, the 1971 Baseball team, Junior Sato, Jack Berkey, Roger Moore, Steve Schrenk and Keith Driver.
Other members of the 2015 induction class include Craig Brown, Tammy Halter, Ford Stigall and Bernadine Ward. Following this year's ceremony, the Hall will include 26 members. Founded in 2010, the North Marion Athletics Hall of Fame has inducted classes in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. For a fill list of members, click here.
The ceremony will take place on Saturday, October 17 in the North Marion High School Commons. Tickets are $25 per person and $185 for a table of eight, including a BBQ chicken dinner. The dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. and the ceremony will begin at 7:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the high school office.