In picking Robert Key to be the high school's next head basketball coach, Gladstone promoted an educator and coach with decades of experience at the highest levels.
Not only has Key served as the head coach for Gladstone High School's golf team and as an assistant coach for the GHS football team, he has also worked for the school district as a student support specialist, plus he has served as a head basketball coach at other local high schools.
Key said it was an honor to become GHS's new head boys basketball coach in the community where he both lives and teaches.
“We will play hard, smart and physical,” he said. “We will use every day to make ourselves better on and off the court.”
A graduate of Marshall High School in 1984, Key has been inducted into the Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame for high school sports achievements that included 10 letters in football, basketball and baseball.
Key is also a hall-of-fame member at Lower Columbia Community College for basketball and baseball honors.
He was placed in Western Oregon University's Hall of Fame for basketball and baseball. He turned around the Wolves’ basketball program in the '80s, leading the team to 39 wins over two seasons and topping the club in scoring in 1988. He graduated in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in secondary education and interdisciplinary studies.
Key has been equally lauded for his coaching career, starting in Portland at Cleveland, Roosevelt and Grant high schools, where he was named the league's Coach of the Year numerous times. He coached Grant to the 6A 2018 state championship win over Jefferson and won statewide Coach of the Year honors that same season. More recently, he served as a basketball coach at Nelson and West Linn high schools, leading the Lions to become league champions and winning the Les Schwab Invitational.
For the Gladiators, Key said, “The wins are going to come, but the reason that I do what I do is my passion and love for student athletes and love for the game.”
Asked about his recent coaching and mentoring at Kraxberger Middle School, he said that he loves how coaching gives him the opportunity to support students in a way that can improve their futures.