ANSWER: Dale Newhouse, Linfield College Class of 1966 Education, 1967 Master of Education.
Dale
grew up in San Francisco and attended Lincoln High School in San Francisco
graduating in 1958. He lettered in football and baseball.
Thinking
he wanted to become a medical doctor, Dale enrolled in 1958 at City College of
San Francisco, taking 19 semester hours of pre-med courses including two labs.
But, “I soon found myself overwhelmed and failing,” he said. Dale left the
college and joined the U.S. Navy and, for training, was sent to the Navy
Electronics School in Great Lakes, Ill.
His
Navy four year hitch included serving on Midway and Johnston Islands in the
Pacific Ocean and on a ship. After active duty he had two more years in the
Navy Reserve.
Later
Dale joined the U.S. Army with most of his time in the Army Reserve. In all his
U.S. military service included six years in the Navy and 27 years in the Army
retiring in 1999 as a colonel.
After the Navy he enrolled at Diablo Valley College (DVC) in Pleasant Hill, California, where he played football and competed in track & field.
To earn a bachelor’s degree he planned to transfer. Ted Wilson, Linfield men’s basketball coach, also worked for Linfield Admissions. “Ted came to DVC and told me great things about Linfield including the success of its sports programs. I was impressed. I applied to Linfield and was accepted. My way was paid partially by a student work study job of sweeping Linfield dorm steps,” said Dale.
Dale recalls his first day of
classes at Linfield was Labor Day 1964: “I was a Navy Vet anxious to play
football and get on campus to start that part of my life.”
“I will
never forget my freshmen football player roommates in Larsell Hall: Brian
Petersen, Karl Luthe and Don Shiralla. It was likely thought I’d be a good
influence on them. But, my attention wasn’t on them. It was on getting myself
through school,” Dale said.
After marrying
in June 1965, he and his first wife lived in a small house in McMinnville owned
by Linfield’s Pi Kappa Alpha, his fraternity. Their house was in front of the
Pi Kapp house “With my Navy cooking experience, I cooked the Sunday evening
meal for the fraternity members,” Dale said.
Under the tutelage of Linfield Physical Education faculty, including Paul Durham, Ted Wilson, Roy Helser, Hal Smith, Jane McIlroy and Barbara Olsen, Dale was on his way to becoming a p. e. teacher.
He
played linebacker/fullback on the Linfield 1964 and 1965 Northwest Conference
championship football teams. The 1964 season ended in Fargo, North Dakota, in
the NAIA national championship playoffs.
In 1965, the season concluded in Augusta, Georgia, in the NAIA national championship game. Both were losses for Linfield. “I didn’t play much those seasons, but it was a wonderful experience for many reasons, most importantly the leadership of Coach Durham,” Dale said.
While a
Linfield student he did his student teaching in the Dayton (Yamhill County) School
District and drove a school bus for Dayton schools.
“About
this time McMinnville Junior High was requesting football officials for their
after school program. I got involved with that and joined the local high school
officials group. I officiated football, basketball and baseball. One of my
fellow officials was Paul Durham’s son, Terry, a quarterback on the 1965
football team and son of Paul. Later Terry became a NBA official,” Dale said.
Dale earned his education bachelor’s degree from Linfield in 1966.
As a 1966-1967 graduate student, working on his Master in Education degree, he “refed” Linfield JV football and baseball games. And, he was assistant coach of the 1966 Linfield Softball team which placed first in district.
After
earning his M.Ed. in 1967 he and his first wife went on vacation, traveling to
Europe, South Africa, Asia and China before returning to the U.S.
After
substitute teaching he was hired by California’s Mt. Diablo Unified School
District as a physical education teacher. He served in the district for 33
years the last part as p.e. chair of Riverview Middle School; in Bay Point,
Calif. The gym at the school is named for him.
While
working in that district he hoped to coach. That never happened. But, a school
administrator talked him into officiating football, basketball and baseball.
Within three years, 1971, he was officiating college football. In 1976 he
started officiating in the Pac-8 Conference which later became the Pac-10 and
is now the Pac-12.
Dale was
a football official for 27 years. He officiated Pac-8 and Pac-10 games and the
1996 national college football championship Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game between
#1 Nebraska and #2 Florida in Tempe, Arizona. (Nebraska won, 62-24.) He also
worked professional games for the World League of American Football, NFL
Europe, XFL, USFL, the Arena League and even few in the NFL including one
Monday night game.
“College
football was very nice to me. I got to officiate games in Europe, Japan and
Australia. I worked all the major Bowls -- Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Cotton and
many others. I had about 25 post-season assignments,” he said.
Later Dale
was with the Pac-10 Conference as an observer, a TV sideline official or a replay
official. He became Pac-10 supervisor of football officials until June 2019
when he and his second wife retired and moved from California to Port Orchard,
Wash., to live closer to grandchildren.
Dale is
effusive about the impact Paul Durham, former Linfield football coach and
athletic director had on his life.
Paul
Durham is “my hero,” Dale said, “After his statue was unveiled on campus in
2014 and I was standing in front of it, I actually felt the presence of the man
to whom I owe much of my success in football and life. I felt like he was there
and talking to me.
“During
his life I told him many times through letters and phone conversations just how
much he and the rest of the Linfield staff had positively influenced my life
since graduating in 1966. I support the effort to have Linfield’s
athletics/p.e. building named for him. He deserved the honor during his life
and deserves the honor now as a memorial.”
