After
30 years, Linfield’s nameless HHPA should memorialize Paul Durham
(This story posted June
1. 2019.)
During
the summer of 1989 Linfield College’s HHPA/Health, Human Performance and
Athletics building opened at the corner of Linfield Avenue and Lever Street.
A
story in the June 15, 1989, Oregonian said
the college’s new “physical education, health and athletics complex … has not
been named.”
It’s
been 30 years since HHPA went into use that summer and it’s approaching another
30 year milestone in November. It was dedicated Nov. 4, 1989.
HHPA
is a well-designed and well-used facility which serves the needs of a vibrant
college community. From when it opened its doors to the present, the building
has continued to have a generic name when other athletics-related facilities on
campus memorialize former Linfield coaches:
·
Roy Helser Field.
·
Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
·
Hal Smith Fitness Center.
·
Ad and Joan Rutschman Field House.
There
is one person for whom HPPA should be named: Paul Durham (1913-2007).
Born
in 1913 in Portland, where he was raised, he died at age 92 in Honolulu in
2007.
Call
it the "Paul Durham Health, Human Performance and Athletics
Building."Durham’s initial contact with Linfield came as one of its students. He had wide ranging talents. Competing in football, basketball and track, he was a star athlete at Linfield in the 1930s and is one of the few Wildcats in history to earn 10 or more letters. A good student, he was also a talented singer. He graduated from Linfield in 1936, then coached at high schools in Yamhill and Portland before returning to his alma mater in 1948 to coach football and, starting in 1949, to also serve as the college's athletic director.
Durham was Linfield's head football coach for 20
seasons (1948-1967), compiling a record of 122 victories, 51 defeats and 10
ties for a .694 winning percentage.
In his final 12 football seasons, the Wildcats went
90-16-6 (.830), won six Northwest Conference championships and reached the
national championship game of the NAIA twice. Those two teams were the first
from the Northwest Conference to participate in the NAIA football playoffs.
His 1956 team started "The Streak" of
consecutive winning seasons that continues to this day as the national record
at all levels of college football.
Durham was inducted into six athletics Halls of Fame,
including the Linfield Athletics, (1998, charter class); Portland
Interscholastic League (2001); Oregon Sports, 1989; NAIA Football, 1969; Helms
Foundation and University of Hawaii Circle of Honor (both 1997). He has been
nominated for the national College Football Hall of Fame.
In 1961 he was Oregon ‘Man of the Year’ and in 1962
the NAIA football ‘Coach of the Year.’
In the season-opening game of 1967, Durham took the football
Wildcats to Honolulu, where they upset the University of Hawaii, 15-13, at
rainy Honolulu Stadium before a Honolulu Stadium crowd of about 20,000 - still
the most ever to see a Linfield game.
Hawaii was so impressed with Durham and the Wildcats
that it hired him away from Linfield in 1968 to direct its athletic program.
Durham was a Renaissance man.
Not only did he coach and teach (he taught health
classes in addition to the life lessons he imparted on the football field) at
Linfield, Durham read widely, sang in choirs and as a soloist, was an
accomplished formal speaker, a wonderful story and joke teller with a deep,
booming voice.
Raising a family in McMinnville on a small-college
coach's salary was a challenge, so Durham augmented his income in other ways.
During summers -- in addition to teaching classes at
Linfield -- he ran the McMinnville city recreation program - overseeing
activities in the city park during the day and softball games at night.
And, he was sports editor of the McMinnville News-Register newspaper. He also wrote a popular sports
column, "Dodging with Durham.”
He was paid to sing popular hymns such as “How Great
Thou Art” at funerals in McMinnville.
He was chosen First Citizen of McMinnville by the
Chamber of Commerce and was elected president of the Linfield Alumni
Association and honored as Alumnus of the Year.
Born
in 1913 in Portland, where he was raised, he died at age 92 in Honolulu in
2007.
There’s more.
Here’s the story -- engraved on one of the tablets
accompanying the Paul Durham statue/monument on the Linfield campus next to
HHPA -- to look into his soul:
“Long before racial sensitivity became a national
issue, (Paul) Durham judged his athletes by the strength of their character
without regard to race or religion.
“He made a strong unpublicized statement for human
and civil rights during the Champion Bowl in Augusta, Georgia, in December of
1965. When a hotel official wanted to serve the Black and Hawaiian members of
the team in the kitchen at the banquet following the game, Durham advised the
restaurant manager the entire team would eat in the kitchen.
“When the manager said there was not enough room to
feed the team in the kitchen, the team stayed in the dining room but there was
no food served at the Linfield tables.
“As a result of this incident and his personal
lobbying efforts, the 1966 NAIA championship game was moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Such was the profound influence of a man whose
memory is still alive in the hearts, minds, and actions of those he touched
during his distinguished career and extraordinary life. One of life’s blessings
was to be a friend of Paul Durham. He was a beacon of light in the darkest of
times.”
Paul Durham was more than a football coach. He was an
extraordinary person. A talented Linfield student, including in athletics and
music, his successes after graduating from Linfield are storied. He was a
respected community leader in McMinnville with a positive national reputation
which enhanced Linfield. His teaching skills and leadership of Linfield teams
and athletics and impact on all of those with whom he had contact, including
players he coached, were beyond compare. For all the good Paul Durham did and for his undeniable positive impact on Linfield, Linfield Athletics, McMinnville and more, the Linfield Board of Trustees doesn’t think it was enough.
Twice, most
recently in 2014, the trustees were asked by alumni to name HHPA for Paul
Durham. Twice the board said, “no.”
In the
aftermath of the Linfield Trustees saying no in 2014, friends raised funds and
had the aforementioned Paul Durham statue/monument created and installed next
to Linfield Avenue between HHPA and the Linfield Aquatic Center. It was
dedicated in 2014.
In concert with
that, to placate some, Durham’s name went on the front of HHPA to indicate the
lobby and foyer inside HHPA are named for him.
(The Linfield
Athletics Hall of Fame and Hall of Champions are housed within the Paul Durham
Lobby and Foyer.)
But, don’t be
misled. It’s what’s inside HHPA/Health, Human Performance and Athletics
building that’s named for him, not the building itself.
In summary, Paul
Durham’s name is on the building and inside the building. But, the building is
not, as it should be, named for him.
Read more about Paul Durham
here:
FOOTNOTE:
=Although
not athletic facilities, Lever and Brumback Streets on the Linfield campus
memorialize former coaches. Lever Street is for Henry Lever, longtime Linfield
coach and athletic director. Brumback Street is for Arthur M. Brumback, a
former president and the college’s first football coach.
=HHPA
was to be named for Kenneth W. Ford (1908-1997) of Oregon. As it turned out, it
is not. Instead, another building on campus -- Kenneth W. Ford Hall, home of
Marshall Theatre at Linfield – bears his name. According to The Ford Family
Foundation website, Ford “pursued a vision with a single sawmill in the
southern Oregon community of Roseburg. From his tenacity grew Roseburg Forest
Products Co., one of the largest, family-owned wood products.”
=PHOTOS:
Linfield Archives, Wildcatville, Oregonian, McMinnville News-Register.
…………………
HHPA over the years
1989 –In
June 1989, Linfield’s new Health, Human Performance and Athletics (HHPA)
building opens. On June 17, 1989, it is host of Oregon boys’ high school
all-star basketball games.
1989 – On
Nov. 4, 1989, HHPA dedicated. During dedication, it’s announced gymnasium is
named for Ted Wilson, a Linfield men’s basketball coach.
1991 – On
Oct. 19, 1991, HPPA’s fitness center dedicated for Hal Smith, a Linfield track
& field, cross-country, wrestling coach and p.e. dept. chair.
1998 – On
Oct. 17, 1998, Paul Durham among six members of first “class” enshrined in new
Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.
2006 (guesstimate)
– Linfield Board of Trustees say “no” to naming HHPA for Paul Durham.
2007 – On
June 22, 2007, Paul Durham dies at age. Born Oct, 18, 1913 and a 1936 Linfield
grad, he was a Linfield coach (football, basketball, golf), administrator
(athletics) and faculty member (health and p.e.), 1948-1968.
2014 – On
April 14, 2014, Linfield Board of Trustees -- via Dave Haugeberg, board chair
-- say “no” to naming HHPA for Paul Durham.
2014 – In
June 2014, Paul Durham signage added to HHPA building exterior.
2014 – On
Oct. 18, 2014 -- 101st anniversary of Paul Durham’s birth -- Paul
Durham statue/monument, funded by his Linfield players and friends,
unveiled/dedicated on Linfield campus outside near HHPA. Event took place
during Linfield Homecoming, before a Wildcats football game.
2019 – In
June 2019, HHPA is now 30 years old. It has been 30 years since HHPA opened and
it’s still not named for Paul Durham.
#
