Linfield Football offensive tackle Tim Kubli’s fame was as a kicker for the Wildcats
Tim Kubli (Class of 1969) came to Linfield College from just south of the Oregon border in Yreka, California, to play football (offensive tackle, 6-foot-3 and 210-pounds) for the Wildcats. He did that. But, his fame as a Linfield player came by being the Wildcats’ PAT and field goal kicker.
His kicking was the straight-ahead style. This was before soccer style kicking became the vogue.
Tim’s most famous kick was in Midland, Texas, in November 1965 in the NAIA semi-finals when the Linfield Wildcats upset the heavily favored Sul Ross State Bobcats of Apline, Texas.
A freshman, Tim kicked a 36-yard field goal with 49 seconds left in the game, 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.
Midland Memorial Stadium was a neutral site for the game. However, it’s about 165 miles from the Sul Ross campus to Midland. McMinnville, Oregon, Linfield’s home, is more than 1,800 miles from Midland. The game was held there because more fans could be seated in the Midland venue than on the Apline campus. Sul Ross anticipated a big crowd and, “knew” it would win the game. (Attendance was 6,500.)
Because Linfield flew to Midland on a jet and Sul Ross rode a bus from Alpine, Linfield got their quicker. The Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram of Nov. 30, 1965, reported it took Linfield “just two hours and 30 minutes to reach Midland.” It took Sul Ross two hours and 50 minutes. Tom says “we landed in Midland in the middle of a sand storm. Couldn’t see the ground or the hangers at the airport.”
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 newspaper clippings about the seasons (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968) in which Kubli played football for Linfield, there are inaccuracies. Some stories say Tim never played high school football. Others indicate he played high school football, but was not a kicker. Others say he came to Linfield just to play basketball, not football
In September 2020 and May 2022, Wilcatville “talked” to Tim via email.
Tim said for the Yreka High School “Miners” he played football and basketball.
The cutline for a photo of basketball player Tim in the Dec 19, 1963, Siskiyou Daily News of Yreka. reads: “Tim Kubli, Giant athlete of the Yreka Miners, will start at center in the Anderson tournament.”
Tim played freshman basketball for Linfield. “I think we played 10 games or so. There were so many freshman and JV players that there were not enough uniforms for everyone. He didn’t play basketball for Linfield after that. Those on the 1965 Linfield football team played on Dec. 11, 1965, in the NAIA championship (lost) in Georgia. If the team members, such as Tim, were to play basketball they started practice in about mid-December. That was weeks after non-football players on the basketball team started practicing.
Back to football … Said Tim, “The Sacramento Bee named me, for Yreka High, second 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 kicked better than he did. The shoe lasted three years until old Joe Groves (Linfield Athletics equipment manager) purchased me a new one my senior year.”
After his freshman year, 1965-1966, Tim said, “I learned how to study: because I was on academic probation after first semester in 1965. It took me three years to get my grade average to a B+.” He majored in business.
In the Sul Ross game Tim kicked off in the game’s first play. “I kicked it out of bounds for a penalty.” Roy Helser, Linfield assistant coach, “came running over to me and slapped the side of my helmet. He jumped down my throat screaming ‘get your head in the game.’ It must have worked. I made the rest of my kicks.
After the game, Tim used a pay phone in Midland and called his Dad in Yreka collect from Midland to Yreka to tell him Linfield won. His Dad already knew because he "picked up, very faintly, a game broadcast on a Portland radio station."(In case you wonder, it’s about 325 miles between Yreka to Portland.
POSTSCRIPT
Tim’s first points for Linfield came in the Wildcats’ opening season game Sat., Sept. 18, 1965 (8 o’clock in the evening kickonn) versus PLU on Linfied’s Maxwell Field at Memorial Stadium in McMinnville. Linfield won, 17-0.
A story about that Linfield vs. PLU game says, “Linfield picked up 10 points in the second quarter as freshman Tim Kubli booted a field goal from eight yards away and junior wingback Rogers Ishizu broke loose for a 53-yard punt return TD.” Tim kicked a PAT after Rogers’ TD.
PHOTOS
=Tim Kubli featured in 1968 Linfield football home game printed
program.
=Tim Kubli as a Yreka High School basketball player.
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