Linfield College Football history: Bowl and iconic games

Some of the games represented here and in the accompanying slideshow were -- officially or unofficially – called bowls. Wildcatville selected others because of their perceived importance. Most of the images are of printed game program covers. In the cases where game programs were not available or did not exist, other graphic representations of the games are provided. 

1896: FOOTBALL STARTS FOR McMINNVILLE COLLEGE

-Oct. 24, 1896. First football game ever for McMinnville College (now Linfield College). Played in the afternoon in Newberg, the McMinnville Baptists lost to the Quakers of Pacific College (now George Fox University), 54-0. Linfield head football coach was A. M. (Arthur Marion) Brumback, later to become McMinnville College president. (Don’t confuse Pacific College in Newberg with Pacific University in Forest Grove.)

1906-1921: McMINNVILLE COLLEGE DID NOT PLAY FOOTBALL

-From 1906 through 1921, McMinnville College did not play football. In a March 27, 1906, meeting, the McMinnville College Board of Trustees prohibited football indefinitely because it was too violent. Sixteen years later, after football rule changes demanded by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt were instituted, “the game’s image was bolstered. Its revitalized boosters included (the college’s) male students, who regularly lobbied to reinstate football. Their wish was granted” in a Jan. 10, 1922, announcement, said Linfield Magazine. The announcement that Linfield would resume football was superseded that day by another announcement: Trustees renamed McMinnville College as Linfield College. The new name honored Frances Ross Linfield’s late husband, a Baptist pastor. Her gift of property in Spokane, Wash., subsequently sold, assured the college's finances and its future.

1922: FOOTBALL RESUMES AFTER 16-YEAR HIATUS FOR LINFIELD COLLEGE

-Nov. 4, 1922. After 16 years of no football, the sport resumed with a 20-0 win by newly named Linfield College over Pacific College (now George Fox University) in McMinnville. On Oct. 21, 1922, Linfield lost a game 26-0 in Salem versus Willamette. Linfield called it a practice and it’s not included in its 1922 season records. Willamette records show it as one of it 1922 regular season contest. The game (practice game) was held in the afternoon. Linfield head coach was Maurice Pettit.

 1941: FISH BOWL IN ASTORIA

-Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 20, 1941, in Astoria. Linfield and a team of soldiers from Fort Stevens (Hammond, Ore., Clatsop County) 249th Coast Artillery Regiment (Harbor Defenses of the Columbia River) of the Oregon National Guard played to a 0-0 tie.

Oregonian said the game was “mostly a punting duel between Bill Stewart of Linfield and Al Wickers of Fort Stevens, with Stewart having a decided edge. Linfield had more scoring opportunities but could make no headway within the soldiers’ 20-yard line. Fort Stevens threatened only twice.”

An afternoon game, it took place on Astoria’s Gyro Field, later called John Warren Field. This was supposed to be the first of an annual Fish Bowl football game. One of the reasons there were no subsequent Fish Bowl football games may have been because the U.S. entered World War II on Dec. 8, 1941. Linfield head coach was Henry Lever.

1955: MYRTLE BOWL IN COOS BAY

-Sept. 24, 1955, in Coos Bay. Linfield lost 20-13 to Portland State College (now Portland State University) in the fifth Coos-Curry Shrine Club Myrtle Bowl, a benefit for the Shriners' Hospital for Crippled Children in Portland.

Linfield trailed 20-7 at halftime, said the Oregonian. It scored on a touchdown a PAT kick in the second quarter after recovering a Portland State fumble. Ron Parrish threw a 46-yd. completion to Frank Speyer, who later in the series scored on a 10-yd. run. Howard Glenn kicked the PAT.  In the fourth quarter, Linfield got its final TD (PAT failed) when Marty Bergen passed 26-yards to Glenn.

The night game was held at Marshfield High School Football Stadium. Linfield head coach was Paul Durham.

1956: ‘THE STREAK’ STARTS

-Nov 3, 1956. Linfield beat the College of Idaho Coyotes 20-7, during a night (8:30 o’clock kickoff) Homecoming game on Maxwell Field before a capacity Memorial Stadium crowd. It clinched a winning 1956 season for Linfield Football and started ‘The Streak.’ Each subsequent season has had a game in which a winning season was clinched allowing the streak -- national all-divisions record for consecutive winning record football seasons -- to continue. Linfield defense, led by Vic Fox and Howard Morris, held C of I’s conference-leading rusher to 31 yards on 11 carries. It was Linfield’s first win over C of I in six years. QB Ron Parrish “streaked 78 yards to one touchdown” and passed for two others,” said the Oregonian. The TDs were 75-yards to end Howard Glenn and 32 yards to halfback Bob Flood. PAT kicks respectively by Gary Wells and Gene Manley. Linfield head coach was Paul Durham.

1961: CAMELLIA BOWL IN SACRAMENTO

-Dec. 9, 1961, in Sacramento, California. Linfield lost 12-7 to Pittsburg (Kansas) State Gorillas, in the Camellia Bowl. This was the sixth annual NAIA championship football game. Linfield was the first team from the Northwest to compete for a NAIA football title. Played in the afternoon in Hughes Stadium on the Sacramento City College campus. The Wildcats were the first athletic team from Linfield to play for a national championship in any sport. About 10,000 (most of them Linfield fans) watched the game.

On its first play, a Gorilla player ran 64 yards for a TD. PAT kick failed. Linfield’s lone TD was on a six-yd. pass in the fourth quarter (4:08 to go) from Bill Parrish to Bernie Grant, followed by a Gary Olson PAT kick.

Linfield outgained Pittsburg State, 252 to 229 yards.

The game was telecast live on Portland’s KGW-TV and broadcast on McMinnville’s KMCM and Portland’s KGON radio.

1964: ‘CONCORDIA ICE BOWL’ IN NORTH DAKOTA

-Nov. 21, 1964, in Fargo, North Dakota. Linfield lost 28-6 to Concordia College (Moorhead, Minn.) Cobbers in an NAIA semi-final championship football playoff game known colloquially to Wildcat fans as the 'Concordia Ice Bowl.' Temperatures ranged from 10-15 degrees in the afternoon game played in Fargo (adjacent to Moorhead) on North Dakota State University’s Dacotah Field. Linfield scoring in the game came on a second quarter TD pass from QB Bill Mickle to Jerry Dressel. The PAT kick failed. Although he did not suit up for the game, future Linfield assistant and head football coach Ed Langsdorf, a sophomore, was a member of the 1964 Cobbers football team. Linfield head coach was Paul Durham.

-1965: WIN OVER SUL ROSS IN TEXAS

-1965: CHAMPION BOWL IN GEORGIA

In the NAIA 1965 football playoffs, Linfield, led by head coach Paul Durham, won in Texas and lost in Georgia:

-Nov. 27, 1965. Linfield beat Sul Ross State (Alpine, Texas) 30-27. Linfield’s most impressive win of the 1965 season was this night game played at Midland, Texas, Memorial Stadium. In an NAIA semifinal contest, Linfield’s Tim Kubli kicked a 36-yd. field goal – the longest field goal in NAIA playoff history to that point -- with 49 seconds left to break a tie at 27.

-Dec. 11, 1965: Linfield lost 33-0 to St. John’s (Minn.) University in the NAIA Champion Bowl. It was an afternoon game at ARC (Academy of Richmond County) Stadium in Augusta, Georgia, played before 4,873 fans. Linfield was held to 28 yards rushing and had four passes intercepted. St. John’s led 20-0 at halftime. It added 13 more points in the final quarter.

Linfield 1965 football team player Odis Avritt, an African American, said, “Several days prior to the team departing McMinnville for Augusta, following practice, I sought out coach Durham. Many questions were on my mind regarding going to the ‘Deep South’ and it seemed appropriate to share my concerns with him and get some answers to my apprehensions. My main question was, ‘Were we going to be separated as a team?’ ”

During times of overt racial discrimination, it was not uncommon for sports teams staying overnight on the road to have separate lodging, white players and coaches in a hotel and black players and coaches elsewhere.

“Realizing that the furthest East my travels had taken me was to St. Louis, Missouri, and Midland, Texas (for the Linfield vs. Sul Ross 1965 playoff football game), the idea of Georgia was beyond comprehension. Coach Durham assured me that the Linfield Wildcat football team would be together throughout the entire experience. Coach always had a way with words and you could trust his guidance. He said we would stay together as a team and we did,” Avritt said.

After the game, there was a racist incident prior to the NAIA postgame banquet (the NAIA Hall of Fame Banquet) which both teams attended in an Augusta convention center restaurant, part of the hotel in which both teams stayed.

As Linfield’s players, coaches and staff entered the hotel’s lobby en route to the banquet, Coach Durham was told by the restaurant manager that any colored people --for Linfield that meant African Americans and people of color from Hawaii -- with Linfield would have to eat in the restaurant’s kitchen. Coach Durham’s immediate response was, "Then we (the entire Linfield contingent) will all eat in the kitchen." When told there wasn't room in the kitchen for everyone from Linfield, he promptly stated "Then we won't eat." And, indeed, the Linfielders attending the banquet did not eat while all others at the banquet not affiliated with Linfield did.

Another 1965 Linfield football player, Bob Haack, said “There was no hesitation in Coach Durham’s response. He was a man of principles. He always did what he knew was right. His players were always a team and not a group of individuals. I have reflected many times over the years as to the lesson his action gave about racial equality to both teams as well as to the hotel employees.”

Avritt added, “What happened at the banquet was a testimony of the man Coach Durham was and his commitment to his players and team.”
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For Linfielders, Augusta, Georgia, means college football, not professional golf
http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2017/08/for-linfielders-augusta-georgia-means.html
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1967: IN HONOLULU, UPSET OF UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

-Sept. 23, 1967, in Honolulu, before 20,000, the largest crowd to ever see a Wildcat sporting event, Linfield upset favored University of Hawaii 15-13. The hot and rainy night game was played at old wooden Honolulu Stadium. A story about the game in a Honolulu daily newspaper said, “Hawaii gave it a good try, but the Rainbows were outgunned by the visitors from Oregon …”

Tim Kubli's three field goals; the passing of starting quarterback Mike Barrow, which included one TD pass; the running of Ed Griffin and the pass receptions of Rogers Ishizu were the big factors in the Linfield win said the Associated Press. Hawaii led 7-3 at halftime, but Linfield outscored the opponent 12-6 in the second half.

Before the game, Durham told a Honolulu daily newspaper sports editor, “I think Hawaii should be favored by 50 points.” Durham and his assistant coaches (Roy Helser and Ted Wilson) claimed to be “scared to death” about the Hawaii football team, “a rough, tough aggregation” which included eight transfers from Air Force Academy alone as well as other transfers from Nebraska, Southern Cal and Washington. But, Durham added, “We have a highly competitive team and I am sure we will make it a good game.”

Both Linfield and Hawaii “went into the (contest) with 11 players from Hawaii on each of their rosters. “Linfield started six players from Hawaii, more than Hawaii got into the game,” according to the Oregonian.

After the 1967 season, Durham retired as Linfield football coach and he picked Ad Rutschman, one of his former players, as his successor. Durham planned to stay at Linfield as athletic director and continue teaching. But, he was offered the University of Hawaii athletic director job and took it. There were several reasons Durham got the university job, one being the Wildcat football team win over Hawaii in Honolulu.

1968: UPSET OF BOISE STATE IN BOISE

-Sept. 21, 1968, in Boise. Linfield’s Wildcats upset the Boise State College (now Boise State University) Broncos, 17-7. It was Ad Rutschman’s first game as Linfield head football coach and Boise State’s first game as a four-year school. The contest was played in 40-degree temperatures in the original (built in 1950) Bronco Stadium with wood grandstands on the east end of Boise State’s campus.

In the game, Linfield QB Len Gann threw a TD pass to Bob Murphy, and Jim Consbruck intercepted a Boise State pass and ran it 42 yards for a TD. Tim Kubli kicked two PATs and a field goal. Linfield led 14-0 at halftime.

1976, 1979, 1981: OREGON BOWL FOOTBALL GAMES OF NAIA DISTRICT 2

The Oregon Bowl featured the top Northwest Conference and Evergreen Conference finishers from NAIA District 2. Ad Rutschman was Linfield head coach in all three games.

OREGON BOWL I

-Nov. 20, 1976, in Monmouth at Oregon College of Education (OCE) Memorial Stadium. Linfield lost to OCE (now Western Oregon University), 49-28. Linfield scored the game's first 14 points, but OCE added 42 consecutive points before Linfield scored again. The game was tied at halftime, 14-14. Linfield TDs were on Jeff Owens’s two-yd. run in the (1^st qtr) and Doug Nereu’s 15-yd. pass reception from Larry Doty (2^nd qtr). Linfield concluded its scoring in the fourth quarter: Drake Conti 14-yd, pass from Dave Strain and Duffy Schneider 35-yd. pass from Pat Silva. Linfield’s Tom Sybouts kicked four PATs.

OREGON BOWL II

-Nov. 17, 1979, in McMinnville. Linfield lost to OCE (now WOU), 43-27. It was played before 1,000 fans rainy/muddy/sloppy conditions, OCE led 23-15 at halftime. With OCE leading 7-0, Linfield rebounded to take its only lead (9-7 10:24 1st qtr) after a safety and a 72-yd. run by Bruce Dinsmore. After that, Tom Sybouts kicked a PAT. With eight seconds left until halftime, Linfield scored on a 2-yd. pass from Alan Schmidlin to Leo Sloan (PAT kick failed). Linfield’s other scoring came on TDs in the third (Schmidlin 55-yd. run) and fourth (Pete Weymiller 40-yd. pass from Schmidlin) quarters. (PAT kicks failed.) Schmidlin set “several opponent postseason passing records, including 272 yards, 20 completions and 39 attempts. He totaled 351 yards of offense in the game,” said WOU Sports Info. In the regular season, the teams tied 35-35 on Oct. 6 in Monmouth.

OREGON BOWL III

-Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, 1981, in Klamath Falls. Linfield beat Oregon Tech (Oregon Institute of Technology), 10-7. Two inches of snow fell on the field the night before the afternoon game at Tech’s John F. Moehl Stadium. Oregon Tech scored with a TD and PAT in the first quarter with Linfield responding with a TD run by QB Jon Eagle and a PAT kick by Kyle Tarpening. In the third quarter, Tarpening kicked a 34-yd. field goal, said the Oregonian. Linfield has NAIA District 2’s top defense. It slowed down Tech’s high powered offense. It was Rutschman’s “100th collegiate triumph for Linfield … in 132 games over 14 seasons…,” reported the Nov. 27, 1981, Eugene Register-Guard.

1982, 1984, 1986: WINS IN THREE NAIA DIVISION II NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

In 1982, 1984 and 1986, Linfield won three national football titles with Ad Rutschman as head coach. Because of muddy conditions at Linfield Maxwell Field, all the championship games were played at McMinnville High School’s Wortman Stadium. These titles joined the NAIA World Series championship won by the Rutschman-coached Linfield baseball team in 1971 and the 1966 NAIA World Series title by Linfield baseball coached by Roy Helser.

-Dec. 11, 1982, Linfield beat William Jewell (Mo.), 33-15.

It was Linfield’s first NAIA football title after championship title game losses in 1961 and 1965. The Wildcat defense was magnificent, recovering five William Jewell (Liberty, Missouri) fumbles and intercepting five of its passes. QB Randy Mueller (the game’s MVP) led the Linfield offense, completing 18 of 33 passes with no interceptions. Prior to the game -- played before almost 4,600 and a about 100,000 TV viewers -- Oregon Gov. Victor Atiyeh proclaimed Dec. 11 “Linfield College Football Day in Oregon.”

Linfield running back Tim Nacrelli “shrugged aside the pain from a compression fracture in his back and turned in one of the key plays of the game … a tackle-busting 30-yard run through heavy traffic” in the second quarter, said the Oregonian.

William Jewell scored seven points in the first quarter and eight in the last for its 15 points. Linfield scored TDs in the first on a 12 yd. pass from Mueller to Kent Bostick and a 12 yr. run by Dan Crowell. Kyle Tarpening had PAT kicks after each. In the third, Nacrelli scored a TD on a 32-yd. on pass from Mueller and Mike Freeman had a 1 yd. TD run. (Respective PAT run and pass failed.) In the last quarter was a 16 yd. pass from Mueller to Lance Lopes. (Tarpening PAT kick.)

-Dec. 8, 1984, Linfield beat Northwestern (Iowa), 33-22.

The win “probably was the greatest comeback in Linfield Football history,” said one game story. The Wildcats trailed defending NAIA-II champion Northwestern (Orange City, Iowa) 22-0 before a Linfield John Gray field goal at 3:02 in the third quarter. With 7:08 to go in the game, Linfield took the lead for the first time (26-22). Linfield QB David Lindley threw two TD passes and two passes for 2-point conversions. Two TD with two PAT kicks followed. In total 33 points in 15 and one-half minutes brought Linfield “back from the dead,” said the Oregonian.

The game’s most significant play, said the Oregonian, was when a pass from Northwestern’s quarterback was tipped by Linfield end Rich Moberg and intercepted by back Randy Heath at the Northwestern 32-yd. line. Linfield responded with a TD and a two point conversion to cut Northwestern’s lead to 22-11. That got the crowd of more than 3,600 back to life.

Linfield scoring in the game -- Third quarter: 27-yd. John Gray field goal. Keith Machida TD on one yard pass and a two-point PAT, both from Lindley. Fourth quarter: Greg Hodgkinson 37-yd. TD pass from Lindley and a Lindley to Randy Reason pass for a two-point PAT. Then, TD runs of eight and one yards respectively by Nacrelli and Mike Sigman, each followed by Gray PAT kicks.

-Dec. 13, 1986, Linfield beat Baker University (Baldwin City, Kansas), 17-0.

QB David Lindley directed Linfield to 355 net yards. Defense led by safety Damon Liles held Baker to 155 net yards. Both players from Albany, Ore.  It was the first shutout in a NAIA title game since 1978 and Linfield’s third NAIA football title in five years.

Almost 4,200 saw the game in which Baker was frustrated with its inability to run its option during the game, played in a cold, steady drizzle on a muddy field, said a UPI story. Added Rutschman, “We knew our defense had to play real well for us to win.” It did.

Baker lost four balls on fumbles. Linfield lost none.

In the game, Linfield had 21 first downs to Baker’s 10 and had a time of possession edge of more than 36 minutes to more than 23 minutes. Baker had 155 total yards and Linfield 200 more than that. Lindley was 21 of 37 in passing (no interceptions) for 207 yards.

Linfield scoring came in the first quarter from a 31-yd. field goal by Greg Gulliford and a two-yard TD run by Todd MacClanahan(PAT kick failed). In the fourth quarter, Andy Westernberg scored a TD on a one-yard run which was followed by a two-point PAT pass from Lindley to David Erickson.

Interesting to note: Baker’s starting tight end was Mike McCarthy, now head coach of the Green Bay Packers.

-Dec. 19, 1992, University of Findlay (Findlay, Ohio) beat Linfield, 26-13

In his first year as Linfield head football coach, Ed Langsdorf, guided the 1992 Wildcats to the NAIA DII national championship game. Prior to his four seasons (1992-1995) as Linfield head coach, Langsdorf was a Wildcats assistant football coach for 12 seasons. After he stepped down as head coach, he was an assistant four more seasons.

The afternoon game was played at Portland Civic Stadium before more than 9,000 fans.

Findlay’s defense overwhelmed Linfield, said the Oregonian. Findlay led 14-7 at halftime and outscored Linfield 12-6 in the second half.

Linfield, which averaged 476.5 yards of offense in its previous 12 games, was held to 268 yards by the Findlay defense, and managed only 204 yards after its opening march.

After the opening kickoff, Linfield used six plays to go 64 yards. QB Shannon Sells ran the final five yards after throwing a 25 yard pass to John Santiago and Gary McGarvie gained 19. Kunle Thomas kicked the PAT.

Linfield got a second touchdown on a 42-yard Sells-to-McGarvie pass play with 4:20 left in the game. A two post conversion after TD pass failed.

2004: STAGG BOWL. WIN IN NCAA DIVISION III NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Jay Locey served 10 seasons (1996-2005) as Linfield head football coach after 13 seasons (1983–1995) as a Linfield assistant football coach. In 2004, his next to the last season as head coach, he led Linfield to its fourth national football championship and its first national team title as a member of the NCAA.

-Dec. 18, 2004, in Salem, Virginia. Linfield beat University of Mary Hardin Baylor (Belton, Texas), 28-21. It was the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl at Salem Stadium in Salem, Va. Attendance was 3,240. Temperature at the 11 o’clock in the morning Eastern time kickoff was 33 degrees.

Linfield QB Brett Elliott threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Teammate Riley Jenkins ran for a team-high 81 yards on 18 carries and had four catches for 64 yards. Garrett Wales kicked four Linfield PATs.

Initial scoring was on a 39-yd. first quarter pass from Elliott to Brandon Hazenberg. In the same quarter, UHMB responded to tie the game at 7. Jenkins ran 14 yards for a TD in the second quarter in which UMHB responded with a TD of its own, but Linfield’s Ryan Caffall blocked the PAT attempt giving Linfield a 14-13 halftime lead. Elliott ran one yard for a TD at the end of the third quarter. UMHB scored on a TD run and a two point conversion at 9:01 in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 21. With 5:51 to go in the game, Elliott’s 10-yd. pass to Jenkins was the game’s final TD. Adding Wales’ PAT kick after it, gave Linfield a 28-21 lead it never relinquished. However, in the game’s closing seconds, UMHB had the ball on a fourth down with four yards to go on the Linfield 19. But, the UMHB quarterback was sacked by Linfield’s Kelle Bertrand and Brandon Tom on the 22 yard line. Linfield took over and ran out the clock.

POSTSCRIPT

PINE BOWL –Linfield first played Whitworth in football in 1952. The first time the teams played on Whitworth’s Pine Bowl football field in Spokane was Saturday afternoon, Sept. 19, 1953. Linfield lost, 20-0. While the Pine Bowl is not a bowl game, it is a bowl venue in which Linfield has played and plays Whitworth.

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Slideshow music: "The Thunderer" march by John Philip Sousa, performed by United States Marine Band.

For assistance with images and information thanks to:

• Astoria Public Library
• Bob and Nancy Steinbach Haack
• Boise State University Special Collections & Archives
• Concordia College Digital Collections
• George Fox University Archives
• George Murdock
• Linfield College Handbook for Administrators
• Linfield histories “Bricks Without Straw” by Jonas Jonasson (1938); “Linfield’s Hundred Years,” edited by Kenneth Holmes (1956); and “Inspired Pragmatism: An Illustrated History of Linfield College” by Marvin Henberg and Barbara Seidman (2007).
• Linfield Magazine
• Linfield Review
• Linfield Sports Information
• Linfield website
• McMinnville Telephone-Register and News-Register
• Odis Avritt
• Portland Oregonian
• Western Oregon University Sports Information

Note: Every effort has been made to assure accuracy of this posting. However, if you note errors, including omissions, please contact wildcatville@gmail.com