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.
