GFU at Linfield Football 10/29/2016 (video slideshow)

Soon to be Linfield Hall of Famer, Dennis Anderson, discovered Linfield famous football 'Streak'

Read Linfield Sports Info 10/24/2016 news release headlined:

‘Hall of Fame ticket deadline approaching’

http://www.linfield.edu/sports/release.html?id=6468&sport=gs

“Alumni and friends are asked to reserve their place at the event no later than Friday, October 28.”

One of those in the “Class of 2016” to be inducted during Linfield Athletics’ 19th annual Pacific Office Automation Hall of Fame Banquet the evening of Nov. 12, 2016, is alumnus Dennis Anderson (Class of 1958) for meritorious service.

Dennis Anderson, now living in McMinnville, was a long-time Honolulu daily newspaper sports writer. He played football for Linfield when Paul Durham was coach. (His son, Bryant Anderson, played Linfield football for Ad Rutschman.)

Research by Dennis discovered Linfield’s famous football Streak.

Read about Dennis in a Sept. 27, 2001, Los Angeles Times sports column:

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/27/sports/sp-50428

NW Conference grass football fields: Two that are and one that was

Story posted Oct. 26, 2016, but written as if you read this on or after 11/6/2016.

And then there were two.

Two grass football fields.

Whitworth University’s Pine Bowl in Spokane and the University of Puget Sound’s Peyton Field at Baker Stadium in Tacoma are the only grass fields remaining in the Northwest Conference.

In this 2016 season, the Linfield Wildcats played on both: Oct. 22, at the Pine Bowl and Nov. 5, on Peyton Field.

Whitworth is looking to replace its Pine Bowl grass with artificial turf as part of a major upgrade of the facility, according to “The Campaign for Whitworth” fund-raising information posted at the university’s website.

However, UPS’s grass Peyton Field is safe. Wildcatville has learned the university has no plans to put artificial turf on either Peyton Field or East Field, where UPS plays soccer and lacrosse.

This brings us to Linfield’s Maxwell Field, sometimes called the Catdome, at Memorial Stadium on campus in McMinnville.

In 2004, Linfield removed the Maxwell Field grass and replaced it with artificial turf. In 2014, the artificial turf was replaced with new artificial turf.

Replacing the grass in 2004 was momentous because in 1935 Linfield became the first Oregon college with a grass football field.

Not even the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and others, including the University of Portland (which no longer plays football) and small colleges had grass football fields before Linfield. (Portland State University did not exist in 1935.)

Henry Lever (photo), Linfield’s football coach (1930-1938, 1940-1942) and athletic director (1930-1949), was the key reason Linfield quit playing football on dirt and sawdust and started playing on grass.

Sports editor L. H. Gregory’s column in the Oct. 21, 1936, Oregonian said, “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.’ ”

The column quotes Lever saying, “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.”

It was a dramatic change to compete in a football game on Maxwell Field grass instead of dirt and sawdust. But, grass Maxwell Field was Jekyll and Hyde.

When the weather was good and the Maxwell Field was dry, it was very good.

But, when the weather was rainy, the field was wet and could and often did turn into a quagmire.

A photo with this story from the 1975 Willamette at Linfield football game gives a glimpse of muddy Maxwell. It does not convey the smell.

In 2005, Linfielder Marv Heater (Class of 1951) who played football for the Wildcats coached by Paul Durham, told Wildcatville the “smell of Maxwell Field sticks quite vividly in my memory. It was unique because of the type of fertilizer that Steve Thomas used on the field. (Good old turkey droppings.).

“We were happy after a game in the mud to get to the shower and wash away the small and grime. We probably washed half of the top soil from the field into the drains throughout the season.”

Steve Thomas (Class of 1948) was an exceptional groundskeeper for Linfield from 1948 until his untimely death in 1977.

Turkey dropping as fertilizer for Maxwell Field were not used Steve Thomas’ entire groundskeeping tenure. But, with or without “turkey,” Maxwell Field had a special smell and stickiness which existed until the grass was replaced with artificial turf.

Maxwell Field’s grass is gone, but some can still see it and smell it.

Photos:

--Pine Bowl at Whitworth University, Spokane. By Tommy Butler for Wildcatville. Oct. 22, 2016.

--Peyton Field at Baker Stadium, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma. By Wildcatville. Nov. 8, 2014.

--Henry Lever, Linfield 1938 Oak Leaves yearbook.

--Willamette at Linfield football on Maxwell Field. By Wildcatville. Nov. 15, 1975.

Postscripts:

--When Maxwell Field grass was removed in 2004, some of it was saved as sod and planted to the left as you enter the auxiliary entry gate (to the far left as you face back of Memorial Stadium) off on Lever Street. Saving the grass and replanting it was thanks to Steve Davis (Class of 1972), Linfield Athletics Hall of Famer.

--Steve Thomas was a member of Linfield’s 1947 NW Conference championship baseball team coached by Henry Lever.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

For brevity, the 2003 story below was edited by Wildcatville in 2016.

Linfield moves to make mud a thing of the past

By John Nolen, Oregonian, Aug. 23, 2003

Mud so thick and slick that players couldn't take two steps without falling down.

A helicopter hovering for hours to dry the field after a snowfall.

Conditions so unplayable that three national championship games were moved to a nearby high school.

Such memories of Maxwell Field are part of Linfield College's football lore. But tradition or not, such miserable game conditions should end by next year.

Maxwell, home of the college football program with a national-record 47 consecutive winning seasons, is getting artificial turf.

Fund raising is under way for $1.1 million to reconfigure the football field and surrounding track and replace the natural grass with FieldTurf in time for the 2004 season.

Jay Locey, a Wildcats coach or assistant coach since 1983, said the present field, rebuilt in 1986, holds up well during September and October. "Everything's fine -- until we get a good rain," he said. "But one day of that can destroy the field."

Ad Rutschman, the former Wildcats coach now an assistant under Locey, remembers playing Pacific University one afternoon in 1986.

So does Doug Hire, who was an all-American lineman for Rutschman. "It was the muddiest game I remember," said Rutschman, 72, who has been associated with Linfield football for almost 40 years.

Said Hire: "Conditions were so bad you couldn't take two steps without falling down."

Steve Davis, another former player and a former Linfield sports information director, recalls when a helicopter was brought in to dry the field for a 1970s playoff game.

"It snowed Monday or Tuesday, and late in the week we hovered a helicopter for the entire day," Davis said. "It worked. The field was dry enough for Saturday's game."

In 1982, 1984 and 1986 -- Linfield's national championship seasons -- the field was unplayable for the championship games. So all three finals had to be moved to nearby McMinnville High School.

Not only will the natural grass be replaced with FieldTurf, but also the entire field layout, including the track and field oval, will be moved 12 feet east.

"It needs to move because the eighth lane of the track is right up against the grandstand, which is dangerous," Rutschman said.

News that artificial turf would replace natural grass drew mixed reactions from former Linfield players.

"Some guys were saying, 'You're kidding, give up the grass field for artificial turf?' " said Larry Doty, a former Wildcats running back. "I remember one pretty mucky playoff game in 1978," Doty said. "Those conditions helped us out that day."

The Wildcats also won in the mud because of a quarterback named David Lindley, Locey said. Lindley, in 2-1/2 seasons (1984-86) as a starter, guided the Wildcats to a 25-2 record and two NAIA national championships.

"He had large hands and was so good in the mud that he had a definite advantage," Locey said. "He was a mudder."

It was an overtime loss to Central of Iowa in the mud during the 2000 NCAA Division III playoffs that triggered the move to replace the natural grass, Locey said.

#

Fake Andy Warhol visited Linfield on Oct. 4, 1967

More about Fake Andy Warhol's Oct. 4, 1967, Linfield visit:

http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2011/03/do-you-remember-in-1967-when-fake-andy.html

 ……………

Below, some Oregonian 1967 and 1968 coverage of Fake Andy. If articles too small to read, click on each, one at a time, for easier to read versions.



In order, from the first posting below to the last, dates of articles are Oct. 1, Oct. 2, Oct. 5, Oct. 7 and Oct. 9, 1967 and Feb. 7, 1968.

......................................

The Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News - Feb 17, 1968
Slated at UA, But … Will The Real Andy Warhol Show Up?

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19680217&id=WAAdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MZsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7250,2782904


...................

Oregonian: Linfield student Bob Heckard helped bring Fake Andy Warhol to Linfield in 1967

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/10/how_andy_warhol_hoodwinked_ore.html

“We were completely hoodwinked,” said Heckard, a student at the time who helped bring Warhol to Linfield. “It was a weird experience that, in the end, just got weirder.”

Linfield Fake Andy Warhol appearance in 1967 mentioned in these links: 

http://greg.org/archive/2007/04/06/the_fake_warhol_lectures.html

https://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=33908472

It'll take longer to read these than total time of Fake Andy Warhol 1967 Linfield appearance.

Water Crew late getting to Linfield at Whitworth football game 10/22/2016

The Water Crew (John S, John O, Bill, Eric) was about 20 minutes late on 10/22/2016 getting to Whitworth’s Pine Bowl in Spokane (for Linfield at Whitworth football game) due to an auto accident which occurred ahead of them and their vehicle on I-90. Traffic was stopped on the highway. While sitting in the vehicle in stopped traffic, John S. sent a text reading, "There is an accident about 1/2 mile ahead of us. We are stopped cold."

--During the game, in this photo provided by Wildcatville, Bill Harland watched action from Linfield sideline.

--Crew members drove from McMinnville to Spokane and back to attend/work the Linfield at Whitworth football game on 10/22/201. That’s about 790 miles round-trip. The Crew stopped on 10/23/2016 (Spokane to McMinnville) and John S took this photo of (l-r) Eric, Bill and John O. John S titled it, “Bringing home the win from Whitworth.”

Linfield Football at Whitworth 10/22/2016

Happy Birthday! Coach Durham

 
Oct. 18 is the birthday of Paul Durham, Linfield football coach 1948-1967, long-time athletic director and faculty member. He’s considered the “Father of Linfield Athletics.”

Born in 1913 in Portland, Ore., he died June 22, 2007, at age 93 in Honolulu. After leaving Linfield in 1968, he moved to Hawaii to become director of athletics at the University of Hawaii.

A gentle soul with amazing leadership ability and “likeability,” he was the coach who started “The Streak," Linfeld’s national record of consecutive winning football seasons.

A 1936 Linfield grad, Coach Durham lived on the Mainland 54 years (all in Oregon, 24 years of which were in McMinnville as a student or with Linfield) and in Hawaii 39 years.

Disclaimer: Photos/video taken by Wildcatville on Oct. 5, 2016. Lest you worry, the lei (school colors cardinal and purple with white) flowers are not real. They are silk. No damage was done to the Coach Paul Durham statue/monument located next to the Linfield athletics/p.e. building. Coach Durham statue wore the lei momentarily. Now, the lei is ready for next birthday!

Mahalo to lei stylist Anna O'Sullivan Bowman, Linfield Class of 1982. Born and raised in Kailua, Hawaii, she was always surrounded by beautiful flowers. In 1981, she was a founding member of Phi Sigma Sigma chapter at Linfield. Anna owns/operates Studio Flowers in Clackamas, Ore. www.studioflowerspdx.com, 503-910-1375.

http://www.macyandson.com/obituary/Paul-H.-Durham/Honolulu-HI/432378

WU at Linfield football video slideshow 10/15/2016

Odis Avritt and his famous chili before 10/15/2016 Willamette at Linfield football game.

Wildcatville video presents ... Odis Avritt and his famous chili before 10/15/2016 Willamette University at Linfield College football game at the Catdome/Maxwell Field at Memorial Stadium in McMinnville, Oregon.

Linfield 84-yard interception return for TD on 10/8/2016

Sat. 10/8/2016, Forest Grove, Ore. Linfield’s #20 Mikey Arkans intercepts Pacific pass, returns it 84 yards for Wildcat TD with 13 seconds to go before half. Visiting team Linfield won NWC game, 48-10. Video from an Oregon Sports Final's ‘Plays of the Week’ on Portland, Ore., KPTV-Channel 12. Thanks from #Wildcatville ... 

wildcatville.blogspot.com  ...  www.facebook.com/wildcatville to #Catdome for tweet!

This video is a copy of a copy. Not the best rendition, but you get the idea.

Slideshow: Linfield 48 at Pacific 10 football 10/8/2016

Photos and video by Tommy Butler, Linfield football fan, and John Schindelar, Linfield Water Crew.

Ad Rutschman hired as Hilhi football coach 1958, Linfield football coach 1968

=Ad Rutschman hired as Hillsboro High School Football Coach

Oregonian – Friday March 7, 1958

Hilhi Selects Rutschman

Martinson Quits As Gridiron Pilot

HILLSBORO -- “The Hillsboro high school board this week appointed Ad Rutschman, Hillsboro native, head football coach …" Rutschman, 26, was born in Hillsboro and graduated from Hilhi in 1950. He became freshman coach of football, basketball and baseball in 1954, and since that time has been assistant to Norm Martinson (who resigned as Hilhi head football and wrestling coach and track & field assistant coach) and to Lou Samsa, as well as head baseball coach.

= Ad Rutschman hired as Linfield College Football Coach

Sunday Oregonian - Feb 25, 1968

Linfield Hires Rutschman

To Coach Wildcat Gridders

McMINNVILLE – “Ad Rutschman, highly successful Hillsboro High School mentor, has been named head football coach at Linfield College…” The announcement of his appointment was made Saturday.

...................

Linfield football postseason games with Ad Rutschman as head coach:

1974 -- Lost to Texas Lutheran, NAIA national football playoffs in Seguin, Texas

1976 -- Lost to Oregon College of Education, Oregon Bowl of NAIA District 2 in Monmouth, Ore.

1977 -- Lost to California Lutheran, NAIA national football playoffs in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

1978 -- Beat Carroll and lost to Concordia (Minn.), NAIA national football playoffs in McMinnville, Ore.

1979 -- Lost to Oregon College of Education, Oregon Bowl of NAIA District 2 in McMinnville, Ore.

1981 -- Beat Oregon Institute of Technology, Oregon Bowl of NAIA District 2 in Klamath Falls, Ore.

1982 -- Beat California Lutheran, Westminster and William Jewell to win national title, NAIA national football playoffs in McMinnville, Ore.

1984 -- Beat St. Ambrose, Hanover and to win national title, NAIA national football playoffs in McMinnville, Ore.

1985 -- Lost to Pacific Lutheran, NAIA national football playoffs in Lakewood, Wash.

1986 -- Beat Pacific Lutheran, Carrol, and Baker to win national title, NAIA national football playoffs in McMinnville, Ore.

1991 -- Lost to Pacific Lutheran, NAIA national football playoffs in Puyallup, Wash.

Linfield football ‘classroom of success’ for Rutschman (Oregonian Dec. 5, 1984)

Slideshow of ‘Parker Moore Run 2016’ held 10/2//2016 on Linfield campus

Slideshow: Linfield Homecoming Saturday 10/1/2016

Journalist Floyd McKay (Class of 1957) honored during Linfield Homecoming 2016

During Linfield Homecoming 2016, journalist Floyd McKay delivered an address and received a Linfield Distinguished Alumnus Award, both on Friday, Sept. 30, 2016.

Address was in Linfield's TJ Day Hall, formerly known as Northup Library.

Award received during the Linfield’s Finest event in the Grand Ballroom in downtown McMinnville.

McKay’s parents were Linfield employees. His is a McMinnville High (1953), Linfield (1957), Maryland (master's) and UW (Ph.D.) grad.

A former Linfield adjunct faculty member (communications), he is a professor emeritus (journalism) of Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash.

McKay’s career includes reporting and being a columnist for the (Salem) Oregon Statesman daily newspaper and news analyst/commentator for Portland's KGW-TV.

He and his wife, Dixie Johnson McKay (Linfield 1957), live in Bellingham.

Wildcatville photos

Floyd McKay postings of possible interest:

http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2016/06/linfielder-floyd-mckay-at-oregon.html?m=1

http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/1999/02/literary-snapshot-linfield-19xx-grad.html?m=1