Linfield College had first college grass football field in state of Oregon. Hail to Maxwell Field!

Linfield was the first Oregon college with a grass football field. The field is Maxwell Field which, according to Linfield Athletics has been “home to Linfield football and track teams since 1928.”

In the spring and summer of 2004, the turf at Maxwell Field was removed. Artificial FieldTurf replaced real turf. 

(However, thanks to Steve Davis, some of the real turf was replanted in a small plot near the Lever Street secondary ticket gate entrance to Maxwell Field/Memorial Stadium.)

In the summer of 2014, new FieldTurf replaced the old (installed in 2004). Scott Carnahan, Linfield athletic director, said the old was “worn to a point where it no longer properly cushions the impact of a student-athlete contacting the surface and thus has become a safety concern.”

The sports column below from 1936 quotes Henry Lever about Wayne Harn, who went on to become Linfield head football coach in the 1939, 1946 and 1947 seasons.

Harn was succeeded by Paul Durham, Linfield Class of 1936, who had played Wildcat football on muddy/sawdusty Maxwell Field, for Lever. Durham coached the sport for 20 seasons, 1948-1968, until he was succeed by Ad Rutschman, who had played football at Linfield for Durham on real turfed Maxwell Feld. And, the rest is history.

== Story from Sept 1, 1935, Oregonian, about Linfield's Maxwell Field new real grass turf on campus in McMinnville.The first football game played on it was Oct. 5, 1935: Linfield beat Whitman of Walla Walla, 6-0.==

 

 

==Wed., Oct. 21, 1936, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore. ==

Gregory’s Sports Gossip

BY L.H. GREGORY, Sports Editor, The Oregonian

The change over the Linfield college football field over a year ago from old mud and sawdust nice, springy turf cost the enormous sum of $350.

“And we didn’t use any secret recipe,” said Coach Henry W. Lever, the many mainly responsible for making Linfield the first Oregon college to pull its football out of the mud.

“Any other school that wants to replace hog wallow football with the turf kind can do the same for not much more than $600 at most, provided the field is already graded and drained. That’s essential, of course, and runs into money.”

“At schools like the University of Oregon and Oregon State college their fields are already graded and drained, just as ours was under the old mud arrangement, and that makes it simple. One little tip – concentrate on bluegrass. We seeded to both bluegrass and bent, but the bluegrass costs deep and gives your turf solidity. Anyway, that’s our experience.”

They Practice On It

With the talk about the high cost of football turf, it’s an eye-opener to walk on Linfield’s fine, deep sod and learn that it cost only $450. Hard to believe this splendid turf is still less than a year and a half old.

“We didn’t seed our field until May of 1935, and played on it the same fall,” explained Coach Lever. “That was last season, and we had four games, three of which were played in old-fashioned downpours of Oregon rain, but it held up wonderfully.

“Now it’s only in its second season, but look at it! That’s real grass isn’t it? What’s more, we practice on it in addition to games. Eventually we’ll have a separate turf practice field, but even so our daily practice has torn it up very little. Field cover? I should say not. A field cover comes under the luxury rating, and furthermore, I don’t believe I want one. You don’t need a cover for a well-drained turf field.”

Makes Football Fun

Would Linfield willingly go back to sawdust and mud – dust and sawdust, in this kind of weather – after its two-season experience with turf?

“I think I’d quit coaching first” is Coach Lever’s emphatic answer. “Until you have coached on dirt and then switched to turf you can’t realize the difference it makes. Even more so to play on.

“Everything is nice – football easier to coach, because the timing of plays works better. Players don’t get hurt as often – the turf takes up the shock. It helps open football because a fast, man can run up to his speed. It makes football really fun to play on turf.”

==Thur., May 22, 1969 (year is correct) The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.==

“GREG:

I was pleased to be again remembered. However, relative to our first real turf field at Linfield, Bard Purcell credits me for some excellent work by my very capable assistant, Wayne Harn, who worked with me for years at Linfield. He was from Oregon State where he played football and wrestled. He was my line coach, also coached wrestling and track – no head coach ever had a more capable and loyal assistant than Harn, now retired and living in The Dalles.

“A world about Bard Purcell, who was a top basketball player, too, his lefthanded hooks as he cuts across the foul circle could only have been blocked by Alcindor. A few may also recall how he made the once famous and widely published Ripley’s “Believe It or Not.” In a precollege game he scored what was then called a world record number of points – as I recall, 60 points.

“As for myself, Greg, I have tried retiring three times, but it never sticks. “

HENRY W. LEVER, The Henry Lever Agency, Madras, Ore.

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==Mon., Sept. 30, 1935 (year is correct) The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.==

In story by sports editor L.H. Gregory is a story headlined "COACH LEAVER SAYS PROSPECTS BRIGHT -- Moanless Grid Mentor Expects Good Team -- Abundance of Veterans and Strong Reserves Freshen Outlook at Pacific." Story includes the following subhead and text:

Turf Field Put In

Further than that, Henry W. Lever is the first varsity director of athletics of an Oregon college with the nerve and foresight to put in a turf football field.

Linfield beats all of the colleges of this state in moving to get football out of the mud. Her new turf field, seeded to grass only four months ago, already is so thick it has to be cut twice a week. Of course that turf won't be really right for at least another season but Linfield will play three home games on it this fall.

………………………

Thanks to Rachael Woody and Linfield Archives for photos of Linfield football player Warren Moore, presumably on muddy Maxwell Field, 1928; turf Maxwell Field, 1945; Linfield football Coach Henry Lever, circa 1935-1936.