=THE
STORY=
Sideline tackle by Pacific player versus
Linfield wins suspension
LA Times Oct. 17, 1989, with editing by
Wildcatville
FOREST
GROVE, Ore. — Pacific University officials have suspended from the football
team a player who stepped off the sidelines and decked a Linfield player late
in Saturday’s game (Oct. 14, 1989, on Linfield’s Maxwell Field in McMinnville) between
the two schools.
(Linfield
won, 34-22.)
Bob Bonn,
athletic director at the Forest Grove school, said Monday that starting
linebacker Joe Schmelzer, a junior, will not return to the team this year.
Schmelzer
was watching from the sidelines in the fourth quarter as Linfield defensive
back Tony Chiu intercepted a Pacific pass at the Linfield 40-yard line and
raced past the Boxers’ bench. Chiu was about 30 yards shy of a touchdown when
Schmelzer stepped onto the field and flattened him with a shoulder to the
chest.
Bonn said
Schmelzer, a 20-year-old junior from Palo Alto, “feels terrible. He was in tears
after the game, and he apologized to his own team,” Bonn said. “It’s a
situation he regrets deeply.”
:::::::::::::::::::::
Another version of story …
PORTLAND,
Ore. (AP) — Pacific University officials have suspended from the football team
a player who stepped off the sidelines and decked a Linfield player late in
Saturday’s game between the two schools.
Bob Bonn,
athletic director at the Forest Grove school, said Monday that starting
linebacker Joe Schmelzer, a junior, will not return to the team this year.
Schmelzer
was watching from the sidelines in the fourth quarter as Linfield defensive
back Tony Chiu intercepted a Pacific pass at the Linfield 40-yard line and
raced past the Boxers’ bench. Chiu was about 30 yards shy of a touchdown when
Schmelzer stepped onto the field and flattened him with a shoulder to the
chest.
Bonn said
Schmelzer, a 20-year-old junior from Palo Alto, “feels terrible. He was in
tears after the game, and he apologized to his own team,” Bonn said. “It’s a
situation he regrets deeply.”
:::::
You asked for it, here’s yet another version of story.
FOREST
GROVE, Ore. (UPI) -- A Pacific University player who came off the bench to make
a tackle during a game against Columbia Football Association-rival Linfield has
been suspended for the remainder of the season, athletic officials at the
Forest Grove school said Monday.
Joe
Schmelzer was suspended for coming off the bench to tackle Linfield's Tony Chiu
after the defensive back came up with an interception.
'No. 66
came off the sidelines and hit me right in the chest,' Chiu said Saturday after
the game, won by Linfield, 34-22. 'I thought I was wide open and I was relaxed
and smiling. Then, no smile.'
Chiu made
the interception at about midfield and appeared headed for a touchdown when he
was brought down.
Linfield
Coach Ad Rutschman said it was first time in 22 years of coaching he was
involved in a game in which something like that happened.
Pacific
Coach Bill Griffin removed Schmelzer from the game and later apologized to
Rutschman.
=THE REST OF THE STORY=
Rest of
the story from Linfielder/Linfield Athletics Hall of Famer Dennis Anderson.
At the
time Anderson was living in Hawaii, working at the Honolulu Advertiser daily newspaper and writing a popular “Homegrown
Report” column in the newspaper. He saved up his vacation time, travel from
Hawaii to McMinnville and volunteered in the Linfield Athletic Department nine or 10 weeks a year for 10 years for Ad Rutschman, Linfield
athletic director/coach.
Dennis
said …
“What this story doesn't tell you is the officials didn't
see that Schmelzer had come off the bench and allowed the tackle. But they did
flag Linfield for clipping far behind the play. I was (video) taping from a
cherry picker behind the end zone.
“With Ad's approval, Bryant (son, Linfield student/football
player) drove my tape to a Portland TV station. Two nights later, it appeared
nationally on (ABC-TV, NFL) Monday Night Football. Schmelzer was from Gunn High
School in Palo Alto. I phone-interviewed him the next week for ‘Homegrown
Report’.”
::::
Chiu’s
run draws big attention
By Dennis
Anderson for the News-Miner
Fairbanks,
Alaska, Daily News Miner newspaper, Tue. Oct. 17, 1989
McMinnville, Ore.-A funny thing happened to Tony Chiu on the
way to what appeared to be his first collegiate touchdown.
He never made it to the end zone. Chiu, a former standout at
Eielson High School, was breezing along the sidelines on the way to pay dirt
Saturday when a player from the opponents’ bench darted onto the field and
tackled him. And the player, Pacific University’s Joe Schmelzer, got away with
it.
Chiu, a junior cornerback from Linfield College, had
intercepted a pass and was sprinting past the Pacific College bench with a
convoy of blockers in front of him, apparently on the way to a 57-yard
touchdown.
He was looking toward the center of the field at pursuing
Pacific University (Oregon) players and his blockers when Schmelzer, a starting
linebacker, came off the bench and leveled Chiu at the 30-yard line.
“I only had to beat the quarterback and (defensive end Dan)
Kielty was blocking him,” Chiu said. “I had him beat. “I was feeling pretty
good,” Chiu added. ‘‘I was looking forward to scoring.”
The official trailing the play, field judge Larry Seachris,
had been knocked down and didn’t see what happened. The other six officials on
the field were either watching activity in their two zones of responsibility or
were screened off by the players pursuing Chiu.
But most of the crowd of 2,100 at Linfield for the Parents’
Weekend game saw it.
Some Linfield coaches and players had to be restrained and
the crowd set up a long chorus of boos as the officials, after more than 10
minutes of discussion, let the tackle stand and then penalized Linfield 15
yards for a push-block at the end of the play.
A videotape of the incident was played on ABC’s “Monday
Night Football” telecast. Sunday, Schmelzer reflected on the play, which he had
watched over and over Saturday night and Sunday on Portland television
newscasts.
“He was running by me. All of the sudden I thought, ‘I can
stop a TD, all I have to do is tackle him, #44 Schmelzer said. “My brain didn’t
work. I took a step onto the field and hit him,” Schmelzer added. “It was a big
mistake . . . really stupid, a terrible thing to do. My emotions were so high.
I wanted to win so bad.”
A committee of Pacific players and coaches will decide on
discipline for Schmelzer, he said. It could be suspension for a game or longer.
“What I did is not justifiable in any way,” Schmelzer said. “I deserve some
penalty.”
Chiu, his chest still hurting Sunday, agreed. “I’d like to
see him get what he deserves,” Chiu said. “I'd like to see him get suspended
for two or
(story starts
on page 1 and continues on page 13)
three games. It was a cheap shot.”
Chiu said the play ‘‘hurt me more mentally than physically.”
I had been burned for a 60-yard touchdown pass on their last play before that,”
Chiu said. ‘‘It was good to get it back, I was really happy. This (the tackle)
brought me down ... I cried.”
Bob Bonn, athletic director at Pacific University in Forest
Grove, said on Monday that Schmelzer would not return to the team this year.
Bonn said that Schmelzer, a 20-year-old junior from Palo
Alto, Calif., ‘‘feels terrible.” ‘‘He was in tears after the game, and he
apologized to his own team, Bonn said. ‘‘It’s a situation he regrets deeply.”
Schmelzer said he tried to telephone Chiu in McMinnville
Sunday to apologize, but Chiu was not in his room.
‘‘I'm glad he wasn’t hurt,” Schmelzer said. ‘‘I plan to
write a letter of apology to the team and specifically to him.” Chiu made
another pass interception earlier in the game, returning it 19 yards. He also
made six tackles and broke up a pass, drawing praise from veteran Linfield
coach Ad Rutschman for ‘playing very well, except for two plays (the touchdown
and another long pass gain.)”
Linfield was leading 34-22 at the time of the incident and
won by that score.
:::::::::::::
Oh, here’s another story
Pacific
drops player who decked foe illegally
By John
Nolen, Oregonian, Oct. 17, 1989
The Pacific University player who last weekend stepped from
the sidelines and decked a Linfield player running for an apparent touchdown
has been suspended from the team.
Bob Bonn, athletic director at the Forest Grove school, said
Monday that Joe Schmelzer, a junior linebacker, was suspended Monday for the
remainder of the season.
Schmelzer, a starter on the Boxers' defense, was watching
from the sidelines as Linfield defensive back Tony Chiu intercepted a Pacific
pass at the Linfield 40-yard line and raced past the Boxers' bench. Chiu was
about 30 yards shy of a touchdown when Schmelzer stepped onto the field, met
Chiu head-on and leveled the onrushing Wildcat with a blow to the chest.
Schmelzer, a 20-year-old junior from Palo Alto, Calif., was
unavailable for comment. Bonn said school personnel were attempting to shield
Schmelzer from the media on Monday because ``the kid is really in a bad
situation. It's a lot of pressure on a 20-year-old.
``He feels terrible. He was in tears after the game, and he
apologized to his own team. It's a situation he regrets deeply.''
Bonn said the school had to make a decision for some
punishment, and that he had received the recommendation for Schmelzer's
dismissal from head coach Bill Griffin.
``I endorsed it 100 percent,'' Bonn said.
``This was not an easy decision. It was a hard, hard
decision, but we don't teach those kinds of things here. We tried to do what
was best. This is hard now for everyone, but down the road it will be the best
thing for Joe and our program.''
Griffin, who removed Schmelzer from the game when the player
admitted what he had done, Monday called the situation ``unpleasant . . . sad .
. . gut-wrenching.''
``It's a decision I made,'' Griffin said. ``And it's
gut-wrenching.''
Griffin refused further comment, but during the weekend he
said Schmelzer ``told me he didn't do it on purpose.''
``I think it was a reaction,'' Griffin said.
Linfield coach Ad Rutschman was angry both with the incident
and with his players' reaction.
When Schmelzer was being escorted to the Boxers' dressing
room by Pacific coaches in the final minutes of the game, some Linfield players
on the sideline moved toward Schmelzer and began yelling and gesturing.
Even though the game had not ended, Rutschman bolted from
his usual spot in the Linfield coaches area atop the Maxwell Field grandstand,
raced down through the stands and onto the field, and began grabbing and
hollering at his players to leave the Pacific player alone.
``I don't think that's the way this game was meant to be
played,'' Rutschman said later. ``I want to win, but I want to win with class.
I don't expect our kids to ever be involved in this.''
After the play, Schmelzer stepped off the field, removed his
helmet and stood with some other Pacific players. He then went onto the field
with the rest of the defense, until Griffin ordered him out of the game.
Griffin said he was at first unaware that a player came off
the sidelines to tackle Chiu. The situation was complicated because none of the
game officials noticed the illegal tackle.
Spectators began yelling at Griffin, however, and that set
off a series of conferences between Griffin, the officials and Linfield
assistant coaches in an attempt to determine what happened.
``My integrity as a coach was being questioned and that
upset me because I don't condone what happened,'' Griffin said. ``Guys in the
stands were questioning my lineage . . . The verbiage was hard to take. No
football game is important enough to have all that.''
Rutschman said the hit on Chiu frightened him.
``In that situation you could be looking at a terrible
injury because of a player running hard getting hit by someone you don't see,''
Rutschman said.
Chiu had his breath knocked out on the play, but was
otherwise uninjured.
#
Same story, photo posted at BWC-Linfield and Linfield Alumni Facebook pages.
