In Feb. 2004 photo, Howard Morris, outside his home in Klamath Falls, shows the Linfield football helmets he wore (1954-57) while playing for the Wildcats. He was an All-America guard for the Cats. Pat Caraher (son of Joe Caraher and brother of Jeanie Monterossi) photo for Wildcatville and the News-Register.
By TIM MARSH
For the McMinnville News-Register
July 3, 2004
A similar version of this story appeared in the Fall 2004 Linfield Athletics Newsletter. It was posted at Wildcatville on Oct. 11, 2011, and re-posted July 23, 2017, in memory of Howard Morris, who died July 17, 2017, in Klamath Falls.
Longtime football fans of Linfield College know the Linfield Wildcats inside and out. But how well do they know the 'Cats football helmets?
Linfield helmets always have been white and they always have had the Wildcat logo on the side. That's a reasonable assumption, but it's not correct.
Research shows that before the 1955 season, Wildcat football helmets were cardinal red, reflecting the college colors of cardinal red and purple.
One of the best-known photos (black & white) of Ad Rutschman as a Linfield All-American football player in the 1950s shows him posing with his cardinal football helmet. Rutschman would later become the college's football coach and athletics director.
Starting with the 1956 season, the color of the helmets was changed to white. Beginning with the 1963 season, the Wildcat logo appeared on helmets for the first time.
Howard Morris played the 1954-57 seasons for Paul Durham, Linfield football coach from 1948-67.
"My first year at Linfield, our helmets were cardinal red, and we wore purple jerseys with cardinal numbers," he said. "I was among the freshmen on the team who campaigned the coach for a change. We thought we'd look better because the helmet color would not clash with the jerseys we were wearing then."
As part of Mike Rhodes' work on a video documentary about the tradition of Linfield football, he reviewed Wildcat game films.
"I noticed the logo on the helmets for the first time as I was dubbing over the 1963 season game films," Rhodes said.
What was the genesis of the Linfield Wildcat logo? Tim Marsh, Linfield class of 1970, was the college's sports information director for a year while a student. He said the original Wildcat logo decals came from the Linfield bookstore.
"The bookstore carried water applied decals, made by Potter Decal in Eugene to put in windows," he said. "Coach (Paul) Durham used those decals for the helmets."
But, there was a problem. Water applied decals don't hold up on football helmets, which are subjected to constant battering. They get brittle and chip away.
Responding to that problem, Rutschman ordered pressure-sensitive vinyl decals early in his 24-year (1968-91) tenure as Wildcat football coach. As with the water applied decals, the colors were cardinal and black.
Long-time Linfield assistant football coach Ed Langsdorf, succeeded Rutschman as coach in 1992, serving until 1996. Langsdorf changed the cardinal and black to cardinal and purple and slightly enlarged the logo. The reason was strictly cosmetic, he said. "I thought the logo was a little difficult to see, and black wasn't part of our uniform color scheme. I wanted to emphasize the purple in our uniforms a bit more."
No one at Linfield knows who originally designed the glaring, scowling Wildcat wearing a jauntily cocked sailor's cap — looking ready for battle.
Though it was originally off the bookstore shelf, the scowling Wildcat is now uniquely identified with Linfield College football.
