The connection between Hartford, Connecticut, and Linfield
is well known.
It’s called the “Hartford Pipeline.” High school grads from
Hartford went on to study and (many of them) compete for the Linfield Wildcats.
Learn more in a Wildcatville story linked here.
Do you know about the Westport-Linfield Pipeline?
(This Westport is on the Columbia River in Clatsop County,
Oregon. Don’t confuse it with Westport, Washington, in that state’s Grays
Harbor County on the coast.)
Westport High School closed in 1952. But, until that
happened and even after it closed and Westport students started attending high
school about 10 miles away in Clatskanie, Oregon, a number of Westporters
attended Linfield.
Larry Hermo -- a Linfielder (Class of 1959), who lived in Westport,
studied at Westport and graduated from
Clatskanie High after Westport High closed -- recalls as those among former
Westport High School students who studied at Linfield being Art Holten, Art
Verment, Ben Sorensen, Dick Brooke, Don Stensland, Don Nelson, Duane Hoagland,
Ed Walters, Bob Luoto, Jerry Luoto, Jim Luoto, Larry Hermo, Norm Welch, Orlin
Culbertson, Woody Lovelace and Don Miller. Many of them were athletes in high
school and college.
Read about Art Holten in a Wildatville story linked here.
::::::::::::::::
How did
the Linfield connection to Westport High School (Clatsop County, Ore.) happened?
Based
on research and assumptions, the connection happened because of something like this ….
John King,
Linfield Class of 1929, became Westport’s principal. A lineman, he played four
years (1926-1927-1928-1929) on the Linfield football team and was team captain
as a junior. See him in photo above, wearing an academic cap and gown.
(His
brother, Lee King, Class of 1930, was also a Linfield football player. The
Kings were from Buhl, Idaho. After Westport, John King became superintendent of
the Oakridge, Ore., School District.)
John King hired
Ted Stensland, Class of 1928, as Westport boys’ basketball coach. Later,
Stensland, succeeded King as principal.
Succeeding
Stensland as basketball coach was Don Nelson, Class of 1948.
At some
point -- presumably hired by John King – Lucile Beswick, Linfield Class of
1932, became a teacher at Westport. One of her early duties was apparently
coaching girls’ sports. Later, after Westport High closed and Westport students
began attending Clatskanie High School, she joined the Clatskanie School
District, initially as a teacher and later as librarian.
As a
Linfield student, Lucile was a member of the L.C. Club, a woman’s organization
which sponsored four coed sports and directed the women’s athletic program.
Possibly
born and/or lived in Ashland, Ore., she may have moved to McMinnville prior to
starting at Linfield.
Lucile
Beswick eventually married Clarence Hansen. They had a daughter and son, Jim
Hansen. Jim graduated from Linfield, said Larry Hermo, a 1954 Clatskanie High
grad, who attended Westport High for two years before it closed.
Larry said
Lucile was his English teacher for all four years of high school. He said she
was an “excellent teacher of grammar.” His wife, Sharon Hermo, a 1960 Clatskanie
High grad, also had Lucile as English teacher. Lucile encouraged Sharon to
attend Linfield. Sharon did and graduated from the college in 1964.
Oh, by the way … In February 1962, Westporter/Linfielder
Larry was discharged from the U.S. Army. A week after discharge he was hired
as baseball coach at Yamhill-Carlton High School by its principal Ted Stensland.
……………..
Photos: --John King’s photo and information listing as a Linfield graduating senior in 1929.
--Lucile
Beswick on the far right as member of a Linfield junior-senior women’s
basketball team. and in a student photo.
--John King
(front row far right) and his brother (second row wearing glasses) as members
of Linfield’s Knights of the Order of the Old Oak.
--Ted
Stensland as a member of the Linfield men’s basketball team.
--Don Nelson
as a member of the Linfield men’s basketball team.
Photo by Den Surles taken in Orange, Calif., of Linfield Baseball after Wildcats lost 4-3 to Chapman afternoon of Saturday 3/25/2017. Double header at Laverne Sunday and one at Cal Lutheran on Monday.
(Photo from Ray’s Hall of Fame posting at Linfield Athletics
Website.)
He graduated from Oregon’s Cottage Grove High School in
1951. After attending Linfield, he served in the U.S. Army and then returned to
Linfield on the G.I. Bill.
According to Linfield Athletics records, Ray lettered in
football in the 1951, 1957, 1958 and 1959 seasons and in track in 1952.
A sports column in the Oct. 7, 1958, Oregonian said, “Ray
Simonsen, Linfield junior end, and Dan Simonsen, Oregon State College tackle,
are brothers. Ray is a service veteran. Both are products of Cottage Grove High.”
An Oregonian football game story in the Nov 2, 1958, describing Linfield’s
34-7 win over Portland State on the Roosevelt High School field in Portland
included, “Ray Simonsen, Linfield end, made several spectacular tackles,
tossing Portland State players for losses.”
After Ray and Roberta Wells married in 1954, they lived in Fort
Hood, Texas, where he was stationed in the U.S. Army at the Fort Hood army
base.
The summer 2016 Linfield Magazine said, Ray and Roberta “dedicated
their careers to educating young people in Yamhill County schools. Because they
believe that Linfield had a life-changing impact on who they became and the
opportunities they’ve had, they have faithfully supported the college through
scholarship and athletic donations. They recently decided to ensure their financial
support would continue beyond their lifetimes by creating a new endowed fund to
support Linfield Athletics. The endowment will provide annual gifts in
perpetuity that equal what they’ve been giving the past several years.”
Here is Ray’s obituary from May 14, 2017, McMinnville
N-R/News-Register:
RAYMOND ELMO SIMONSEN
1934 - 2017
Raymond Elmo Simonsen was born April 1, 1934. The beloved
husband, father, son, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle to many
and community leader passed away March 11, 2017, surrounded by family.
He grew up in Lynx Hollow, Oregon, where he and Roberta
Wells met as neighboring children. They married in 1954, and daughters Pamela
and Annette joined the family in 1955 and 1959.
His dedication to family, education and sports began at an
early age. Ray attended Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, on a sports
scholarship. He was an NAIA All-America offensive and defensive lineman,
earning Little All-America honors as a junior.
In service of his country, Ray joined the Army for two years
and returned to Linfield to continue his education on the G.I. Bill. He
continued his service in the Oregon National Guard and retired as a lieutenant
colonel after serving 28 years.
Ray graduated from Linfield with a bachelor’s degree in
education in 1960 and a master’s degree later that year while a committed
husband and father. He was inducted into the NAIA District 2 Football Hall of
Fame in 1993 and Linfield’s Hall of Fame in 2003, and was a proud member of
Linfield’s current streak of 61 consecutive winning football seasons.
His passion for education led him to 34 years in education
administration, where he served as superintendent, assistant superintendent,
principal, vice principal and assistant coach for football, wrestling and
baseball at Newberg and Sheridan high schools. He served for two years as the
director of student teaching and an assistant coach for football and baseball
at Linfield.
His servant’s heart led him to join and help lead many
community organizations, including Newberg Rotary, United Way, March of Dimes,
Special Olympics and Upward Bound.
He was the chairman of the Newberg Rotary
scholarship committee for several decades, and a Rotarian for 52 years.
A
humble man, he was recognized as Newberg Citizen of the Year in 2008 from the
Chamber of Commerce and Rotarian of the Year in 2013-2014. Ray and Roberta were
recognized during the annual Hearts of Gold Celebration by Providence Newberg
Foundation in 2013, and the Newberg School District also proclaimed June 18,
1999, as “Ray Day.”
A strong man of faith, Ray was a devoted member of the
Newberg Presbyterian Church for nearly seven decades, where he served as an
Elder. He sang tenor in the church choir and Portland’s Singing Christmas Tree,
raising his eyebrows to hit the especially high notes. He was an equally
devoted member of the Linfield alumni, introducing many family and friends to
his joy of cheering on the Wildcat football team.
Ray was an avid reader, lover of all sports, competitive
bridge player and a longtime member of the “Dandy Dancers.” A shy man at heart
with a playful sense of humor, he was the proud patriarch of a large extended
family. Spending time with his family and friends was his greatest joy in life.
His memory will be honored by his wife of 62 years, Roberta
Simonsen; two children, Pamela (Tim) Weaver of Dundee, Oregon, and Annette
(Chuck) Watson of Newberg; brother, Dan (Jean) Simonsen of McMinnville;
brothers and sisters throughout Oregon; grandchildren and great-grandchildren,
and the thousands of students whose lives he touched.
A celebration of life will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday,
March 18, at Newberg Christian Church, 2315 Villa Road, Newberg. In honor of
his beloved alma mater, attendees are invited to wear red, purple or Linfield
gear. In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor are requested to the Newberg
Rotary Scholarship Fund, Linfield’s TopCat Club or any youth programs.
Thanks to Linfield Athletics Hall of Famer Tom McFadden, here are four photos
he took at the 1 p.m. March 13, 2017, Linfield Athletics ‘Hall of Fame Student Lounge’
dedication in the Durham foyer of the college’s p.e./athletic building, part of
the exterior of which is near the Coach Paul Durham statue/monument.
If photos are too small or cropped so you can't see all of them, click on the photo for an easier-to-see full size version. Art's last name is Holten. Ripley's incorrectly used "Holton." One of the "Photoshopped" Ripley's images with this story has last name correct. All other Ripley's images have last name error.
This is a story about the late, great Art Holten, Linfield Class of 1938,
with additional information about Westport (Clatsop County), Oregon, his
birthplace, where he grew up and lived.
Arthur Melvin Holten’s 88 years of life were full of
enthusiasm, family, friends and a lot of sports, especially basketball.
Born in 1914 in Westport (not to be confused with
Westport on the state of Washington coast), Art died in Longview, Wash., in
2003.
He and his wife, Lillian
(Johnson) – married in 1946 – made their home in Westport. She died in
2013.
Kirk Holten, Linfield Class of 1976, said his father “loved living in Westport and
giving back to the community by supporting development of young men through
basketball. He believed that this sport would teach them team work and
discipline that would serve them throughout their lives.”
As a school, college and after college (AAU) athlete,
Art’s 6-foot-1 height was tall. Add the “tallness” to his innate athletic
talent and it served teams on which he played well.
For the Westport High School Pirates, playing for Ted
Stensland, a Linfield grad, Art was a standout in football and basketball.
After graduating in 1933 from Westport, Art was recruited
by Linfield’s legendary Henry Lever,
who became his coach in Wildcat football and basketball. Art was end on Linfield’s 1935 Northwest Conference championship
football team and center and forward on Wildcats basketball teams.
As a sophomore for Linfield in the 1935-1936 season, he
set a Pacific Northwest basketball scoring record of 302 points in 22 games.
A story about Art in the Linfield Review student newspaper in
1936 includes:
“What is believed to be a new northwest
scoring mark was set this season by Linfield’s sensational; sophomore center,
Art Holten, who talled 302 points in a 22 game season.
“Holten tallied a total of 135 field
goals and 32 free throws for the grand total, averging 13.63 pointsper game. Significant is the fact that the
six-foot-one-inch Wildcat scored his points in the games that meant something,
not only in the tilts that were of little consequence. In the College of Puget
Sound series, Holten talled 22 points the first night and 11 the next to lead
his mates to a 37-29 and 27-25 victories. Against Portland university he
garnered 23 in one game and against the strong Oregon normal team in the recent
AAU tournament he rang the hoop for 10 fields goals and 20 points.
“Big Value in Floor Work
“The value of Holten lay not only in his
almost uncanny eye for the basketball but in his general floor work and team
play. He shot for the basket only when a good shot was the play; he passed to
mates when they were in a better position, even a number of times to miss a
chance himself for another goal. He was pronounced by many opponents as one of
the best defensive men on the Linfield quint, a team winning 17 of its 22
games.
“Although unusually good under the
basket, Holten tallied nearly half his goals from the “howlitzer” area with
swisher shots that failed to touch the rim but sailed straight through the
netting.”
Art played all of his high school and college hoops when
there was a center jump ball after each made basket. Plus, during his school
and college basketball playing days the most typical or only shot at the basket
was using the two-hand set. And, there was no three-point basket.
==In a United Press story in the Feb. 11, 1936, Provo,
Utah, Daily Herald reports on a Linfield 37-29 win over the College of Puget
Sound (now the University of Puget Sound) in which Art Holten scored 22 points.
==A story in the Feb. 19, 1936 Albany, Ore., Democrat-Herald mentions that the “high
- scoring abilities of Art Holten, (Linfield) center” will be hard for opponent
Albany College (now Lewis & Clark College in Portland) to stop.
Art, Linfield gained national fame
Art’s basketball scoring fame gained national attention
for him and Linfield in two nationally syndicated sports features in 1938,
Ripley’ “Believe It or Not” (King Features Syndicate) and “Heroes of Sport”
(Universal Phoenix Syndicate) by Tom Swift. (Both features incorrectly spelled
Art’s last name as “Holton.”)
After college, Art played basketball for AAU teams. He
was with the St. Helens, Ore., Papermakers, 1938-1939; the Adams Buckaroos AAU
team of St. Helens in 1939-1940; and the Westport Aces AAU team, 1940-1941.
“Dad remained a very good basketball player even as
life’s endeavors took their toll physically,” said Kirk. “It was not until I
was 20-years-old and he was about 60 before I could truly say I had half a step
on him going to the basket when we played one-on-one. While I was attending
Clatskanie High School, he wouldn’t let me leave the gym at night after
basketball practice until I made 20 consecutive free throws. That was an
example of the discipline he thought the game would teach you.”
Looking back, Kirk said, “my dad didn’t talk a lot about
his basketball success. When old friends asked dad if I was as good a player as
he, dad always deflected the question and said something like, ‘Kirk is a lot
smarter than I ever was,”
During a 50 year career lumber industry career, Art
worked:
-- at the Westport mill on the planer chain and then as
an engineer for mill owner Shepherd & Morse.
-- as a millwright or quad sawyer for mills in Rainier,
Ore., and Aberdeen, Wash., before 20 years with Crown Zellerbach (Crown Z) in
Columbia City, Ore.
He served as American Federation of Labor local union
chapter president for six years and was a delegate to the 1950 International
Woodworkers of America convention in Minneapolis, Minn.
He retired from Crown-Z in 1980
For many years at home in Westport the phone would ring
in the Holten home after supper. It would be a call from a young basketball
player. It wasn’t the same player each time. “Is Art going to open the
(Westport) gym tonight” was the question asked. The answer was “yes!” No matter
how tired “my dad was after work, he would grab his shoes and a basketball and
drive over to the gym, the same gym in which he played so many games when he
was younger,” Kirk said. “He’d unlock the door, turn on the lights and he’d be
there several hours while the kids played.” For 20 years he made the gym
available.
The 1993 book Toward
One Flag: The History of Lower Columbia Athletics says” Perhaps one of the
best remembered athletes in Westport history is Art Holten. In recognition of
his services Art “was presented a beautiful trophy at the 1988 Westport High
School reunion” with the inscription, “Presented for his great achievement in
Athletics and his inspiration to the youth in the community.”
WESTPORT,
OREGON
Oregon’s Clatsop County is in the state’s northwest
coast. One of the county’s borders is on the Columbia River with the state of
Washington on the other river bank.
Westport is some 26 miles east of Astoria (Clatsop
County) on Highway 30.
“Up until the late 1950s Westport was a typical lumber
town with a sawmill,” said Linfielder Larry
Hermo. He attended Westport High School until it closed after his sophomore year and he moved and
attended (junior and senior years) and graduated from Clatskanie High in 1954.
(Larry was a standout athlete for both the Westport Pirate and Clatskanie Tigers. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Linfield in 1959.
Westport’s mill was owned by Shepherd & Morse lumber
company of Boston. Many of the small homes in Westport were company owned.
Today, people driving through Westport on the way to the
coast usually don’t know its history.
That history, says a Longview
Daily News story in 2016 is that “Westport was one of the centers of the
Oregon lumber business from 1856 to 1972.”
The book “Westport
Oregon: Home of the Big Sticks and Gold Medal Salmon” by Jim Aalberg, says,
“Westport’s heydays were a time when money grew on trees and money swam in the
river.”
A sawmill opened there in the 1850s, followed by a salmon
cannery in 1869.
“In 1909, a group of investors started the Westport
Lumber Co. and built a mill and company town…. The Westport Lumber Co. mill
employed more than 400 men at its peak, supporting a town of some 900
residents,” said the book.
In 1945, the Westport mill shut down temporarily when the
“supply of old-growth timber had been cut,” said the book. When more timber was
available, it reopened and operated until the late 1950s, said Larry, who
worked in the mill two summers between semesters while attending Linfield. He
wasn’t the only Linfield student who worked there. A 2016 Daily Astorian story about the Westport book includes the sentence,
“Links with Linfield College were promoted, with students returning for summer
mill work.”
When Westport High School closed in 1952, it left a
legacy of athletic success, especially in basketball.
Ted Stensland, a 1928, Linfield grad was a superb boys’ basketball coach for Westport
High. One of his excellent players was Art, who graduated from Westport in
1933.
According to oregonhoopshistory.blogspot.com, thanks to
Stensland’s coaching, the Westport Pirates were the class of the small schools
on Oregon’s northern coast. Between 1933 and 1942, the Pirates won or shared
every championship of Clatsop County.”
By the way, during the time Stensland coached, the
Westport team played in district basketball tournaments at Linfield on way to
the state tourney.
In the late 1940s, said oregonhoopshistory, Ted Stensland
did not coach several seasons because he thought it “unfair” his son,
Linfielder Don Stensland, would play
for him.
After Don graduated from high school, Ted resumed
coaching. In 1947 Ted retired from coaching and became the principal of
Westport elementary school and high school.
Succeeding Ted Stensland as Westport coach was Don Nelson, Linfield Class of 1948,
another of the standout athletes he coached at Westport.
In the roll of Linfield grads coaching high school state
championship teams in Oregon, all three are listed. For Westport, Ted Stensland
basketball in 1941 and six-man football in 1947 and Don Nelson six-man football
in 1948. Don Stensland, Linfield Class of 1956, won a state basketball title in
1963 with Central of Monmouth.
Another Westport player for Ted Stensland, was Art Verment, Linfield Class of 1949.
During his long-high school coaching career, Art led Drain to a state baseball
title in 1951.
“People in Westport loved athletics and supported high
school athletics very well. During my time in school, Art Holten lived in
Westport and watched me play during my four years of high school,” Larry said.
POSTCRIPT:
-This article would not be possible without the
assistance of Art’s son, Kirk, and Larry Hermo, Linfield Class of 1959, stories
in the Clatskanie Chief, Daily Astorian and Longview Daily News newspapers and
other sources including oregonhoopshistory.blogspot.com and the books “Toward
One Flag: The History of Lower Columbia Athletics” and “Westport Oregon: Home
of the Big Sticks and Gold Medal Salmon.”
-Linfielders in Art’s family are Kirk, Linfield Class of
1976, and his wife, Marie (Sammis), Class of 1975; their son Michael Holten, Class of 2009; and their daughter, Danielle Holten, Class of 2015.
-When it came time for Kirk to think about going to
college after he graduated (Class of 1971) from Clatskanie High, “dad took me
on only one visitation,” said Kirk. “That was to Linfield. I remember we walked
across campus and a window in Riley Student Center opened and a voice called
out. It was Roy Helser, with whom dad has played football and basketball at
Linfield. At that point, Roy was athletic director.” (Another football and hoops teammate of Art at Linfield was Paul Durham, who went to coaching fame and athletic directing at Linfield.)
- At Clatskanie High, Kirk played football, basketball
and ran cross country and track. At Linfield, Kirk took part in Linfield
intramural sports and ran on his own. He focused on academics and graduated
magna cum laude with a double major in business and sociology.
--Kirk’s grandparents on his father’s side of the family
were Christian “Chris” Knutson Holten and Anna Charlotte Holsten Holten. They
lived in Westport. “My grandfather worked in the Westport mill and he also had
been a sailor on sailing ships that would transport lumber from Westport to
West Coast ports,” said Kirk.
-How did Art become such a good basketball player? Kirk
said family history was that “my grandmother cut the bottom out of an old wood
vegetable basket and nailed it to the kitchen wall so my dad and his three
brothers would play basketball at home!”
--When Larry Hermo was a senior playing on the Roy Helser-coached 1959 Linfield
baseball team, Larry and two other former Westport High athletes, Orlin Culbertson, Linfield Class of
1961, and Jerry Luoto (a nephew of
Art Verment), Linfield Class of
1964, were team members. (The Luoto family moved to McMinnville while Jerry was
in school. He graduated from McMinnville High in 1953.)
--There was a Westport and Linfield connection in the
1951 state high school championship baseball game. It was played the evening of
Sat., May 28, 1951, in Drain between the Westport High Pirates, coached by Don
Nelson, and Drain High Warriors, coached by Art Verment. Both coaches were
Westport and Linfield grads. Larry was starting center fielder for Westport in
that game, watched by 1,300 fans. Drain won, 2-0.
--As a Westport High freshman, Larry’s football,
basketball and baseball coach was Don Nelson. In February 1962, immediately
after Larry’s military service commitment ended, he was hired as a
teacher/coach at Yamhill-Carlton High School by principal Ted Stensland and
coach Don Nelson.)
--Linfielder/Westporter Larry Hermo recalls the following
as among former Westport High School students who studied at Linfield: Art
Holten, Art Verment, Ben Sorensen, Dick Brooke, Don Stensland, Don Nelson, Duane
Hoagland, Ed Walters, Bob Luoto, Jerry Luoto, Jim Luoto, Larry Hermo, Norm
Welch, Orlin Culbertson, Woody Lovelace and Don Miller.
::::::::::::::::::
.....
BACKGROUND ABOUT WESTPORT HIGH-LINFIELD COLLEGE CONNECTION
How did
the Linfield connection to Westport High School (Clatsop County, Ore.) happened?
It was (based
on research and assumptions) something like this ….
John King,
Linfield Class of 1929, became Westport’s principal. A lineman, he played four
years (1926-1927-1928-1929) on the Linfield football team and was team captain
as a junior.
(His
brother, Lee King, Class of 1930, was also a Linfield football player. The
Kings were from Buhl, Idaho. After Westport, John King became superintendent of
the Oakridge, Ore., School District.)
John King hired
Ted Stensland, Class of 1928, as Westport boys’ basketball coach. Later,
Stensland, succeeded King as principal.
Succeeding
Stensland as basketball coach was Don Nelson, Class of 1948.
At some
point -- presumably hired by John King – Lucile Beswick, Linfield Class of
1932, became a teacher at Westport. One of her early duties was apparently
coaching girls’ sports. Later, after Westport High closed and Westport students
began attending Clatskanie High School, she joined the Clatskanie School
District, initially as a teacher and later as librarian.
As a
Linfield student, Lucile was a member of the L.C. Club, a woman’s organization
which sponsored four coed sports and directed the women’s athletic program.
Possibly
born and/or lived in Ashland, Ore., she may have moved to McMinnville prior to
starting at Linfield.
Lucile
Beswick eventually married Clarence Hansen. They had a daughter and son, Jim
Hansen. Jim graduated from Linfield, said Larry Hermo, a 1954 Clatskanie High
grad, who attended Westport High for two years before it closed.
Larry said
Lucile was his English teacher for all four years of high school. He said she
was an “excellent teacher of grammar.” His wife, Sharon Hermo, a 1960 Clatskanie
High grad, also had Lucile as English teacher. Lucile encouraged Sharon to
attend Linfield. Sharon did and graduated from the college in 1964.
……………..
Photos: --John King’s photo and information listing as a Linfield graduating senior in 1929.
--Lucile
Beswick on the far right as member of a Linfield junior-senior women’s
basketball team. and in a student photo.
--John King
(front row far right) and his brother (second row wearing glasses) as members
of Linfield’s Knights of the Order of the Old Oak.
--Ted
Stensland as a member of the Linfield men’s basketball team.
--Don Nelson
as a member of the Linfield men’s basketball team.
All photos from Linfield Oak Leaves yearbook.
..........
Art Holten info/photos ... posted 4/12/2017
Art Holten -- a 1933 grad of Westport (Clatsop County, Oregon) High School and a member of Linfield Class of 1938-- Art played football and basketball for Linfield College teams coached by Henry Lever.
--Art apparently played
football for Linfield in 1933 season and basketball in 1933-1934 season.
--Art apparently played
football for Linfield in 1934 season (an Oregonian story from Nov. 1934
mentions him as a member of the Linfield football team) and basketball in
1934-1935 season.
--Art apparently played
football for Linfield in 1935 season and basketball in 1935-1936 season. He's
mentioned in a lot of basketball stories during the 1935-1936 season as being a
sophomore.
--It appears Art did not
attend Linfield immediately after graduating from Westport (Clatsop County,
Oregon) High School in 1933. It’s assumed he started at Linfield as a freshman
in the fall of 1934 instead of in the fall of 1933. If so, that would jibe with
sports stories in 1935-1936 saying he was a sophomore.
3/7/1935 -Story (headlines,
“Pacific Wins Closing Game, Score 36-30 Victory Over Wildcats”) in March 7,
1935, McMinnville Telephone-Register includes a scoring summary showing Holton
and Harrington leading the Linfield team in scoring with nine points each.
12/5/1935 -Story (headline “Wildcats
Turn Out For Basketball; 2 Games Scheduled”) in Dec. 5, 1935, McMinnville
Telephone-Register includes that returning lettermen include “Holton, forward.”
1/16/1936 -Story (headlines
“Pilots To Meet Wildcats Here,” College Slate Opens Saturday Night”) in Jan 16,
1936, McMinnville Telephone-Register includes, “Art Holten, high-scoring center
who has paced the way in virtually every game this season, topped the scorers
with 23 points.”
3/12/1936 -Cutline for
photo (headline “Marksman”) of Art wearing a Linfield men’s basketball team
uniform (apparently posing outside on the Linfield campus) in the March 12,
1936, McMinnville Telephone-Register: “Art Holten, Linfield’s high-scoring
sophomore center, who has tallied 302 points in the Wildcats’ 22 basketball
games this season for what is believed to be a Pacific Northwest Record. He
also was chosen by Coaches ‘Nig’ Borleske of Whitman and ‘Spec’ Keene of
Willamette on their all-Northwest conference quintet this season.”
3/12/1936 -Photo (headline “Bring
Championship to Linfield”) in March 12, 1936, McMinnville Telephone-Register
has this cutline: Unbeaten in their Northwest conference games and victors in
all but five of their 16 non-conference games, Henry Lever’s Wildcats won the
conference co-championship with Whitman this year. In the picture from left to
right, are: Purcell, Helser, Holton, Swenson, Durham, Robins, Strang,
Harrington, Morris, Hipple and Coach Lever. Holding the ball is Logan, manager.”
8/21/1938 --Story ‘LINFIELD
GRIDMEN GET DRILL ORDERS’ in Sunday Oregonian, Aug. 21, 1938,previewing
Linfield’s 1938 football season mentions the “non-return of veteran Art Holten.”
.......................................... Linfield’s Art Holten (far left) as a member of the 1936 NWC men’s basketball all-star team in the ?1936? Spalding Football Guide. Thanks to Linfielder Art Larrance (Class of 1966), who played baseball at HiHi for Ad Rutschman and baseball at Linfield for Roy Helser.
........................... Linfield 1936 men's basketball team thanks to Linfielder Tom Rohlffs (Class of 1969), who played basketball at Linfield for Ted Wilson. Art Holten is in the back row, second from the left.
