Oral history interview with
Linfielder Mike Stelman by Rancho Bernardo Historical Society
Mike Stelman is a 1963 Linfield College graduate. He came to Linfield from Hartford, Connecticut, where he graduated in 1959 from Weaver High School.
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Sunday Oregonian 28 July 1963 says Linfield's Mike Stelman earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average in the 1963 spring semester. He was the only Northwest Conference athlete from any NWC school with such an achievement. Click on image to see a larger version of the newspaper clipping.
In
a video oral history interview by Rancho Bernardo (RB), Calif., Historical Society,
long-time resident (Linfielder) Mike Stelman shares his recollections about how
the Rancho Bernardo area has grown over the 45+ years he has been living,
working and volunteering in the community.
At the Palomar Health Foundation (Escondido, Calif.) website
is this biographical information about Mike Stelman:
Michael Stelman
Mike Stelman is a real estate broker who has served the
Rancho Bernardo Community for 40 years. He has successfully owned or managed
four companies in that period of time and has also supported and served
many local service groups. Notable among these are leadership roles in The Real
Estate Association, Spirit of the Fourth, Chamber of Commerce, Symphony on the
Green, Historical Society, Rancho Bernardo Foundation, YMCA. Planning Board
among others. He was and is a part of the Holiday Bowl Committee and served as
a member of the International Sports Council and Charger Backers. Mike is an
active Rotarian serving as a local president and international officer. He is
currently filling leadership roles in membership and training activities within
Rotary International.
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PHOTOS:
=Mike Stelman as a senior at Weaver High School in Hartford, Conn. He graduated from Weaver in 1959.
=Mike Stelman at
Linfield Catdome/Maxwell Field at Memorial Stadium, in photo taken Oct. 15, 2010, by Wildcatville
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Stelman recognized by alma mater
Jan. 5, 2006, Pomerado News of the San Diego Union Tribune
It is called the “Hartford Connection,” an unlikely
network of student-athletes that flowed from the town in Connecticut to
Linfield College, a small liberal arts school in Oregon.
Long-time Rancho Bernardo resident Mike Stelman is part of
that connection.
When the Hartford native was preparing to graduate from
Weaver High School in 1959, he wasn’t quite sure what direction his
life would take.
Then, seemingly channeling Horace Greeley, Stelman went
west as a young man.
Through the guidance of a supportive coach, Stelman ended
up at tiny Linfield College in Oregon. At Linfield he was a member of the football team that in
1961 played for a national title in the NAIA.
In November, that team was honored for its athletic
accomplishments and inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
“This isn’t an
individual thing,” said Stelman, 64, who was born and raised in Connecticut but
has lived in RB since 1969. “There have been a few guys trying to recognize
this team for years.”
It isn’t always that an East Coast guy ends up at a small
liberal arts college 3,000 miles from home. During his senior year in high
school, Stelman had a football scholarship waiting for him at Columbia
University, but though his playing skills were up to standard, his grades
weren’t.
His high school football coach Joe Beidler had coached in
the Pacific Northwest and was friends with the Linfield football coach, Paul
Durham. Through one coach’s recommendation to another, Stelman was on his way
to a higher education, accepted to Linfield on a probationary basis. He was one
of many Hartford-based athletes to attend Linfield, thus establishing the
Hartford Connection.
Stelman was the first in his family to go to college.
While he somewhat laments the lost opportunity to attend the prestigious
Columbia, he cherishes his time at Linfield.
“They didn’t fool
around with academics,” said Stelman, who made the dean’s list his senior year
and graduated in 1963. “You either made it, or you were out. It was a marvelous
experience for me. It gave the opportunity to participate in many activities.”
Stelman was part of a wave that pioneered a rich history
of athletic excellence at Linfield, located in the town of McMinnville, about
30 miles outside of Portland. The 1961 team was the first to play in a bowl
game (though it ultimately lost in the Camellia Bowl, which was played in
Sacramento), and the football team recently completed its 50th consecutive
winning season, the longest-ever streak in the nation. The team now plays in
Division III.
“Those of us who
have very fond memories want to see good things happen to this institution,”
said Stelman, who played tackle. “We wanted this team in particular to be
recognized for what we feel started because of it.”
Completing the Hartford Connection circle was the inclusion of coach Beidler, now 87, in the induction festivities. Mike, a 1959 grad of Weaver High School in Hartford, and Pete Dengenis another member of the Linfield “Hartford Pipeline” and a 1960 grad of Hartford’s Bulkeley High School, paid for Coach and Mrs. Beidler to travel to Oregon and back.
Stelman
called his former coach in Florida and invited him to the induction ceremony on campus in McMinnville,
all expenses paid.
“He helped so many
kids,” said Stelman. “It was a way for all of us to say 'thank you.' ”
Stelman is married with five children and 13
grandchildren. A Realtor, he stays involved in San Diego County athletics
through his work on the Holiday Bowl Committee and with the San Diego
International Sports Council.
He credits his experiences in athletics, especially that
of football, for his success in life.
“It’s a marvelous
experience for young people to become involved in athletics,” said Stelman.
“Any form of athletics is healthy. It’s a good way for a person to build
character. You have to learn how to take that failure and put it into success.
Without that background, without that experience, I just don’t know how I could
have come through some of the difficulties I’ve had. It’s helped tremendously.”
Source (below) with minor edits by Wildcatville in 2022.
