50th annual Michael Dugaw Smelt Classic nets big competition

You can’t talk about Lower Columbia College (LCC) without two things immediately coming to mind: Mike Dugaw and The Fighting Smelt.

Dugaw, the beloved longtime history and speech instructor at LCC, served as the director of forensics from 1973 until his retirement in 2012. He built a debate program that was competitive on the national level and mentored countless students along the way. His signature coaching phrase, “don’t suck,” reverberates across the generations of students whose lives he touched.

The Fighting Smelt has become something more than a mascot. What started as a somewhat joking name that referenced the infamous local smelt runs became a program identity that has lasted throughout the years. The Fighting Smelt are a group of scrappy underdogs who are proud to represent their home community.

It is perhaps fitting, then, that LCC’s premiere speech and debate tournament bears both names: The Michael Dugaw Smelt Classic.

On January 27-29, Lower Columbia College was proud to host the 50th annual Michael Dugaw Smelt Classic. This anniversary year tournament was both a rigorously competitive academic event and a celebration of the legacy of this program that has been able to persist for a half century due to consistent community support.

The very first Smelt Classic forensics tournament was hosted by Dugaw during the 1973-74 season. After his passing in 2018, his name was added to his signature tournament, making it the Michael Dugaw Smelt Classic.

This year’s Smelt Classic tournament served as the third and final Northwest Forensics Conference “designated tournament” for the current competition season, and it is expected to attract more than 150 student competitors from at least 20 programs spread across six states (Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington).

This year’s squad of Fighting Smelt consists of 19 current LCC students. The team exhibits the diversity of the Lower Columbia

College student population, including students who are full-time and part-time, international, Running Start, and with a wide range of ages, perspectives and life experiences.

During fall quarter, this year’s team showed some promising results, including Top 3 finishes at two invitationals to start the season. The team hopes to build on these early successes with a strong result at their home tournament.

Results from the competition were not available. Please check with Lower Columbia College, lowercolumbia.edu, for results.

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