Monday, March 08, 2010

Who's the Linfield grad, famous for folding chair ritual at Wildcat men basketball games?


Olympia Beer commercial, May 5, 1981. Location shoot at a tavern in a Puget Sound mountanious area.

Who's the Linfield grad, famous for folding chair ritual at Wildcat men basketball games?

In this TV commercial his line is, "Can't do that."

When Ted Wilson was Linfield head men's basketball coach, the fame of this student (now grad) was at Wildcat hoops games in Riley Gym. Watching the game floor level, he sat in a metal folding chair in the corner near the South Forty. When he knew the game was in hand -- the 'Cats were going to win -- he'd fold the chair. It was -- thank you George Pasero -- akin to Coach Red Auerbach lighting up his famous cigar when the Boston Celtics had a game in hand.

Give up? He is Dennis "Den" Surles.

Trivia:

In the early 1950s, Den Surles' father, Leonard Allen "Len" Surles, and Theodore R. "Ted" Wilson were students at the University of Oregon and friends. Their initial friendship was when Len was a teacher and coach at Baker, Ore., High School and Ted had the same duties at La Grande, Ore. High School. Baker (now called Baker City) and La Grande are in eastern Oregon, about 45 miles apart. Back at the UO, Len and Ted each earned physcical education master of science degrees in 1952.

Len's thesis: "The contributions of a fundamental physical education course toward physical fitness."

Ted's thesis: "A study of the development of balance through certain controlled methods."