Please endorse this nomination! Billy Maxwell should be enshrined in the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
It’s said absence makes the heart grow fonder.
But, absence makes people forget, too.
Let’s not let Linfielder Billy Maxwell (Class of 1924), who died in 1976, be forgotten
There are people who should be in the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame. Billy
Maxwell is one of them. Let this serve as the “Hall” nomination for him.
The name Maxwell rings a bell for Linfielders. Maxwell Field is where,
since 1928, Linfield has played its home football games on campus in
McMinnville. The field is on land Billy’s father, J. O. Maxwell, donated to the
college.
The 1938 book
about Linfield history, "Bricks without Straw" by Jonas
"Stein" Jonasson, says for about a third of a century, J.O. Maxwell
"has had children or grandchildren" attending the college.
When Billy started classes as a freshman it was McMinnville
College. It was Linfield College when he graduated. According to his obituary,
he started on the Linfield Board of Trustees in 1929 and was an emeritus board
member when he died.
Billy was proud of serving as scoreboard/score clock operator at Linfield
home games over innumerable number of years.
Billy said,
“I started timing McMinnville — now Linfield College — (men’s basketball) games
in 1920. I have timed every home game that (Ted) Wilson-coached teams have
played. (To this point I have recorded) “50 seasons of basketball timing.” That’s
from a letter quoted in George Pasero’s May 8, 1970, “Pasero Says” Oregon Journal column.
And, he was an important financial donor to and financial fund-raiser for
Linfield athletics. For starters, Billy and another donor funded the “necessary
financial guarantee” to bring the men’s basketball team of Whitman College
(Walla Walla) for two games in McMinnville in the 1925-1926 season, said the
1956 book, “Linfield's Hundred Years: A Centennial History…”
The Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame bio (2000) for Norm Goss says Norm
“has been keeping track of the score for football and basketball almost ever
since, first as an understudy to the immortal Billy Maxwell and as the
first-team scorer since Mr. Maxwell retired.”
Norm followed in Billy’s footsteps. He’s in the “Hall.” Billy is not.
A former
McMinnville High School principal, Billy was a consummate Linfield sports fan.
In his fandom heyday, you could depend on seeing Billy sitting in his car watching
Wildcat football games on the road and in at Maxwell Field. He attended
Linfield baseball games on campus and drove to many Linfield road basketball and
baseball games, too.
In 1973 Billy was a speaker at a banquet during which Linfield’s then
new baseball field was named for Roy Helser. “Helser paid tribute to his athletes,
the McMinnville community;” Billy Maxwell; Henry Lever, his Linfield baseball
coach; Paul Durham, his Linfield coaching colleague; his wife, Dorothy Helser;
and Harry Dillin, Linfield president emeritus, said a May 5, 1973, Oregon Journal story.
James Wright, Linfield athletics donor was enshrined in the Linfield
Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. A story about the enshrinement ceremony said, “Raised
in McMinnville, Wright described the many ways Linfield touched his life,
citing an early influence by Hall of Fame coaches Roy Helser, Durham, and
Wilson, as well as loyal follower Billy Maxwell.”
The Rev. Bernard Turner presided at Billy’s 1976 memorial service in
McMinnville. In the service, the pastor said in 2021, “I referenced many thing
about his life, but especially referenced the fact that Billy (due to having
polio as a child) had physical limitations, but that did not keep him from
living an active life.”
William Jewell “Billy” Maxwell was an active student at McMinnville College/Linfield College. After graduating from the college he was an important “player” in Linfield athletics as home game scoreboard/score clock operator, consummate fan on the road and at home, athletics donor and fund-raiser. He deserves to be a member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame for meritorious service.
::: Following from
Find-A-Grave:
William Jewell
“Billy” Maxwell
Born: July 22, 1902 Haines, Baker County, Ore.
Died; Feb. 9, 1976 (aged 73) McMinnville, Ore.
Buried: Evergreen Memorial Park, McMinnville, Ore.
"Billy" had polio when he was a young child, but
refused to recognize the crippling effect as a real handicap and was able to
walk most of his life with the aid of a cane. He spent his early years on the
farm outside of Haines, Oregon, attending Muddy Creek School. He then attended
Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon and graduated as a teacher.
Billy started teaching at McMinnville High School in 1924
and became its principal in 1929. He administered the school and taught math to
thousands of local youngsters, operating most of the time without staff other
than student aid. In 1941 he served as a farm labor assistant for the federal
government. He was one of the first to organize work platoons for farm harvest
and at one time had 2,900 workers organized and working under this system.
When he left the school district in 1946, he became office
manager and personnel director for Alderman Farms. He was a familiar sight in
Portland's skid road district during early morning hours of harvest, recruiting
every able body available to fill his fleet of picker buses. Those were the
days when Yamhill county's seasonal crops required thousands of hand pickers
and Alderman Farms was setting national records for row crop production. Billy
was mighty proud when his crews picked 52 tons of pole beans in a single day.
He held this position until 1964. In 1968, he was elected Yamhill County
assessor, a position he held for four years.
Bill served continuously on the Linfield College board of
trustees since 1929 and was an emeritus member at time of his death. He was an
active fund raiser for all Linfield athletic events and for many years up to
his death was president of the McMinnville Quarterback's Club. There were
almost no Linfield athletic contests at home and few away that Bill missed. He
served as timekeeper for hundreds of events--and he maintained continual
relationships with high school and college students and the organizations which
supported their programs. His selection for the Silver Beaver award, after 25
years of service to Scouting marked only another facet of his devotion to young
people's welfare. He was also a member of the Kiwanis Club for 41 years.
::::
Following
from Access Genealogy based on information from the Record Courier, Baker City,
Ore., Feb., 1976. contributed by Belva Ticknor via Baker County, Oregon
Obituaries.
Maxwell,
William J. (Billy) – Obituary
Services will be Friday, February 13, 10:30 a.m. at Macy and
Son in McMinnville for William J. (Billy) Maxwell, 73, who died of a heart
attack Monday, Feb. 9. The Rev. Bernard Turner will preside at service, which
will be followed by private interment at Evergreen Memorial Park.
Maxwell was born July 22, 1902 at Haines, Oregon the son of
J.O. and Nancy Ann Maxwell. He grew up on a farm in the Muddy Creek area and
graduated from Muddy Creek high school.
He entered Linfield College in McMinnville, and after his
graduation in 1924, he started a long teaching-administrative career at
McMinnville high school. Maxwell started teaching math and in 1939 became
principal, a position he held 17 years until 1946.
In 1941 Maxwell served as a farm labor assistant for the
federal government. He was one of the first to organize work platoons for farm
harvest and at one time had 2,900 workers organized and working under this
system.
He left the school district in 1946 to become office manager
and personnel director for Alderman Farms outside Dayton, and held that
position until 1964. Four years later, Maxwell was elected Yamhill County
assessor, a position he held for four years.
Maxwell served continuously on the Linfield College board of
trustees since 1929, and was an emeritus member at time of his death. He was an
active fund raiser for all Linfield athletic events and for many years up to
his death was president of the McMinnville Quarterback’s Club.
Member of the Kiwanis Club for 41 years, Maxwell also served
in the area Scouting movement and was honored with the Silver Beaver award
recognizing 25 years of service.
Survivors are son, Harold of Petersburg, VA.; daughter,
Donna Marie Watkins of Port Orchard, Washington; brothers Glenn and Omer, both
of Haines; sisters Myrtle Potter of Baker, Olga Ward of Haines, and Rose Bishop
of Las Vegas, Nevada; and six grandchildren.
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