NOTE: The "basketball trip to Alaska Dec. 9-10" in 1966 was to Fairbanks

Players Suspended 

 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Wednesday, December 21, 1966 Page 10

McMINNVILLE, Ore. (AP) - Linfield College suspended seven varsity basketball players for the season yesterday, including a number of starters.

The school's announcement did not disclose the reasons for the suspension, saying only that it was for discipline. 

Coach Ted Wilson said it involved conduct of the players on a basketball trip to Alaska Dec. 9-10.

Among those suspended was junior Ed Griffin, Hartford, Conn., an all-conference selection last year. 

Junior Roger Baker, Hood River, and senior John Lee, Hartford, Conn., also have been starters since the season began.

Three of the other four also have been starters in some of the games as Linfield compiled a 4-2 record.

The others suspended: Bob Daggett, Portland; Jack Forde, Medford; Tom Leatherwood, Coquille; and Larry Sapp, Tigard. Sapp is a sophomore. Daggett is a senior and the other two are juniors. 

Linfield President Harry Dillin said the athletes were suspended from the squad, but not from the school.

#

Two photos

Say hello to 'Sparky' of Linfield football

A revised version of this, adding Catball player Mikaela 'Sparky' Viloria, was posted on 5/21/2015

Originally posted Dec. 11, 2011
Sparky? Linfield football?

Meet Marcus "Sparky" Gonzales, a Wildcat defensive end from Honolulu (St. Louis School). He lettered for the ‘Cats in the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons. In the photo, he’s with his mother after a 2011 game on Maxwell Field.

Also, greet Steve "Sparky" Davis, who lettered in football for Linfield in the 1969, 1970 and 1971 seasons. In his photo, he's wearing a Linfield football uniform.

How did Sparky Gonzalez get his nickname? “I … remember … always being called Sparky,” he said. “I asked my parents how I got the name and they tell me that it was kind of an evolution of names. My real name is Marcus, so I guess in the child's (way) of saying my name it went from Marcus to Marky, then from Marky to Sparky and it stuck…”

The highlight of Gonzalez’s time as a Linfield football player was creating “friendships with my teammates that I now consider brothers,” he said.

It was “awesome” to have a successful Linfield football career, he said. “I (enjoyed being among) my ‘brothers’ for countless hours a week, putting in the time to get better and continue the Linfield legacy … The bonds (between us) will last forever…I couldn’t be any happier with the success I've shared with them.”

For the ‘Cats, Sparky Davis was a linebacker in the 1968 and 1969 seasons and a kicker after that. His straight-ahead kicking made him Linfield's leading football scorer in the 1970 season. During it he “booted” a 33-yard field goal with nine seconds left to beat PLU, 16-13, on Franklin Pierce High School field in Parkland (Tacoma area), Wash.

Davis, who lives in McMinnville, is a 1968 graduate of North Salem, Ore., High School and earned a Linfield bachelor of science degree in business. His vital behind-the-scenes role in Wildcat football is honored by his enshrinement in the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.What are the roots of Davis' "Sparky" nickname?

He was among Linfield students who lived in the McMinnville Fire Department downtown for room and board. In return, he was a volunteer firefighter.

Dalmatian dogs are commonly associated with fire departments as being faithful companions of firefighters. The nation's #1 fire department Dalmatian is "Sparky" the fire dog. Steve's fellow McMinnville firefighters gave him the nickname.

There’s another Sparky Davis angle, too. The Davis family has a long history of being electricians and in the electrical supply contracting trade. Sparks are associated with electricity. But, as Steve points out, there are no sparks “if you do it right!”

Biggest blown Linfield football leads

In the record book; three road games which were not kind to the Wildcats

The two biggest leads Linfield has blown in its football history were both against Californian Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., at Cal Luth’s Mt. Clef Stadium.

• The first was at the end of the 1977 season. On Nov. 19, 1977, in the NAIA playoffs, Linfield lost, 29-28. In this game, Linfield’s biggest lead – in the second quarter -- was by 21 points when the score was 21-0. It also led by 21-3 and 28-10 scores.
  
  
• The second was the 2010 season opener. In a non-conference game on Sept. 11, 2010, Linfield lost, 47-42. Linfield's biggest lead was 21 points at 28-7 with 5:23 left in the first half.
  

In summary, the Linfield Wildcats led the Cal Luth Kingsmen by at many as 21 points in their 1977 and 2010 games, but lost.

For the record, the third biggest blown lead for Linfield was in the Sept 29, 2007, Northwest Conference game in Salem, Ore., at Willamette. Linfield’s Wildcats lost, 33-32, to the Willamette Bearcats. In this game, Linfield’s biggest lead was by 19 points when the score was 19-0, at 14:40 in the second quarter after the Wildcats scored a touchdown but failed on a points-after-touchdown conversion run.

Research work in progress,Linfield football blowouts

+ At CLU in 1977 Linfield led 21-0 (also 21-3 and 28-10)

+ The two biggest leads Linfield has blown in its football history were both against Cal Lutheran, 1977 and 2010.

+ Third biggest was 19 against Willamette in 2007.:::::


==


==Research needed on Linfield football BLOWN LEADS, not Blowout Losses.

==Notable blowout losses would be such as Linfield's 0-54 and 0-56 losses to George Fox and Pacific in 1896 or the 71-0 loss to Whitman in 1929.
==Dictionary definitions of blowout include:
(informal) an easy victory in a sporting contest or an election: they had lost seven
games—four by blowouts and three by slim margins.

==Three most notable blown leads include 21 points vs. Cal Lutheran in 2010,
21 vs. Cal Lutheran in 1977 – need to confirm this was the case, did Linfield have a 21 point lead in the 19777 game? -- and Linfield’s 19-point lead against Willamette in 2007.

==List below does not show how large the Linfield leads were. in 1977 CalLu game, list below shows Linfield leading by 18 at halftime and Linfield sports info advance on the Linfield at Cal Luth 2010 game said Linfield led 28-10 in third quarter (also 18), but the lead might have been 21-0 earlier in 1st half.

==List text on 2007 Willamette game never shows Linfield ahead by more than 13, but 2007 season review in 2008 football guide shows a 19 point lead in the second quarter.

==In the 2010 Linfield at Cal Luth game, Linfield led 28-7 in the second quarter.

==List includes some notable Linfield comebacks from deficits, but not the two largest: from down 27-9 (18 points) to winning 30-27 at Menlo in 2001 and the legendary rally against Northwestern of Iowa in 1984 NAIA final (down 22-0 late in the third quarter to winning 33-22).


Linfield football blowout losses as of 9/14/2010

Sept 11, 2010
Linfield at California Lutheran
Thousand Oaks, Calif., at CLU’s Mt. Clef Stadium
http://www.linfield.edu/sports/stats/fb/clu0911.htm
Halftime, Linf ahead 28-14
Linf outscored 33-14 in second half:
--outscored 9-0 in 3rd qtr
--outscored 24-14 in 4th
Final score, CLU 47-42
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Sept 29, 2007
Linfield at Willamette
http://www.linfield.edu/sports/records/fb/2007/wu0929.htm
End of first quarter, Linf ahead 13-0
Second quarter, Linf outscored 20-9
Halftime, Linf ahead 22-20
Second half, Linf outscored 13-10
Final score, WU 33-32
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
SHOULD THIS GAME BE LISTED?
Nov 20, 1993
Central Washington at Linfield
Halftime, Linf trailed 21-7
In second half, Linf outscored CWU 19-7
Final score, CWU 28, Linf 26
C 14 7 0 7 -28
L 0 7 6 13-26
In Sunday O 11/21/1993
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Nov 6, 1993
Linfield at Willamette
Halftime, Linf trailed 21-7
In second half, Linf outscored WU 21-10
Final score, WU 31, Linf 28
L 0 7 14 7 – 28
W 6 15 3 7 – 31
In Sunday O 11/7/1993
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Nov 11, 1989
Western Washington at Linfield
After 1 qtr, Linf led 14-7
Halftime, Linf led 24-14
Second half (all in 3rd qtr) WWU outscored Linf 13-0
Final score, WWU 27, Linf 24
W 7 7 13 0 – 27
L 14 10 0 0 – 24
In Sunday O 11/12/1989
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Sept 17, 1983
Linfield at Southern Oregon, Ashland
Halftime, Linf led 13-7 at halftime
Game tied 21-21 after three qtrs
Final score, SOSC 38, Linf 29
L 7 6 8 8 – 29
S 0 7 14 17 – 38
In Sunday O 9/18/1983
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Nov 19, 1977
Linfield at California Lutheran
Thousand Oaks, Calif., at CLU’s Mt. Clef Stadium, NAIA playoffs
Halftime, Linf led 21-3
Third qtr, Cal Luth outscored Linf 7-0
3th qtr., Cal Luth outscored Linf 19-7
Final score, Cal Luth 29, Linf 28
L 14 7 0 7 – 28
C 0 3 7 19 – 29

Note:
Linfield’s Larry Doty scored three first half touchdowns. Oregonian story says he left the game with a hip pointer midway through the 3rd quarter. At that point, the story said, Linfield had a 21-10 lead. Based on Oregonian story, the following has two errors… the game was Saturday Nov. 19, rather than Friday Nov. 18. Doty did play after halftime. However, he left the game in the third quarter due to a hip pointer, rather than due to a back injury. (Indeed, Larry may have left due to a back injury and says that. I’m just providing what the Oregonian reported.)

http://www.linfield.edu/sports/release.php?id=3199
The Series Series tied 1-1…on Nov. 18, 1977, the Kingsmen won 29-28 in the NAIA playoffs at Thousand Oaks, Calif…Larry Doty scored three first-half touchdowns but sat out the second half with a back injury…the

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Oct 24, 1953
Linfield at Southern Oregon, Ashland
Halftime, Linf led 7-0 and led 13-0 in 3rd qtr
Third qtr, S Oregon outscored Linf 14-6
Fourth qtr, both teams got TDs and PAT 1 pointers (scoring 7-7)
Final score, S Oregon 21-Linf 20
In Sunday O 11/25/1953
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Oct 6, 1951
Linfield at College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho
C of I trailed 26-14 in the game
C of l trailed 7-0 after 1st qtr
Halftime: C of I led 14-13
C of I outscored Linf 13-6 in 4th qtr
Final score, C of I 27, Linf 26
In Sunday O 10/5/1951
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
SHOULD THIS GAME BE LISTED?
Oct 22, 1949
Linfield at College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho
Halftime, C of I led 14-0
After 3 qtrs of play, C of I led 14-7
Final score, L&C 20, Linf 10
L 0 0 7 0 – 7
C 7 7 0 7 – 21
In Sunday O 10/23/1949

From the Boise State College "Arbiter" student newspaper in 1968

Friday, Sept. 20, 1968, 'Wildcats Set To Test Bronco Crunchability'

http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2549&context=student_newspapers
................

Friday, Sept. 27, 1968, 'Linfield Spoils BSC Opener'

http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2550&context=student_newspapers

On Saturday night, Sept. 21, 1968, before 6,300 fans in Boise State College Broncos' first football game as a four-year school (it has been a two-year junior college), the Linfield Wildcats won, 17-7. Boise State coached by Tony Knap and Linfield by Ad Rutschman. Both were in their first game coaching football at their respective colleges. The game was played in Boise State's (first) Bronco Stadium.


Aug 16, 2009, 'The Story Of A Bronco Legend' from BroncoCountry.com

http://jcfootball.scout.com/2/884980.html

"Hal Zimmerman was their quarterback and he led a team that had no seniors against the strong NAIA Linfield team.  The very young Broncos lost the game at Bronco Stadium 21 to 7.  The offense struggled and many fans were concerned that the Broncos would have a losing season in their first year as a four year school...   Coach Knap went on to win eight games against two losses in his inaugural season as the Bronco coach including a big win over in-state rival Idaho State."


(BroncoCountry apologizing for BSC loss to Linfield. Boise's team was "very young" and it played and lost to Linfield, "the strong NAIA team." For the first two years Boise was in four-year football it was an NAIA team, too, playing as an independent. BroncoCountry wrong about score:  17-7, not 21-7.)

'Dewey beats Stassen: Republicans hold a real debate' by Linfield 1957 grad Floyd McKay

This story was written by 1957 Linfield grad Floyd McKay at Crosscut.com, a nonprofit, online newspaper based in Seattle.

http://crosscut.com/2011/12/dewey-beats-stassen-republicans-hold-real-debate

Tuesday 27 December 2011

"The little man on the wedding cake" returns to his home base. Sometimes it seemed they would never end, and at times as if their prime contribution was to provide laugh lines for late-night comedians.

But the string of Republican debates leading to January’s caucuses and elections has already set a record for television viewership (7.63 million for the Dec. 10 ABC debate) and helped winnow the huge field of wannabe nominees.

The debates have elevated Newt Gingrich from hapless trailer to frontrunner, revealed Rick Perry’s ignorance and Herman Cain’s shallow grasp of issues, and raised the prospect of an independent run for Ron Paul. And despite complaints that low-polling candidates weren’t showcased, a Washington Post study showed they actually got more air time than they deserved. Increasingly, however, pundits have come to consider the debates only a secondary factor after the overwhelming influence of Fox News, which has become an unofficial Republican cable outlet.

One conservative pundit, George Will, had enough of the clown show. “Because the very idea of an eight-sided debate is absurd,” he wrote, “and because such a televised event is survival of the briefest, the format discourages the drawing of sensible distinctions.”

Instead, Will called for a “debate of substance” on just two topics, Iraq and the Supreme Court. Actually, there was once just such a Republican primary debate, and it may have turned the tides of fortune for the participants. New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey and former Minnesota Gov. Harold Stassen faced off on May 17, 1948 in Portland, Oregon, in the first and only radio debate between primary contenders.

Broadcast nationally, it drew somewhere between 40 million and 80 million listeners. Radio was the hot news medium of the day. During World War II the broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow and other foreign correspondents drew big audiences across the nation, and for a few years afterward radio remained the most powerful news force in America.

And Oregon’s direct presidential primary, a keystone of its progressive tradition, was one of the few such contest in the country; in most states national convention delegates were chosen at meetings of party activists. Stassen, the “boy governor of Minnesota,” would become a laughingstock in later years by refusing to give up his presidential ambitions.

But in 1948 he was one of the nation’s most popular politicians in the country, a successful governor in the progressive mold and clearly a man with a political future. Dewey, serving his second term as New York governor, had built a reputation as a crime-busting prosecutor and run in 1944 against President Roosevelt. But he was on the ropes in his second bid for the GOP nomination; Stassen had won primaries in Wisconsin and Nebraska and was looking and feeling confident.

Dewey needed to stop a growing Stassen wave. “Stassen is coolly self-confident, lacking any apparent awareness of an audience and calmly deliberate in decision and action,” columnist Joseph Alsop wrote on the eve of the Oregon vote. “Dewey, on the other hand, is always aware of his audience. He plainly calculates his efforts. He makes a show of his briskness and decisiveness, which, although real, seem also intended to impress. Stassen, one suspects, has always ruled those around him without effort.

Dewey has always had to assert himself in order to dominate his environment. It is this visible effort to be master that causes so many people to be put off by Dewey.” The governor of New York was a small, trim man with a brush mustache; his critics likened him to “the little man on the wedding cake.”

The governor of Minnesota was large and gregarious, and held liberal views on foreign policy and most domestic issues. Both were to the left of the Grand Old Party grandees, who favored Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio. Stassen had campaigned in Oregon in March and gained considerable press coverage, most of it favorable.

But he was forced to return to Oregon when Dewey announced he would spend an unprecedented three weeks in the state, with only 12 delegates at stake but a national media spotlight aimed squarely at the two governors. Taft and other hopefuls were not competing in Oregon. Dewey had put a good face on his two primary losses, but knew he could not survive a third.

He told reporters he was headed west for three weeks of “good old campaigning, which I love.” “No stunt was too corny for the Governor of New York to participate in,” writes Dewey’s biographer Richard Norton Smith. “At Coos Bay, he allowed the local Pirates Club to prick his arm and draw blood with which he might sign their guestbook. At Grants Pass, Dewey gnawed on a bone handed to him by a cavorting group of half-naked ‘cave men.’ . . . He managed a look of delight when someone handed him a bushel of dripping razor clams. At Salem, his bus ran over a dog and the candidate immediately wired ‘my profound regrets’ to its owners, who, within twenty-four hours, were presented a new cocker spaniel, promptly named Dewey.”

“Dewey hated all the hoopla, but he kept at it gamely, knowing that he was closing Stassen’s lead with every day he remained in the state,” Smith noted. In addition to the campaign-trail hoopla, Dewey injected a record amount of money into his blitz; radio stations were saturated with his commercials and the Oregonian ran five Dewey ads a day.

The contenders agreed on many issues but sharply disagreed on a key one: whether to outlaw communism in the United States. The Cold War was already emerging on the international scene, and a war-weary nation saw or imagined growing Red threats, both from Russia and from within. Stassen, moving to his right, wanted to outlaw the Communist Party of the United States; his traveling party included a very junior senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy, who was on the cusp of his national anticommunist crusade.

Dewey, moving left, said that was not in the American tradition of free speech, and wouldn’t work in any event. Hurrying back to meet Dewey’s challenge, Stassen ran into a trap. Dewey had rejected earlier Stassen challenges to debate, before Stassen began piling up primary victories. But when Tom Swafford, a producer at Portland radio station KEX, suggested a single-topic debate on outlawing the Communist Party in America, Dewey snapped up the offer. Stassen foolishly accepted all Dewey’s terms, including giving Dewey the final statement.

The debate, four days before the voting, was broadcast to to some 900 stations over the ABC and NBC radio networks. Sixty-three years later, it can still be heard via a British Pathe movie newsreel and an audio recording available for download. It was the first national debate in a presidential primary and the first—and last—broadcast solely on radio.

There were no reporter panels, no audience questions, no elaborate rules or sound-bite limits on answers. A large contingent of reporters attended; The New York Times gave the debate and subsequent voting prominent front-page coverage. Dewey, an experienced courtroom prosecutor with a deep radio voice, took what would seem an unpopular position in a nation already slipping into Cold War anticommunism: “I am unalterably, wholeheartedly, and unswervingly against any scheme to write laws outlawing people because of their religion, political, social or economic ideas,” he growled.

Stassen seemed to be caught unprepared, and could not counter the New Yorker’s appeal to Oregonians’ sense of fair play and independent spirit. Stassen’s advisors, writes scholar Richard M. Fried, saw the momentum shift. “’I think I can show you statistically where the debate cost 8000 votes,” Fried quotes Stassen’s pollster as saying. “‘Before it, Oregonians favored outlawing Communism 2 to 1; afterward they opposed it 2 to 1. Of those who heard the debate, more than 3 out of 4 thought Dewey won it.’” Stassen, Fried concludes, “failed to rebut the premise that outlawry would curb ‘freedom of speech and Democracy’ and that making ‘martyrs’ of Communists only aided them.”

Dewey won the May 21 vote, 93,644 votes to Stassen’s 87,249. Oregon editors, generally moderate Republicans, had earlier liked Stassen, but some shifted to Dewey.

“We have been won back to Dewey by his magnificent presentation of our democratic faith, which too few understand fully,” wrote William Tugman of the Eugene Register-Guard.

The Oregon Statesman‘s Charles A. Sprague, a former Republican governor, stuck with Stassen but noted presciently after the debate that “in losing Oregon, I think he loses his chance for the Republican presidential nomination.” And he took Dewey’s side against outlawing communism: “He won enough serious-minded, intelligent Republicans to turn the tide in his favor.”

At age 41, Sprague added, Stassen still had a great political future ahead of him. It didn’t turn out that way. Stassen served as president of the University of Pennsylvania and in a variety of governmental positions. But later in life he resumed running for president in an ultimately tragic effort to redress his great defeat. An overconfident Dewey meanwhile lost to President Harry S. Truman in one of the great upsets in American history.

Presidential primaries and media have both become much more complex since 1948. Two-person primary races are hard to imagine today, as are single-topic debates or debates without large audiences. Stassen himself set the pace for future primary campaigns, which until 1948 had not included the sort of intense, early, in-person campaigning he brought to Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Oregon — with an organization created and directed by fellow Minnesotan Warren Burger, a future chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. “Stassen’s forthright quest for votes may end much of the traditional coyness of aspirants,” Newsweek predicted in early May 1948.

“In the future, it is thought that more candidates will frankly announce their intentions well in advance of election year and work openly for delegates to the conventions.” Today, radio is a secondary player. In 1948, only a week after the Oregon debate, New York Times reporter James A. Hagerty wrote that CBS was creating a precedent: television broadcasts of both parties’ candidates for president. The first of several interviews would be with Harold E. Stassen. This, Hagerty wrote, “almost certainly will become a new method of political campaigning—by television.”

To see footage of the 1948 Republican convention go to this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx2H1qP4KVU

'Linfield Revisited' film 1972 by Homer Groenig

In 1973, Homer Groening, an award-winning filmmaker, did a 16mm film about his alma mater, Linfield College.

The film, “Linfield Revisited,” was used by Linfield Admissions and the Linfield Alumni Office.

Although the film does not have credits, it is a Homer Groening production. In fact, you can hear his voice in the film as an off-camera person who asks questions. He graduated from Linfield in 1941 and died in 1996. Homer Groening was the father of Matt Groening of Simpson’s fame.

See the film (running time 28 minutes) below.

• Were The Simpson’s based on Linfield Alumni? Linfield Review 5/2/2008


• The real people behind Homer Simpson and family Oregonian 8/1/2007


• Homer Groening, Oregonian filmmaker Oregon Movies, A to Z 2/12/2010

..........

Posted at YouTube with the following info:

Linfield Revisited is a 16mm color film from Homer Groening. A 1941 graduate of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, Homer Groening "revisited" the college in 1973 and produced this 28-minute color film, which he narrates. Although the college's main campus is in McMinnville, he ventures to other Linfield locations in the state of Oregon. The film was shown by the college's Admissions and Alumni Offices.

Slice of Life 1 and 2

This film provides an interesting slice of life from the college. It’s apparently from the 1971-1972 school year. Read film details here. One of those appearing in the film (see photo) is Ted Wilson. However, the film is not sports-centric. It’s a complete film, divided into two parts only for this posting.

PART 1


PART 2

Hit this sign 2

Hit this sign 1

Linfield waxes Willamette, 110-76, men's hoops, Friday, Feb. 23, 1968

 

City of Salem angry owl signs

It started as a gag on the Rachel #Maddow show, but the city plans to install these signs. #angryowl #SalemOR pic.twitter.com/4moMI9y0X6
— City of Salem (@cityofsalem) February 12, 2015

Frank Shriver's legacy lives on at North Bend track

12/2/2006 column 

by John Gunther, sports editor, Coos Bay, Ore., World

Just as there likely are a few turkey leftovers still in the fridge, there are leftover stories from a busy fall sports season that got lost in the hectic playoff pursuits for area football, volleyball and soccer teams.

One of those was the dedication of North Bend's track before a late-season football game.

When a committee appointed by the North Bend School Board solicited names for the track dedication, one quickly rose to the top - Frank E. Shriver. And now the track bears his name, just as the football field is named after legendary coach Vic Adams.

A new sign near the east entrance to the stadium fittingly honors both men. While Adams led North Bend's football and basketball programs in the 1930s and '40s, Shriver built up the track program, complete with the oval his athletes ran on.

"Dad literally did build the track,” said Dr. Keith Shriver, who was in town for the dedication ceremonies and remembers playing in the dirt while his dad worked on the facility. "On his own, he went out and dug the pits.”

Frank Shriver also arranged for the city grader to level the surface, worked with students to build and paint hurdles and put in the curbs along the track with cedar donated from a local timber company. 

In 1954, he secured funding from the school board so that a cinder surface - the common style of that era - could be put on the track. In 1956, he had cement curbs placed around the inside and outside lanes of the track, and in 1958 he arranged for the cinder to be replaced with fine crushed rock, which remained until the first all-weather surface was installed in 1973.

Meanwhile, Shriver also was building a solid track program, aided by the improved facilities. The Bulldogs finished second to Medford by one point at the 1954 state track meet, and were second to Medford again, by just one-third of a point, a year later.

He coached state champions Jack Sausser, who won the high jump in 1949 and 1950; Hoddy Schepman, the long jump winner in 1955; and Allen Erickson, the mile champion in 1956.

Shriver also started the school's cross country program and led the Bulldogs to third at state in 1955 and fourth in 1956. Those were the school's best finishes for boys teams until the Bulldogs won the state championship this fall.

Shriver retired from coaching in 1958, but continued to serve as a teacher and dean of boys before becoming vice principal. He retired in 1974 with a special nickname, Mr. Bulldog.

"He really was Mr. Bulldog,” said Keith Shriver. "He was totally dedicated to North Bend High School and the city of North Bend. They gave him that title at his retirement party.”

Frank Shriver died in 1991. His son said he would feel honored by the recognition, just as the family is.

"It's really a dream come true for our family,” Keith said. "The only regret we have is that Mom and Dad are not alive.”

Keith Shriver said he was led into the education field - he's a professor of international business in Arizona - by watching his father's positive influence on students.

"The most meaningful thing is the former athletes and students would come by the house when I was growing up and talk about what an impact he had,” Keith said. "He was quite an inspiration.”

Frank Shriver grew up in North Bend and excelled in football, basketball and track. During his senior year, in 1927, he was class president and won the Bryant Cup, which recognized the school's outstanding athlete. He also set a county record in the 220-yard dash that stood for 33 years.

He earned his teaching degree at Pacific University and eventually returned to North Bend. He actually coached football for two years before becoming the track coach in 1949.

His son remembers him as much for his work outside of athletics as for his work with the track team.

"I think he really did contribute a lot, both in athletics and also helping people,” Keith said. "We watched him really be completely dedicated to North Bend High School, and my mom, also.”

Hilda Shriver was the school nurse.

"We admired our parents with the way they conducted their lives,” Keith said.

The Shriver family has a long track history at North Bend. Frank's older brother, Irwin, and younger brother, Gail, both were county champions, as was his son, Ralph.

Keith Shriver still holds the county record in the 220-yard dash and was elected to the Linfield College Hall of Fame after a career that included winning 51 consecutive college races from 1968 to 1970.

Bruce Shriver was a district tennis champion and later lettered in track and field at Oregon State University.

The success has spread to other areas, including Tualatin High School, where two of Bruce Shriver's children, David and Kyle Shriver, hold school records in track and field. Jill Shriver, the grandchild of Frank's brother, Phil, runs for Tulane University.

Frank Shriver was among the first people inducted into the North Bend High School Hall of Fame - Keith Shriver also was in that first class - and now will be remembered as the namesake for the track, as well.

All of his children - Keith, Bruce, Ralph and Nancy (Harrison) were at the recent ceremony - along with his brother, Phil.

"It was very gratifying to see the outpouring of support of all the community after all these years,” Keith Shriver said.