If you know high school baseball, you’ve seen this – a batter hits a routine fly ball and the defense yells “We got a guy for that.”

For the past three years, when the West Linn baseball team needed a key hit, a stolen base or a rally-killing catch in the outfield, the Lions had a guy for that and his name was Danny Wideman.

For the past three years, when the West Linn football team needed a big catch, a momentum-grabbing touchdown, a game-changing kick return or a timely stop on defense, the Lions had a guy for that and his name was Danny Wideman.

Along the way, he led the Lions to two Class 6A state football championships and three 6A baseball crowns.

For all those reasons and many more, Danny Wideman has been named 2024-25 Athlete of the Year for West Linn High School. The Athlete of the Year is awarded to the top graduated senior athlete – male or female – from West Linn High School.

 

Football

Wideman, 18 and an Oregon baseball commit, did it all as a senior, piling up 77 catches for 1,193 yards and 19 touchdowns while leading the Lions to their second 6A championship in three seasons, a year that ended with the Lions’ 44-30 win over Lake Oswego in the finale.

“I just know I love the game,” Wideman said of his senior football season. “I’ve played it forever so it was just a lot of fun to get it done with all the dudes I grew up with.”

“He is what I would call intuitive, as far as him running routes and making cuts,” said West Linn football coach Jon Eagle. “(Former West Linn quarterback) Sam Leavitt was that way, too – he always seemed like he was two or three steps ahead of the defense.”

While Wideman experienced almost unprecedented success on the gridiron – the Lions also knocked off Sheldon 23-14 in the 2022 championship – it was two losses that fueled his success as a senior.

The first of those was a painful 12-7 loss to Central Catholic in the 2023 state semifinals when the top-ranked Lions lost for the first time in 23 games, a setback that lit the fire for Wideman and his teammates in 2024.

“It was pretty disappointing, us losing to Central Catholic in the semis (in 2023),” Wideman said. “I was really close with those seniors, and me (and) all my friends, we didn’t want that to happen again.”

The second was a 21-7 TRL loss to Lake Oswego in a Week 7 battle of unbeatens when the Lions were ranked No. 1 in the state. But that loss just set the table for West Linn’s stellar stretch run and its payback win over LO in the final.

“It was pretty unfortunate to lose on our senior night,” Wideman said. “But we made a couple mistakes, and against good teams, you can’t really make those mistakes.”

In the championship against the Lakers, however, West Linn raced out to a 24-point first-half lead and rolled to a 44-30 victory, with Wideman catching four passes for 46 yards and three touchdowns.

“We were pretty excited to play Lake Oswego because … everybody felt (it) when we lost to them,” Wideman said. “We just wanted to make sure we didn’t make any more mistakes because we felt like we kind of handed them that (first) game.”

Wideman’s success – and his big plays – came as no surprise to Eagle.

“I don’t think I ever saw Danny Wideman have a bad day,” Eagle said. “And he always had his biggest games in our biggest games.”

“The best part was just me playing football for the last time,” Wideman said. “It was me and a lot of my teammates just playing the game that we grew up playing.”

 

Baseball

If it wasn’t clear by now, Wideman is a winner, and nowhere did he win more than on the baseball diamond.

During his four years of high school, the Lions won three state championships, three Three Rivers League titles, put together a 102-23 overall record and forged a state-record 16-game playoff winning streak.

“To be a little greedy, (the goal was) to win the state championship again,” Wideman said. “Our coaches always preach that … so it’s kind of just the standard when you play at West Linn.”

West Linn coach Joe Monahan said that Wideman’s decision-making ability and poise set him up for greatness.

“He has a natural (ability to) make quick decisions and they always seem to be the right decisions,” Monahan said. “It’s always no moment is too big for Danny.”

Wideman was a big part of everything West Linn accomplished in 2025, batting .450 with four homers, one triple, 11 doubles and 33 RBIs, as well as five stolen bases.

In response, Wideman was named Three Rivers League Player of the Year and first-team all-state.

“He has something that can’t be taught. He has super quick hands and reaction time at the plate,” Monahan said. “He’s one of the guys that’s gonna be able to hit the high (velocity) necessary (at) Division 1 and maybe beyond. … You’ve got to be able to see the ball and be able to react to it quickly with a short bath path – and he’s very quick to the baseball.”

That said, Wideman’s senior season – for the first time in four years – ended in disappointment. The Lions won the TRL for the third straight year, went 23-6 overall and took the second seed into the Class 6A state playoffs, but got upset in the second round by No. 18 South Medford.

“We were winning games, but they were close … and we would be having two to four errors, or we’d get outhit, but we’d still win so it was just tough,” Wideman said. “I just didn’t think we were playing our cleanest baseball before the playoffs started (and) it kind of did carry into the playoffs.”

Despite the difficult end to his career, Wideman left with nothing but positive vibes from his time at West Linn.

“We all wanted to win, but it was a lot of fun just playing with dudes I grew up with,” Wideman said. “For me personally, I did what I wanted to do on the field – just have fun with my guys for the last time, play good and get ready for college.”

His legacy, however, will be as much about his leadership and positive nature as his batting average or game-saving catches.

“He’s a great teammate and he understands that not everything ends in a win,” Monahan said. “And when it doesn’t go your way … he doesn’t react and place blame. He doesn’t get upset at other people. He just says ‘That’s part of the game. We’ve got to go out, get better and go get it done next time.’”

Whatever lies ahead for Wideman, he knows he had a special experience at West Linn.

“There’s just a lot of good things to look back on,” Wideman added. “I’m always going to be close with all these teammates and all my coaches. West Linn will forever be in my heart.”