Oct. 11, 2009
Contact:
Ray Olson, Linfield Class of 1954
Vancouver, Wash.
360-896-3023
brolson@pacifier.com
McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Paul Durham was head football coach at Linfield College for 20 seasons, 1948-1967. Ray Olson is among the hundreds who played for Durham says Durham’s influence is never ending.
A 1954 Linfield graduate, Olson played four years for Durham. “Coach was a role model without peers. I am forever grateful to have had him as a coach and as a friend,” said Olson, a three sport athlete enshrined into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.
During the later years of his life, Durham traveled from his home in Honolulu to the Linfield campus for a summer lunch reunion with former players and friends. After Durham died in 2007 the reunions continued. A final reunion in September 2009 was the spark Olson needed to complete a DVD on which he had been working for several years.
The 82-minute DVD is “Apples Don’t Fall Far from the Tree: The Legacy of Linfield’s Paul Durham,” sells for $25 each. All funds raised by its sale support the Paul Durham Endowed Fund for the Support of Linfield Athletics, which Olson and the Durham Summer Luncheon Committee created in 2005.
Narrating the DVD is Craig Singletary, Linfield Athletics Hall of Famer and public address “voice” of Linfield home football games at Maxwell Field.
Interviews in the one of the DVD’s nine chapters -- "Paul Durham: Gentleman, teacher and coach – includes the following from three of his Linfield football players:
-- “Coach Durham … he was just a person you could like. As soon as you met him he always had a nice thing to say, he always embraced you.” Odis Avritt
--“He was an excellent teacher, he was a coach that you respected, I never heard this man use a foul word.” Mike Stelman
--“ I have been associated with some very distinguished people in the business, none of them are any better men or better at what they did than that Lincolnesque guy sitting over there.” Fred vonAppen
Buy the DVD for $25 each in the Linfield Bookstore, Riley Student Center, Linfield College, McMinnville OR 97128. Orders to the bookstore by phone (503-883-2240), U.S. Mail or through the bookstore Website, www.linfieldbookstore.com, will be $30 each to cover shipping and handling. The DVD is also available by e-mailing Ray Olson at brolson@pacifier.com or calling him at 360-896-3023.
A graduate of Dallas, Ore., High School, Olson earned a bachelor’s degree from Linfield in 1954 and a master of science degree in sociology in 1968 from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He retired in 1994 from College of DuPage in Illinois, where he taught sociology for 25 years. His interest in East Asia led to two Fulbright scholarships in Korea (1992) and China (1994). In retirement he studied filmaking and produced two documentaries on China for social science and humanities teachers. After Linfield won the NCAA III National Championship in 2004 he produced the film A Dream Fulfilled: Linfield’s Incredible Stagg Bowl Journey.
For more information, contact Olson, 360-896-3023, brolson@pacifier.com.
Contact:
Ray Olson, Linfield Class of 1954
Vancouver, Wash.
360-896-3023
brolson@pacifier.com
McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Paul Durham was head football coach at Linfield College for 20 seasons, 1948-1967. Ray Olson is among the hundreds who played for Durham says Durham’s influence is never ending.
A 1954 Linfield graduate, Olson played four years for Durham. “Coach was a role model without peers. I am forever grateful to have had him as a coach and as a friend,” said Olson, a three sport athlete enshrined into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.
During the later years of his life, Durham traveled from his home in Honolulu to the Linfield campus for a summer lunch reunion with former players and friends. After Durham died in 2007 the reunions continued. A final reunion in September 2009 was the spark Olson needed to complete a DVD on which he had been working for several years.
The 82-minute DVD is “Apples Don’t Fall Far from the Tree: The Legacy of Linfield’s Paul Durham,” sells for $25 each. All funds raised by its sale support the Paul Durham Endowed Fund for the Support of Linfield Athletics, which Olson and the Durham Summer Luncheon Committee created in 2005.
Narrating the DVD is Craig Singletary, Linfield Athletics Hall of Famer and public address “voice” of Linfield home football games at Maxwell Field.
Interviews in the one of the DVD’s nine chapters -- "Paul Durham: Gentleman, teacher and coach – includes the following from three of his Linfield football players:
-- “Coach Durham … he was just a person you could like. As soon as you met him he always had a nice thing to say, he always embraced you.” Odis Avritt
--“He was an excellent teacher, he was a coach that you respected, I never heard this man use a foul word.” Mike Stelman
--“ I have been associated with some very distinguished people in the business, none of them are any better men or better at what they did than that Lincolnesque guy sitting over there.” Fred vonAppen
Buy the DVD for $25 each in the Linfield Bookstore, Riley Student Center, Linfield College, McMinnville OR 97128. Orders to the bookstore by phone (503-883-2240), U.S. Mail or through the bookstore Website, www.linfieldbookstore.com, will be $30 each to cover shipping and handling. The DVD is also available by e-mailing Ray Olson at brolson@pacifier.com or calling him at 360-896-3023.
A graduate of Dallas, Ore., High School, Olson earned a bachelor’s degree from Linfield in 1954 and a master of science degree in sociology in 1968 from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He retired in 1994 from College of DuPage in Illinois, where he taught sociology for 25 years. His interest in East Asia led to two Fulbright scholarships in Korea (1992) and China (1994). In retirement he studied filmaking and produced two documentaries on China for social science and humanities teachers. After Linfield won the NCAA III National Championship in 2004 he produced the film A Dream Fulfilled: Linfield’s Incredible Stagg Bowl Journey.
For more information, contact Olson, 360-896-3023, brolson@pacifier.com.
