Jason Younker played pro, then became Indigenous advocate
"It's a title that I haven't become comfortable with," Younker told the station then. "I haven't heard it with my name before, but I'm just now getting comfortable."
Younker new title was Chief of his tribe, the Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon. Younker has held other titles too. College professor. Anthropologist. Assistant college vice president.
In 1990, Younker also briefly held the title of professional baseball player.
Younker's baseball career began and ended that year in 1990, signed by the Red Sox as a free agent out of Oregon State University. He'd been drafted by the Blue Jays in 1986, in the 18th round, out of North Bend High in Oregon, but did not sign.
He played with the Red Sox in the rookie Gulf Coast League. He saw 47 games and hit .231. He hit one home run, stole six bases and knocked in 27 runs to mark the extent of his playing career.
His old high school inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2014, Younker described as a three-sport star who became a college professor.
Younker returned to Oregon. In 2001, he was an archeologist and cultural liaison for his Coquille tribe, quoted in an Oregonian article regarding a city's trench dug through a tribal artifact site.
He eventually earned a doctorate in anthropology from Oregon in 2004 and moved to Rochester, NY, where he served as a professor and director of the school's Future Stewards program at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The program helps Indigenous students in life and academics.
"There are very few Native Americans with Ph.D.'s, and we are just now turning the corner where we will see more," Younker told the RIT Reporter in 2013.
He soon left RIT for the University of Oregon, where he remains in 2026. In 2022, he spoke to The Eugene Daily Emerald about a similar Indigenous student program there, noting he experienced similar issues when he was an undergraduate.
"Part of acclimation is knowing what a college class looks like, feels like, but also navigating your way around campus," Younker told The Daily Emerald.
In 2024, Younker took part in an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Oregon, which included a ceremony to replace tribal flags at the university, station KLCC wrote.
"It's a statement of the tribes and their confidence in the university, but also a reminder that this is Kalapuya Land, and Indigenous peoples were here before the university," Younker told the station.
- Oregonian, Oct. 7, 2001: Artifacts
- KCBY, Nov. 5, 2021: Chief Jason Younker announced as new Chief of Coquille Indian Tribe
- RIT Reporter, Nov. 10, 2013: Native American heritage Month
- Eugene Daily Emerald, Oct. 17, 2022: UO unveils new program to support Indigenous students
- KLCC, Oct. 14, 2024: Native American students and supporters gather at UO
- University of Oregon: Jason Younker, Department of Anthropology
Made the Majors:1,482-31.7%
Never Made Majors:3,195-68.3%-X