From left, Kristine Metcalf, Arlene Lynch, Dennis Lynch and Kenrick Lynch stand behind Dennis’ signature on the floor of the Prairie City High School gymnasium following a dedication ceremony on May 25, 2023.

PRAIRIE CITY — Chances are, people will know who you are talking about if you utter the name Dennis Lynch in Prairie City.

Those who don’t already know who Lynch is have little choice now. Prairie City High School has dedicated its gym to Lynch, who has coached everything from varsity volleyball to boys and girls varsity basketball, track, baseball and wrestling for the school.

Lynch began his teaching career in Prairie City in 1967 and began his coaching career the following year. Lynch stepped away from teaching in 1998. And while he hung up his head coaching whistle in 1997, he would remain an assistant volleyball coach with Prairie City until 2006.

Lynch gathered the majority of his accolades coaching volleyball from 1968 until 1996. In those 29 years, Lynch never had a losing season and captured an astonishing eight state volleyball championships, with his last coming in 1993.

Lynch didn’t have a single losing season in sports other than volleyball, either. He finished with a 46-10 record as a varsity baseball coach, a 60-22 record as the boys varsity basketball coach and a 79-27 record as the coach of the girls varsity basketball squad.

His 719-192 volleyball record leaves him fourth on the all-time wins list in Oregon across all classifications. Lynch currently sits just 14 wins away from shifting into the third all-time slot.

In recognition of these achievements, Prairie City High School recently dedicated its newly refinished gymnasium to Lynch. A ceremony on May 25 made it official, with the gym now sporting Lynch’s signature with the words “Dennis Lynch Court” beneath it.

Plans to dedicate the gym to Lynch were a closely guarded secret. How closely guarded?

When asked when he became aware of the school’s plans to dedicate the gym to him, Lynch was blunt: “About 40 seconds ago,” he said.

“I saw my granddaughter looking up, and I thought, ‘What is she doing here,’ but I didn’t have a clue,” he added.

Lynch called the recognition of his accomplishments “unbelievable.”

With Lynch set to come out of retirement to assist in coaching the volleyball team next season, the dedication brings his story full circle.

“I was coaching when they built the original floor, and now I’ll be coaching again the first year this new floor has been down,” he said. “That’s kind of amazing to think I took about 20 years off after I retired, so it’s like wow, it’s amazing.”