Sept. 9, 1971: First issue of Linews (Linfield College student newspaper)

Sept. 9, 1971: First issue of Linews (Linfield College student newspaper) of which Walt Valentine was editor.

== On Wed, Sep 21, 9:43 AM, Walt wrote: "Because I chose the cheapest housing at Linfield, I spent my junior year in Newby Hall. Another apartment had upperclassmen who had moved from New Dorm, including the sports editor and business manager of Linews, the Linfield weekly newspaper. Most of the old newspaper staff were graduating and they asked if I wanted to be editor next year. Not knowing any better I said yes."

Linfield (Class of 1992) alum Shaun Aguano named interim head football coach at Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona)

Linfield (Class of 1992) alum Shaun Aguano named interim head football coach at Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona)

Based on story in McMinnville N-R/News-Register 9/20/2022

Former Linfield Wildcat running back Shaun Aguano was named interim head coach of the Arizona State University football team Sunday after the program agreed to part ways with head coach Herm Edwards.

Aguano played for Linfield from 1988-1991 under legendary coach Ad Rutschman.

After graduating from Linfield, Aguano returned to his hometown of Kappa, Hawaii to begin his coaching career. 

In 1999, he moved from Hawaii to Arizona, joining the football coaching staff of Chandler (Arizona) High School, at first as wide receiver coach, then offensive coordinator and then assumed the role of head coach in 2011. There Aguano led the team to four state titles in five years. He was hired by Edwards in January 2019 as ASU’s running backs coach, where he coached current NFL running backs Eno Benjamin and Rachaad White.

“This opportunity on the grand scale of things is a dream for me,” Aguano said during a press conference Monday. “Dreams can come true.”

….

Former Chandler coach Shaun Aguano named interim coach at ASU

By Zach Alvira, East Valley Tribune (Tempe, Arizona)  Sports Editor 9/19/2022

Shaun Aguano was a coaching legend at Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona.

He built the Wolves into a powerhouse football program, one that was nationally ranked on several occasions and became a dynasty in 2016-18 when it won the 6A state championship under his leadership. In 2019, he was hired by Arizona State to lead the running backs.

Now four short years later, Aguano is taking yet another step in his coaching career, albeit in circumstances he is not too keen on.

On Sunday, Sept. 18, less than 24 hours after the Sun Devils’ loss to Eastern Michigan at home, it was announced that Herm Edwards had relinquished his position as head coach with the team. That opened the door for an interim coach from the current staff to step in.

Aguano was selected.

“It’s been a crazy couple of days,” Aguano said Monday afternoon during his first press conference with media as interim head coach. “This opportunity, in the grand scheme of things, is a dream for me. All I can ask is for opportunity. So, what do I do with that opportunity in the next nine games? Try to put a product on the field that Sun Devil nation is proud of.”

The running backs room under Aguano has been one of the strongest position groups in recent years for the Sun Devils.

Aguano coached Eno Benjamin in his first season with the Sun Devils, who was drafted in 2020 by the Arizona Cardinals and is now the team’s No. 2 back behind starter James Conner. After Benjamin, he helped develop Rachaad White, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chip Trayanum – who recently transferred to Ohio State to play linebacker – and Daniyel Ngata, who is currently part of a two-back system that includes Wyoming transfer X Valladay.

Aguano is passionate about the work he has done at Arizona State so far, and he’s eager to begin a new chapter while upholding the same values he’s always had with coaching, which include his Hawaiian culture.

“Football is my life,” Aguano said. “Inspiring kids are my life. My kids sacrificed 20 years so I could do what I love. I want to make sure that I teach not only my kids, but I wanna teach our kids that being a successful father, being a successful citizen of society, that’s the most important.

“That Ohana is a huge meaning for me because it’s all about family.”

Aguano’s interim status was met with positive reaction from the Chandler community and those who are faithful to the Sun Devils. While college football is a different animal, Aguano’s track record before his arrival to Arizona State speaks for itself.

He led Chandler to an 88-19 record in his eight seasons. He developed several high-level college football players, including Arizona State standouts Chase Lucas and N’Keal Harry, who are both now in the NFL.

Arizona State was able to keep those two in-state for their college careers. But in recent years, that has been a struggle for the university. Aguano hopes to change that.

“I will personally recruit Arizona kids,” Aguano said. “I’m an Arizona guy, I’ve been here for 20 years. I understand the landscape and what it means. My kids were born in Arizona. There’s not one coach, that I think, in the nation that loves Arizona and is in place at Arizona State that I think can do a better job than I can. That’s just the way I always bet on myself.”

Aguano became emotional Monday afternoon on a few occasions. He explained in detail how much this opportunity means to him and his family.

He described his house as loud and boisterous when they received the news. He also estimated 27 notes he had written down on the notepad on his bedside table throughout a sleepless night heading into his first full day as interim head coach on Monday.

Aguano knows taking over the program won’t be an easy task. It still has an NCAA investigation hanging over its head and just suffered one of its worst losses in program history heading into matchups with three nationally ranked opponents in Utah, USC and Washington.

But while at Chandler he prided himself on believing in his players to play the best teams in the nation. He has the same confidence in Arizona State.

“I think we have the talent to challenge anybody,” Aguano said. “I feel I have the expertise from a game management situation – and I’ll fall a little bit on Marvin Lewis as well – but that hasn’t changed. I think we can compete with anybody in the country.”

Before Aguano took over as the Chandler head coach, he recalled sitting at the Arizona coaching conventions where he heard successful high school coaches and Division I college coaches speak. Year after year he would move up until he sat in the first row. He told his wife he would be a head football coach one day.

It happened at Chandler and now just four years later, at Arizona State.

It’s been his dream to become a college head coach, and he hopes to be able to drop the interim tag after this year and get a shot at doing it full-time for the Sun Devils.

“It’s the opportunity I had been asking for,” Aguano said. “Now with that opportunity, you have to go make sure you can keep that opportunity. I’m going to ask for (fans) support.

“You’ve got an Arizona coach who loves Arizona in this spot. Now let’s go and help an Arizona guy stay here.”

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PHOTO: Shaun Aguano, Arizona State U asst. football coach, 7/30/2019. Photo by Michael Chow/The Republic

La Center's 'Linfield Legend' joins college football broadcast team

La Center's 'Linfield Legend' joins college football broadcast team

Vice principal at La Center (Clark County, Washington), Gary McGarvie (Linfield College Class of 1993), wants to give back to his college program

By Paul Valencia,
Clark County (Washington) Today News,
9/14/2022

When Gary McGarvie first arrived at Linfield College in 1989, his only goal was to make the travel roster one season before he graduated.

One could say he underestimated his potential.

By epic proportions.

McGarvie, now the vice principal at La Center High School (La Center, Clark County, Washington) is a member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame. There is a YouTube video of his career highlights, describing him as a Linfield Legend.

Oh, and 33 years after arriving on campus, McGarvie is back on the travel roster for Linfield football.

As a broadcaster.

Sports fans in Clark County know McGarvie as the former head coach for Fort Vancouver football and then Union football. He also was the athletic director at Union High School before becoming the AD at Washougal. 

He left athletic administration after this past school year. But before he was hired at La Center, he inquired with Linfield about helping on the broadcast team.

A couple months later, McGarvie spent a couple days in Alabama during the first week of the college football season to work his other job.

“It’s family. Linfield football is family,” McGarvie said. “I wanted to be part of that again. For me, it was just to get back involved with something that had such an amazing impact on my life. I wanted to give back.”

The Linfield Wildcats recently practiced at the University of Alabama’s indoor facility. Gary McGarvie, the vice principal at La Center High School, was there as part of Linfield’s broadcast team. Photo courtesy Gary McGarvie

Of course, his real job had to approve of the side job and allow for a couple of days off for McGarvie to travel to Alabama. McGarvie said La Center has been fantastic about the situation. 

The rest of the Linfield schedule calls for Saturday games in the Northwest. 

That first game was memorable. Linfield practiced at the University of Alabama’s indoor facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. McGarvie got to tour the Bear Bryant Museum, also in Tuscaloosa. Then the Wildcats beat Huntingdon 41-34 in Montgomery, Alabama, with McGarvie giving his analysis on the Linfield broadcast.

“Oh, I was unbelievably nervous. Very nervous,” McGarvie said. “My wife was texting me: ‘You need to calm down.’ You don’t know what you don’t know. Trying to describe plays in 14 seconds on the radio is much more difficult than I anticipated. I think I regrouped. By the time I got to the second half, I was doing a lot better.”

No pressure, Gary McGarvie. You’re just replacing a legend. McGarvie is taking over for Dave Hansen, who either called play by play or did the analysis for Linfield football for the past 47 seasons.

Hansen, in fact, was the dean at Linfield when McGarvie was a student-athlete there.

“I’m lucky because I know him. We have a relationship. He and I met, and I talked to him about what to expect,” McGarvie said. “He’s going to give me some pointers.”

Broadcaster McGarvie has also had to take advice from Coach McGarvie.

“I have a hard time listening to myself. I’m forcing myself to listen to it,” he said. “It’s like when I coached, you make the kids watch film. This is my ‘film.’ I have to listen to it to get better.”

McGarvie has also reached out to Jim Wilson, a Fort Vancouver teacher and coach who has been the analyst for Oregon State football radio for years.

Wilson might be in a slighter bigger market — the Pac 12 has a bit more interest than the Northwest Conference of NCAA Division III. But McGarvie points out that Linfield football has a better resume than Oregon State.

“Anybody can do Oregon State games,” McGarvie joked. “Linfield has won four national championships. That’s all I have to say.”

McGarvie has a lot to learn about his new broadcast job, but he already has a passion for Linfield. He also acknowledges he has a soft spot for players from small high schools. He noticed right away, for example, that Linifield’s travel roster this year includes two players from Stevenson.

He still recalls how he just wanted to make the team for one year.

McGarvie is a 1989 graduate of Crescent High School in Joyce, Wash., where the Loggers play 8-man football.

“My high school had 80 kids in it. My goal when I left home was just to make the team. Obviously things turned out a little differently, in a positive way,” McGarvie said. 

“But I thought I had a realistic goal. It was intimidating. When I walked on the field, there were more running backs at Linfield than there were players on my entire (high school) team. There were more players out for the team than there were students in my whole high school.”

In 2013, McGarvie was inducted into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame. He was a two-time All-American.

“What made Linfield special for me is they didn’t care where I was from,” McGarvie said. “They just cared about me as a person.”

He noted those two Stevenson players on the broadcast.

“Linfield doesn’t care where you’re from. At Linfield, they just want you to be you and support you,” he said.

Now, McGarvie is back working at a small school. 

“This is a breath of fresh air,” he said of his role at La Center. “The kids are amazing. The staff here is so student-centered. It’s pretty neat to see.”

In the vice principal’s office at La Center High School is a Linfield Legend, who is back home on the weekends with his football program

#

 PHOTO: Gary McGarvie, the new vice principal at La Center High School, is also working on the broadcast team for Linfield football. McGarvie is a member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame. (Photo by Paul Valencia, Clark County Today News)

PHOTO: The Linfield Wildcats recently practiced at the University of Alabama’s indoor facility. Gary McGarvie, the vice principal at La Center High School, was there as part of Linfield’s broadcast team. (Photo Clark County Today News courtesy of Gary McGarvie)

LISTEN to the story via text audio: https://anchor.fm/clarkcountytodaynews/episodes/La-Centers-Linfield-Legend-joins-college-football-broadcast-team-e1nruuo/a-a8hf7et

 

 

In 2019, Bill Hammel among 14 former athletes named to The Dalles High School Riverhawk Booster Club Hall of Fame

In 2019, Bill Hammel among 14 former athletes named to The Dalles High School Riverhawk Booster Club Hall of Fame

Two stories in October 2019 by Ray Rodriguez in The Dalles Chronicle are about the first The Dalles High School Riverhawk Booster Club Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony at The Civic Auditorium in The Dalles (TD).

Among 14 men and women “named to the highest honor of interscholastic athletics" was Bill Hammel, a 1966 grad of Wahtonka High School of The Dalles.

Bill and his wife, Barb Hammel, both Linfield Class of 1970 members, are wheat and cattle ranchers on Fifteenmile in The Dalles’ Petersburg loop.

Bill and the 13 others were “celebrated by family members, friends and peers for their accomplishments at the high school level while at The Dalles and Wahtonka High School.”

“It is pretty awesome to go back and look at what these individuals meant and the impact that they had on The Dalles athletics in the past,” said retired coach and teacher, Dave Cornell.

“By doing this, the booster club cemented the legacy of these athletes and their families. It is important to highlight the past and show all the younger athletes coming up that they have the chance to be up on that stage one day.”

Bill’s write-up in the story (with minor edits) follows:

Bill Hammel excelled in football, basketball and track and field while at Wahtonka High School from 1963-1966.

In his three years, Hammel lettered in football, basketball and track and field, and in his senior year, he won all-conference and all-state honors after helping the football team advance to the district playoffs and added an all-state nod in basketball. He won co-Athlete of the Year in high school and played in the Shriner’s Hospital football game.

He earned a football scholarship to play at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande until transferring to Linfield College in McMinnville as a sophomore, played defensive tackle, backup offensive tackle and tight end and was a Northwest Conference all-star.

Hammel earned his business degree from Linfield and mainly works on his farm. He is currently serving on six conservation boards.

“Thanks to the committee for this and to all the coaches I have had that helped train me to get to the next level in the sports that I played in,” Hammel said. “I really enjoyed it. I would like to thank my mom and dad who were very supportive of what I did.”

# End of story. #

Note: In 2004 the two public high schools in The Dalles, The Dalles High School and Wahtonka High School, merged to become The Dalles Wahtonka High School. In 2013 the school changed its name to "The Dalles High School."

#

LSN new football broadcast team Joe Stuart & Gary McGarvie debuts Sept 17, 2022, at Catdome

LSN new football broadcast team Joe Stuart & Gary McGarvie debuts Sept 17, 2022, at Catdome

Sept. 17, 2022, info/photo from Wildcatville

Making their debut Sept. 17, 2022, as the Linfield Sports Network football broadcast team were analyst Gary McGarvie

https://www.facebook.com/gary.mcgarvie

(left) and play-by-play ‘voice’ Joe Stuart

https://www.facebook.com/joe.stuart.1044

They broadcast the Redlands at Linfield (Homecoming) football game played on Maxwell Field at Memorial Stadium/Catdome.

Gary worked the season-opening Linfield at Huntingdon game in Alabama on 9/3/2022. But Chris Clayton did play-by-play as a fill-in for Joe, who stayed in McMinnville to attend a wedding.

Stuart is a 2020 Linfield grad and Linfield Sports Network broadcast operations coordinator.

McGarvie, a 1993 Linfield grad, is a member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame as a 1989-1992 football running back, kick returner and receiver and a track & field sprinter and relay runner.

 

Tim Kubli (Class of 1969) came to Linfield College to play football (offensive tackle). He did that. But, his fame as a player came by being the Wildcats’ PAT and field goal kicker.

Tim Kubli (Class of 1969) came to Linfield College to play football (offensive tackle). He did that. But, his fame as a player came by being the Wildcats’ PAT and field goal kicker.

His most famous kick was in Midland, Texas, in November 1965 in the NAIA semi-finals when Linfield upset heavily favored Sul Ross of Apline, Texas. 

His 36-yard field goal with 49 seconds in the game was a record-setter. It was the longest FG in the then 10-year NAIA football playoff history. That FG made the score 30-27, which was the final tally in the game.

While Midland provided a neutral field for the game. It’s about a two and one-half hour drive from the Sul Ross campus to Midland. It was held there because Sul Ross anticipated a big crowd. The venue and, “knew” it would be winning the game.

 Read about the game here …

http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2017/01/in-midland-texas-nov-17-1965-linfield.html

And here …

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2022/05/draft-in-1965-in-midland-texas-neutral.html

Looking at “clippings” about the seasons (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968) in which tackle/kicker Tim Kubli played football for Linfield, there are inaccuracies. Some stories say Tim never played high school football. Others indicate he did play high school football, but was not a kicker (PATs, field goals). Others say he came to Linfield just to play basketball, not football

 In September 2020, Wildcatville “talked” to Tim via email.

 He said: “…I played football in high school.”

 Tim played for the “Miners” of Yreka, Calif., High School.

And, indeed, he played basketball (see photo and cutline) for Yreka. See the photo posted here from the Dec 19, 1963, Siskiyou Daily News of Yreka. Cutline for basketballer Tim reads: “Tim Kubli, Giant athlete of the Yreka Miners, will start at center in the Anderson tournament.”

Said Tim, “The Sacramento Bee named me 2nd team all Northern California offensives tackle. It is true I never kicked in high school. Coach Durham sent out a letter asking athletes to play two sports. He also said he had no place kicker. I started working out with a teammate who kicked for Yreka. He bought a new square toed shoe. I bought his old one for $10, I think. I kicked better than he did. The shoe lasted three years until old Joe (Groves, Linfield athletics head equipment manager) purchased me a new one my senior year.”

Linfield Homecoming 2022 for Gene 'Ace' Forman

 

Gene ‘Ace’ Forman 

ACE’S HOMECOMING

Linfield - McMnnville 

Sat., Sept 17, 2022

Join us in celebrating our dear friend, the incomparable Ace, at Linfield Homecoming 2022!

TAILGATE: 

11am - 12:40pm

Look for Ace’s festively decorated tables with balloons (in area 58b on map). Linfield’s President plans to stop by and greet Ace and friends. $30 payable at gate and includes after game gathering.

FOOTBALL 

GAME (1pm kickoff):

Join us in Ace’s Corner (Maxwell south end zone, flagged off area). Chairs will be provided by Linfield or you can mix and mingle. Ace will be introduced after the coin toss and shake hands with the coach.

ALUMNI RECEPTION: 

Following the game, head to the alumni tent across the street to watch a video collection of some of Ace’s friends paying tribute to him.

ACE 

RECEPTION: 

Return for more hangout time at Ace’s tables to share stories and memories with Ace!

…….

Gene “Ace” Forman, Linfield Class of 1967, is a former Wildcats football player paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident near McMinnville prior to his senior year of college. Ace went on to successful 40-year football coaching career in several small school districts in southern Oregon, serving as a positive role model to hundreds of student-athletes.

‘More than a football game’ Locals provide visitors Hawaiian hospitality (McMinnville N-R 9/7/2022)

‘More than a football game’

Locals provide visitors Hawaiian hospitality 

Who’s Who at the game included Linfielder Wendell Say, Aiea High (Aiea, Honolulu County, Hawaii) football coach; Linfielder Ad Rutschman, Say’s football coach at Linfield; Linfielders Danny Paulino and Marc Niebergall.

By Kirby Neumann-Rea, McMinnville N-R/News-Register 9/7/2022
with slight edits by Wildcatville

The first game on the McMinnville High Schools Grizzlies’ football 2022 schedule was pure learning experience. Part game, part cultural exchange, this was the first-ever visit by a Hawaiian high school team to McMinnville.

The team was Farrington High School of Honolulu.

The Farrington "Governors", playing in their fourth game of the season, beat the Grizzlies of McMinnville, 21-18, on Fri., Sept. 2, 2022, at MHS’s Wortman Stadium.

Visitors flew red-white and-blue flags of the 50th state, and also displayed the yellow-and-green Royal flag of Hawaii. Athletic director Ryan McIrvin wore a necklace of shells given as a gift, and an ample pulled-pork meal was served to visiting and hosting athletes and coaches.

In addition to several hundred McMinnville fans, present in the stands were Oregonians with Hawaii ties coming to cheer on the Farrington team. The Farrington baseball squad was also on hand, after a three-game series against Sheldon High School in Eugene, and the Aiea High School football team, also from Honolulu, was there to show support, fresh from its Thursday game against Woodinville, Wash.

The athletes stay in dorms at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, and that school is just one stop among three or four campus visits by the Hawaii athletes while on the mainland.

“It’s more than just a football game,” Farrington vice principal Lisa Joy said.

“We’re here to support our kids, they get to stay on a college campus and visit colleges and universities,” said Jill Yoshimoto, also a vice principal. “We try to maximize it. Give them more experience.”

For many of the students it is their first visit to the mainland. Joy said the trip is not merely a vacation; students are responsible for their own budgeting and spending.

“It’s good for us as a team and individuals,” said Nathan Chung, a Farrington junior. “We get to bond, being close ‘to each other 24/7, I guess is the best experience.”

The teams arrived on the west coast on Aug. 30 and stopped at University of Washington, University of Puget Sound, Central Washington, Willamette, George Fox and Linfield.

“I want our kids to see where I went to college and the opportunities it provided me, and they can have the same opportunities and the chance to visit a lot of other colleges,” said Wendell Say, Aiea athletic director. “The purpose is to play a game, but also to see different campuses and find a place where they might fit in.”

If Wendell Say’s name is familiar, it should be.

The Hawaii-McMinnville connection remains strong, thanks largely to guys such as Say, a 1978 Linfield College (now university) grad, his Wildcat teammate Danny Paulino of McMinnville, cousins Ed Kama, a Linfield teammate in the 1970s and Eric Kama of Salem, who played in the same era at Willamette. Eric was recruited by McIrvin and Say to serve up a dinner to the Aiea players, and a second and larger round of dishes after the Farrington-McMinnville game.

“That’s why I want them to come to small colleges,” Say said. “Our college experience was so good and you make so many good friends.”

Legendary Linfield football coach Ad Rutschman stopped by the dinner line and caught up with his former charges. “I’m just so happy to see you guys. This is a real treat,” Rutschman said. Kama sent Rutschman home with a to-go meal.

Also part of the mini-reunion was Marc Niebergall, Linfield baseball player and 1980 grad, who has been friends with Say since their Linfield days.

“It’s quite a network of alumni around here,” said Niebergall, who was long[1]time AD at Wilson High School. The forest green Aiea gear given to him by Say matched the Trojan colors.

“It’s great to see all the guys, I was really pumped,” Niebergall said.

The Hawaii elders said catering the athletes now is carrying on a tradition of hospitality.

“This is awesome. We always do this,” Paulino said. “This is the way we give back. We appreciate kids coming out and looking at schools, so the kids can come back, and do that.”

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