[Editor’s note: “Take Five” is a recurring feature designed to offer a quick look at some of Oregon’s most interesting high school sports standouts. Treyvon Easterling is a First Team All-League running back from Madras HS, a senior who also plays end on defense and does the sprints and long jump during track season. We asked Easterling to pick five questions from the 25 we posed to him and answer them below]
OSAAtoday: What was your first big success as an athlete and how did it impact you?
Easterling: My first big success as an athlete was when our high school won its first game in three years my sophomore year. Our school’s football team struggled and went through a lot, switching from coach to coach until our savior, Kurt Taylor and his coaching staff, came my freshman year. He came in a week before the season started and gave it his all when everyone was low. That year didn’t go well but the next year, my sophomore year, I moved up to varsity. We had a few close games but the night that everything changed was when we finally won. The feeling of finally knowing that we worked hard for it and having everyone from the school run on the field and congratulate us is a feeling I’ll never forget. It’s gotten better every year. In my junior year we went to the playoffs!
OSAAtoday: What’s the wisest thing a parent ever said to you?
Easterling: My mom always told me, “Don’t get down on yourself or feel bad when you make a mistake. Learn from it and move on to do better things in the future.” She’s always there to make me feel better.
OSAAtoday: When the lights are out and you’re just about to fall asleep, what do you think about?
Easterling: When the lights go out I think about the future and what I want in life. I pray every night that God will give me the strength and knowledge to do things right and work towards my goals. I work hard for what I want in the class and outside.
OSAAtoday: If you could personalize your license plate, what would it say?
Easterling: I would probably put “BEASTERLING” with some emojis. I would do this because it’s a family thing that we came up with and it really stuck with how we are. Also, everyone has been calling me that since I started running the ball.
OSAAtoday: If you went to a fortune teller and she gazed into a crystal ball, what would you want her to see?
Easterling: I would want her to see that all my hopes and dreams came to fruition; that I earned a scholarship for football to keep playing the sport I love at the next level so my mom doesn’t have to worry about helping me through college. And that I graduated from college, got my degree and became a productive person in the work force. Also I would want the fortune teller to see me being able to make my mom and community proud of me for making it and showing people that kids from small towns can do it, too. I really want to give kids from Madras the motivation to do great things and follow their dreams no matter what they are.
Read other Take Five articles published in connection with the fall season:
South Umpqua outside hitter Shalyn Gray
Lincoln distance runner Mia Kane
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