=AD RUTSCHMAN: Linfield baseball ‘Firewalker’=
Ad Rutschman shared these photographs with Wildcatville in July 2021. They were taken one of several times he “firewalked” in the 1970s while he was Linfield College head baseball coach, 1971-1983.
The photos show Coach Rutschman as “firewalker” on Helser Field. The field went into use in 1971. It was named in 1973 for Roy Helser, a Linfield grad/former Wildcat athlete who served the college as baseball and basketball head coach, football assistant coach, and athletic director. Ad Rutschman was one of Coach Helser’s Linfield athletes.
A Linfield and Hillsboro High School (Hilhi) graduate, Ad Rutschman was baseball and football coach at both. In the early years coaching baseball at Hilhi, games were played at the City of Hillsboro’s Shute Field. It had a skinned infield (meaning the entire infield consisted of dirt.) To dry off the field when it was wet, gasoline poured on the dirt was ignited. The flames and heat evaporated moisture. (In 1965 his teams began playing its games on new Hare Field of the Hillsboro School District. Hare had a grass infield.)
Thus, when Ad Rutschman came to Linfield in 1968 (as head football coach) it was with a resume of success and experience. One of his experiences was “firewalking’ Shute Field for baseball. This came in handy when he became Linfield head baseball coach.
