Ad Rutschman: 2014 Dragging the Gut Festival grand marshal in McMinnville!

Ad Rutschman, former Linfield coach and athletic director, is grand marshal of McMinnville's 2014 "Dragging the Gut" Festival. 

And, the late (died Oct. 20, 2013, in McMinnville) Ezra Koch is memorialized with his name on the festival's car show. 

The festival is set for Friday-Saturday Aug. 22-23, 2014. 

There will be a no-host kick-off cruise 7 p.m.-midnight Friday and formal cruising 5 p.m.-midnight Saturday. Cruising is on McMinnville’s famous downtown Third Street. 

Starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, grand marshal Ad and his wife, Joan Rutschman, will cruise as passengers in a mid-1960s red Cadillac, according to Ruben Contreras Jr., festival organizer. Plan to be in the crowd on both sides of Third Street to exchange waves with the Rutschmans!

The Ezra Koch Car Show precedes (noon-5 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of McMinnville's St. James Catholic Church) the Saturday cruise. 

Grand Marshal Rutschman has been a member of the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame since 1998.  Read about his many honors here and about the festival here

Ad, who coached Linfield Wildcat teams to national titles in baseball and football), Joan (long-time Linfield assistant to the athletic director and athletics tickets manager) and Ez (who served many years as Linfield football time-keeper/scoreboard operator) are Linfield Hall of Famers. Ad is a 1954 Linfield grad. Through action of the Linfield Alumni Association, Joan is an honorary member of the Class of 1954. 

Unrelated postscript: Linfield College's school colors are cardinal and purple.