On Nov. 22 in 1953, this story
and photo (click on photo above for a larger version) appeared in the Sunday Oregonian sports section:
Club Retires
Grid Jersey
Rutschman Gets
Linfield Honors
LINFIELD COLLEGE, McMinnville
(Special) – There will never be another 32 on a Linfield college football
uniform.
Action taken today by the college
student body and letterman’s club has decreed that all jerseys bearing the
number used by Linfield’s star fullback, Ad Rutschman, for the last four
seasons be placed on display in trophy cases and the number be permanently
retired from the Linfield football jersey list.
Rutschman has just completed a
four-year career that will go down as probably the greatest in Linfield history.
Sporting many nicknames, such as “Air Foam Ad” and “The Slippery Swiss,” the
ex-Hillsboro high athlete has led the Linfield ground gainers for four years.
The 5-foot-9, 182-pounder gained a total of 3390 yards from rushing plays, an
average of 5.1 yards per carry. His total of 1127 last season was eight best in
the nation.
Rutschman can add another 371
yards gained on passes thrown and 404 on the receiving end. He has also done
most of the club’s punting, averaging 34.5 yards on 155 punts. In his first three years at Linfield he was an all-Northwest conference selection twice. He
plans to become a high school teacher after graduation.
Paul Durham, Linfield coach,
while fully appreciating Ad’s running, passing and kicking talents, said:
“Greater than any of his accomplishments was his eternal desire to win and his
inspirational leadership of the team.”
Photo cutline:
Coach Paul Durham (right) and
Linfield’s star fullback, Ad Rutschman, talk over some of the big moments of
Rutschman’s four-year football career at Linfield. Durham holds up one of
Rutschman’s jerseys which will be put on display in the Linfield trophy case.
The number will be permanently retired.
POSTSCRIPT from 2018:
Note
the story says, “In his first three years at Linfield he was an all-Northwest
conference selection twice.”
Research
shows in Ad Rutschman’s four seasons as a Linfield football player, he was
all-Northwest Conference four times, honorable mention as a freshman (1950) and
first team as a sophomore, junior and senior (1951, 1952 and 1953).
