The Siskiyou Mountains cast round shadows over Seth McEwen’s haunts as a youngster. He rafted rivers, vaulted off bridges into lakes and sipped “barley pop” with friends around roaring bonfires. It was the kind of childhood McEwen’s parents, Duane and Winona, envisioned Seth having when they migrated from Los Angeles to Medford when he was 2 years old.
“They wanted us to grow up in the country,” the Oregon defensive end says as he relaxes in the sunshine before heading to a team meeting in the Len Casanova Athletic Center. “We were up there all the time.”
A typical spring or summer day found the family, including Seth’s older brother, Jon, and younger brother, Mike, heading for the sparkling waters of a reservoir or river.
But it wasn’t all horseplay.
Seth bucked bales of hay in the sweeping hills a few miles west of Medford to make some extra bucks, and during school, he was buried in books.
Friday nights, nothing could take his attention off the Black Tornado, though. North Medford High School’s football team was the center of Seth’s universe. He watched his brother, Jon, suit up in the team’s black trousers and jerseys and play his heart out.
“When you grow up in Medford, all there is is football,” McEwen says. “I always looked up to the Black Tornado. It was a huge deal.”
Seth dreamed of the day he could step on the field. He didn’t have long to wait.
In his sophomore year at North Medford, Seth secured a starting job as a tight end and a linebacker. He set a school record with 91 tackles and made the most of the looks he got on offense, too, snaring 10 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns in his high school career.
Chris Parnell, the Black Tornado secondary coach, remembers Seth for his soft-spoken demeanor and fierce intensity on the field.
“Nobody worked harder than Seth,” Parnell said. “He worked his ever-loving butt off.”
In his free time, Seth rides his butt off. He’s got a 1979 Harley Davidson and loves “hogs,” even though “they break down a lot.” He’d like to go to a bonafide rally someday, like the one that drew more than 550,000 riders to Sturgis, S.D., in 2000, but football and school occupy most of his time. He loves riding for the same reason, it would seem, that he loves football.
“If you crash, it’s going to be hard-core,” McEwen says. “It’s a good adrenaline rush. It’s the way it feels, like you’re flying on a highway. It’s a very peaceful feeling.”
The chaos of football and motorcycles provide a nice juxtaposition to Seth’s dream home: A cabin near the banks of a rushing river, with plenty of acres. He’s thinking somewhere outside Bozeman, Mont., where the Bitteroot Mountains could cast shadows on his haunts once again.