HEPPNER — Visitors arriving in Heppner will be treated to three new signs celebrating the high school’s championship teams.

The signs are along the road coming into Heppner from Lexington, coming in south on Oregon State Route 207 from Spray and Condon, and on Oregon Route 74 coming in from Pilot Rock.

“They turned out better than we could have imagined,” Heppner Athletic Director Greg Grant said. “This project had so many people contribute.”

The signs commemorate the state titles the girls and boys athletic programs won. The girls won state basketball titles in 1986 and 2019 and a softball title in 2012.

The boys won state titles in football in 1992, 2015 and 2019 and a track title in 1988.

The project started in the fall of 2022, when the old signs needed a new paint job, and there were new accomplishments to add.

The original sign, a project the late Kenny Turner spearheaded, was erected in 1992.

“I had the old sign removed and was hoping to get it repainted,” Grant said. “But after looking at it, we needed to add space for future accomplishments and the new design came about.”

Jim Kindle and Shawn Gibbs helped the school district get in touch with the metal shop at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, the state prison in Umatilla.

Heppner Principal Ryan Gerry, Grant and students Tucker Ashbeck and David Cribbs toured TRCI and met with the people who would design, fabricate and paint the signs.

“We all came back very impressed with their skill and professionalism,” Grant said.

The Heppner Booster Club, the Howard and Beth Bryant Foundation and the Kilkenny Family Foundation helped fund the project.

Many hands make light work

Men in custody at TRCI made the signs under the direction of shop supervisor Andy Smith.

Because of the size of the signs, they were constructed and painted then shipped to Heppner with detailed step-by-step instructions for assembly.

The largest of the three signs is on the edge of town coming from Lexington. It is 18 feet tall, and the mustang logo is 4 feet tall and 12 feet wide.

Inmate Douglas Burkhardt designed and cut the images on the shop’s computer-controlled plasma cutter. He provided detailed plans, photos and assembly instructions.

Inmate Jarod Pardun spent time designing, cutting the metal, welding and helping assemble the signs and take them apart to be shipped.

Inmate Glenn Robinson and a former inmate, who has since been paroled, painted the signs in the prison’s paint shop.

The metal shop workers also built extra blanks that can be painted and hung when a new accomplishment needs to be added. TRCI also has said the blanks can be sent back to have the work done.

Kindle, a corrections officer from Heppner, transported the signs from TRCI to Heppner, where Allred Landworx was contracted to assemble and erect the signs.

“We are continually blessed to have such generous donors,” Grant said. “The Heppner schools and community are being transformed in so many ways with the work of the Heppner Community Foundation providing administrative assistance for such projects. “We could not have accomplished so many things without their effort and expertise.”