Wet & Wild: Willamette at Linfield football 10/27/2012

1960s art by QB Bruce Priem depicts Wildcat players, coach

In college football, Bruce Priem is best known as the 1968 and 1969 starting quarterback of the Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, Calif.) Cougars. But, he has Saxons and Wildcats in his background, too. 

At South Salem, Ore., High School – Bruce is a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame as a three-sport (football, basketball, baseball) athlete – he played football for Linfielder Marv Heater, the South Salem Saxons head coach. Former Linfield football player Sonny Jepson, Linfield Class of 1973, was one of his high school football teammates. 

After graduating from South Salem in 1966, Bruce studied at Linfield for two academic years (1966-67, and 1967-68) and was a Wildcat junior varsity QB. He transferred from Linfield to Azusa and was the Cougars’ starting quarterback. Bruce is in the Azusa football record book for throwing six touchdown passes in a game. 

(By the way, John Tully, Whitworth University head football coach, was Azusa’s starting quarterback 1971-1974.) 

How did Bruce, was an outstanding athlete, become an artist? An artistic inspiration was his dad, Roy Priem, a graphic artist, cartoonist and sign painter in Salem. "I always did a lot of sketching and doodling," Bruce said, "I learned a lot from my father." Similar to a coach encouraging an athlete, his dad told his son, "you need to practice more!" Art was "enjoyable for me," Bruce said, "but no way was I doing to be as good as my father. He had serious talent." 

At Linfield, Bruce took some art classes. His teachers were art faculty members Peter Teneau and Randall Jelinek, also art department chair. Bruce remembers his Linfield football coach, Paul Durham, had Teneau football (a fake draw screen) and Jelinek (a draw) plays. 

Bruce’s artistic talent came to the attention of Rick Pullen, a Linfield sports information director, and Tim Marsh, a Linfield Review student newspaper sports editor. They commissioned him to do pen and ink drawing from black & white photos. 

The first drawing, of Ted Wilson, Linfield men’s head basketball coach, appeared on the cover of the 1967-68 Linfield men’s basketball media guide. His drawings of football players Mike Barrow, Rogers Ishizu and John Sadowski, and Bob Haack and Bob Laycoe were used in the newspaper’s sports section and/or home game football printed programs. He also wrote sports stories for the Review. The Barrow drawing is on a football card issued as part of the Linfield 2011 football season dedication of the Mike Barrow study room in the college’s Nicholson Library. 

After graduating from Azusa in 1970, Bruce earned a master of science degree in physical therapy from the University of Southern California. He is a licensed physical therapist in the state of Oregon. 

Today, Priem lives in Salem, where he is a physical therapy-occupational therapy department manager at Kaiser Permanente in Salem. Bruce and his wife, Mary, are active in their church. In the summer of 2012 they traveled to Honduras and worked in an orphanage. It was a return to that country and the Dominican Republic where they lived and worked as short term missionaries for World Gospel Crusades, 1970-72. 

Photo information: Bruce & Mary Priem and Bob Haack during a 2012 football season visit to the Mike Barrow Study Room in the Linfield library. Priem sketches: -Bob “Igor” Haack and Bob “Heavy Duty” Laycoe in the Oct. 19, 1967, Linfield Review. -Rogers Ishizu and John Sadowski, Linfield players from Hawaii. -Coach Ted Wilson on cover of 1968 winter sports media guide. -Mike Barrow on card given out at Mike Barrow Study Room dedication fall 2011. -Priem bylined article in Oct. 19, 1967, Linfield Review.

Linfield at Lewis & Clark football, 10/20/2012

Speaking of Linfield at L&C football game on Oct. 20, 2012 …

 Illustration from Albany College 1930 'Orange Peel' yearbook.

NOTE: IT WAS ALBANY BEFORE LEWIS & CLARK

Prior to locating in Portland and becoming Lewis & Clark College, L&C was Albany College in Albany, Ore. From Northwest Conference website:

“The NWC was formed in 1926, making it one of the oldest athletics conferences in the western United States. For 60 years, the Northwest Conference sponsored sports exclusively for men, but in 1984 it joined with the Women’s Conference of Independent Colleges to become the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges, shortening the name to its current moniker in 1996 when it joined the NCAA. The charter members (were) Willamette University, Whitman College, Pacific University, the College of Puget Sound (now the University of Puget Sound), Linfield College, and the College of Idaho. In 1931, Albany College joined, left in 1938, and rejoined in 1949 using its present name of Lewis & Clark College.”

NOTE: GRISWOLD STADIUM
Football venue at L&C is Griswold Stadium. It's named for Graham Griswold. L&C

--“In 1952, at the urging of students, trustees, and administrators, work was started on a permanent home for Pioneer football. Trustee Graham Griswold donated $25,000 and most of the lumber needed to spearhead the project.”

--“The site was officially named and dedicated to Graham Griswold in the season-opener of the 1954 season…”

Source: L&C Sports Info website.

NOTE: AD RUTSCHMAN GIVEN GAME BALL

--“The first game was played in the new stadium on October 10, 1953, against Linfield College. The Wildcats won the contest 12-7 with the star of the game, Linfield halfback Ad Rutschman, being given the game ball by Portland mayor Fred Peterson.”

Source: L&C Sports Info website.

Wildcatville says see Oregonian (Oct. 11, 1953 edition, “Wildcats surprise LC Eleven, 12 to 7”) coverage of the game here.

NOTE: NAMES OF GRISWOLD STADIUM'S TRACK, FIELD 

Eldon Fix Track and Fred Wilson Field at Griswold Stadium

Source: L&C Sports Info website.

Homecoming football 2012: Linfield 54, Whitworth 14

Wildcatville slideshow from Whitworth at Linfield football game and other Linfield Homecoming  activities held on campus Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012. In the game, Linfield Wildcats defeated Whitworth Pirates, 54-14. See posted video here.

Hail to Bar West Classic Committee! 10/12/2012

During Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore., 2012 Homecoming, the Bar West Classic Committee (a.k.a. BWC Committee) was presented a Linfield Alumni Service Award on 10/12/2012 for 25 years of connecting/reuniting alumni through reunions and events.  Wildcatville photos and video. See posted video here.

Victory Bell reintroduced to Linfield College community

During 2012 Homecoming at Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore., the college's historic Victory Bell was reintroduced/unveiled on 10/12/2012. See Linfield news release http://bit.ly/WerYGr and a McMinnville News-Register story (based on the news release) http://bit.ly/R4rXBB  here for bell information. Video and photos by Wildcatville.

Seldom seen tablet notes historical highlight of McMinnville | Linfield College

Located on the edge of the Linfield campus, near 99W and the President’s House, this stone tablet is seldom seen due to garden vegetation. Text on the tablet:

THIS STONE MARKS THE SPOT
WHERE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

MET AUGUST 2, 1881 AND TOOK

ACTION WHICH RESULTED IN

MOVING McMINNVILLE|LINFIELD

COLLEGE FROM 5th & C STREETS

TO ITS PRESENT LOCATION.

ACTUATED BY THE GIFT OF

MR & MRS SAMUEL COZINE.

PRESENTED BY CLASS OF 1922

                                                                       
Wildcatville photos, 10/11/2012.

The art of Coach Ad Rutschman

Created 10/1/2010. Final editing/posting 10/4/2012

Music:
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech): Heartwarming
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Linfield at PLU football in Puyallup, Wash. 9/29/2012

Linfield football (Water Crew) at Cal Lutheran 9/15/201

See video, Linfield 1984 NAIA National Football Championship

On Saturday, Dec. 8, 1984, Linfield defeated Northwestern (Iowa), 33-22, for the NAIA 1984 national football championship at McMinnville (Oregon) High School's Wortman Stadium. This video (appx 3:14 converted from silent Super 8 film) shows game action and after game celebrating.

Story below from 2010 is about Leonard "Len" Gann, a 1971, Linfield graduate. He transferred from Linfield after attending Palomar College, a two-year college in San Marcos, Calif. He was a quarterback for the Palomar Comets. He was a Linfield QB, playing on the first two seasons (1968, 1969) of Ad Rutschman-coached Wildcat football teams. Gann was Linfield's starting quarterback in the Wildcats' 1968 season-opening 17-7 victory in Boise over the Boise State Broncos. He threw a touchdown pass to Bob Murphy in the game. View video of Len Gann responding to his Nov. 10 induction (Class of 2010) into the San Diego Hall of Champions. Gann lives in Sequim ("Squim"), Wash. According to Wikipedia, Sequim (in Clallam Co.) had a population more than 6,600 in 2010. "The city has been increasing in population dramatically in recent years due to the influx of retirees from the Puget Sound region and California," says Wikipedia. The city lies within the "rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains and receives on average less than 15 inches (380 mm) of rain per year—about the same at Los Angeles.... Yet the city is fairly close to some of the wettest temperate rainforests of the contiguous" U.S. Photo by Michael Dashiell of the Sequim Gazette.

Gann among greatest

Area Sports by Michael Dashiell, Sequim, Wash., Gazette
Dec. 23, 2010

Ted Williams, Don Larsen, Bill Walton, Tony Gwynn, Leonard Gann.

Which of these names doesn’t belong?

If you had said Leonard Gann two months ago, you’d have been correct.

Not anymore.

The former high school coach, who led teams in six different sports and racked up 322 wins, seven league titles and two sectional titles in prep softball, was inducted into the San Diego County High School Coaching Legends at the San Diego Hall of Champions, joining some of the nation’s greatest coaches and athletes.

Dignitaries and former players honored the retired coach at a ceremony at the hall on Nov. 10.
“Totally surprised,” Gann says of his selection. “I thought it was quite an honor.”

A committee that honors coaches for the hall contacted Gann, a Sequim resident for the past five years, about two years ago. He filled out an application detailing his 35 years of coaching football, baseball, basketball, softball, soccer and tennis teams for the San Marco, Calif., Unified School District.

“I never gave it any more thought,” Gann says.

He worked as a teacher for the district, in special education, health and safety, and, for the last decade or so, as head of the physical education department.

He led the San Marco High School softball squad to a sectional title in 1996. When San Marco got too big and split into two schools, he headed up the Mission Hills High softball squad, leading that team to a sectional title in 2005.

He was named Coach of the Year five times, receiving the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year award in 2003, the High School Sports Association Assistant Coaches Award in 2004 and the Cal-Hi Sports Coach of the Year in 2005.

Well before that, however, Gann had his eyes on Sequim. His wife Jane’s twin sister Anne Terrell lived in Sequim and the Ganns planned their move about four years before he called it quits at San Marco.

Gann helped lead the Sequim junior varsity football squad and worked with Sequim’s baseball program before finally calling it a career this July — officially 40 years of coaching.

For love of the game

It’s a retirement in name only. Gann, 63, is also player-manager for the Sequim Senior Softball team.

“This guy is an athlete,” says teammate John Zervos. “I think I’m pretty good. I’m one of the fastest on the team (but) I can’t keep up with Leonard. He’s the leader of the team.”

And while playing the game keeps Gann’s competitive juices flowing, he says there’s something special about being a coach.

“You always love to compete (but) … to watch (a game) is probably more satisfying,” Gann says.

If he had to pick, Gann says his favorite sports to coach are softball and football.

“It takes a total team effort to win,” he says. “In basketball, it takes five guys, maybe a couple off the bench. But (in football), if all 11 guys aren’t working together, you don’t win.”

A good winning percentage, however, doesn’t mean someone is a good coach, Gann says.

“It’s not so much wins and losses; it’s how the kids respond to the coach,” Gann says. “Some of my best teams were not the most talented.”

About 70 or 80 former players joined Gann and 11 other San Diego-area high school prep coaching stars at the ceremony in November.

Zervos joked that Gann needed to go out and buy long pants for the ceremony, since team members say they’d never seen their teammate in anything but shorts — even in chilly Sequim winter weather.

“I never wore long pants … except in the classroom,” Gann says. “You need to be professional in the classroom.”

The San Diego coaching icon says Sequim is home now, even if his name and career highlights reside in Southern California.

“I truly miss the even weather they have, but I don’t miss much more than that,” Gann says. “Sequim’s a great place. I wish I could have grown up here. It’s the small community I guess. The kids here are great — and the coaches.”

Angels in the Helser Field outfield?

Angels in the outfield of Linfield's Helser (baseball) Field? No, but outfield work was being done there as these Wildcatville photos (all identfied with a "W", taken 6/14/2012) atest. Arial photos -- taken several years ago -- from Linfield Sports Info.

Trading on Linfield's name?

Happenstance these McMinnville businesses -- Linfield Manor apartment building and Winfield Motors used car dealership -- are trading/traded on Linfield's name or a variation thereof? It appears Winstone was the last name of the owner of Winfield Motors, established in 1995. Winfield could have been a merger of the "Win" of Winstone and the "field" of Linfield. The dealership may have gone out of business in 2011.

Following Catball at 2012 NCAA D3 national softball championship tourney in Salem, Va.

Illinois Wesleyan's Courtney Martin loses the ball as Linfield's Kate Hasty slides to second base Saturday, May 12, 2012, during the NCAA Division III Softball Regional Tournament at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington. Photo by Carlos T. Miranda of the The Pantagraph of Bloomington, Ill., a daily newspaper serving eight counties and more than 60 communities in Central Illinois. This photo appears on page 1 of the May 14, 2012, edition of The Linfield Review, student newspaper of Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore.

• Want to follow Catball (Linfield College softball) in the 2012 NCAA D3 national softball tournament in Salem, Va.? 

  If so, there are various choices. They include:

  --Linfield Sports Information. 

  --"Catball Group" at Facebook. If you would like to join the Group, you must have a Facebook account. If so, go to the Group's URL ...

  
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/284035448309238
  
  ... and log in.

Is Cardinal Circle for you?

Is Cardinal Circle for you? You'll never know if you don't attend one of the Circle's monthly lunch gatherings at Wildcat Art Larrance's Racoon Lodge in Raleigh Hills, Portland. Here are two photos from the 5/17/2012 event. Art regails (left to right) Wildcats Pete Dengenis, Bob Ferguson and Terry Durham. Art poses in front of his Porsche. Contact Ferguson if you want to learn the whys and wherefores of Cardinal Circle.  Note: Apologies to Cardinal Circlers who left before these photos were taken.

Oregonian article 5-14-2014

Banner across McMinnville's Third Street promotes Linfield luau May 2012

Student art on Linfield campus 4/16/2012