Linfield sports venues means legends remembered forever

Linfield sports venues means legends remembered forever

Slightly edited by Wildcatville

http://www.linfield.edu/linfield-review/

Linfield legends forever remembered

May 9th, 2008
By Lizzie Martinez, Linfield Review copy editor

Most of the men glorified in Linfield athletic legend have passedaway, but their legacies live on not only in the continuing winningtradition of the sports program, but also in the names of thefacilities used by students today to train and compete.

The Ted Wilson Gymnasium, Ad and Joan Rutschman Field House, RoyHelser Baseball Field, Paul Durham Foyer, Maxwell Field and Hal SmithFitness Center all proclaim the names of the cornerstones of Linfieldathletic tradition, Athletic Director Scott Carnahan said.

"When you name something after someone, it's because of the feeling(they) were an outstanding person in that sport, (and) acknowledgingthe work they did," Carnahan said.

What does it take to be honored with an entire building or stadium?Carnahan said longevity and success. For all of these men, it took alifetime of dedication to Linfield students in the academic andathletic milieu promoting success both on and off the field.

Ted Wilson
During his 20-year career as the head coach for the men's basketballteam, he racked up an impressive 324-213 record.

He is best-known for leading the basketball team to 10 NAIA conferencechampionships.

"Ted Wilson was probably the person who started the winning traditionin men's basketball," Carnahan said. "When we built the new building,it was logical we would name it after him."

Just eight years after Wilson retired from coaching, the Health, HumanPerformance and Athletics complex was constructed with a new gym toreplace the former cramped home court in the old Riley Gym,affectionately known as "House of Hustle," for Wilson's teams' styleof fast play. In 1989, it was dedicated as the Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

Wilson hung around McMinnville, staying involved to a lesser degreewith the athletic program.

He passed away in 1996 from a heart attack on the racquetball courts.

Ad Rutschman
Most players and coaches aspire to win one championship, but thatwasn't enough for Ad Rutschman.

First, as a star athlete at Linfield, Rutschman played football,basketball and baseball, excelling in all three. Known as the "FlyingDutchman," Rutschman was an All-American running back, but eventuallychose to pursue a career as a teacher and coach rather than aprofessional athlete.

As head football coach, he led the Wildcats to three national NAIAchampionships and 15 conference titles.

Rutschman topped his own record, leading the baseball team to sixconference championships and seven national titles. He is the onlycollege coach at any division level to win national titles in bothfootball and baseball.

There was only one place to go after all his achievements. Rutschmanmoved up to serve as Linfield athletic director for a quarter of acentury.

He continues to teach a course at Linfield and to serve as specialassistant to the vice president of College Relations. The field houseis named for Rutschman and his wife Joan, who served as (athleticstickets manager and athletics administrative assistant) for 27 years.

Roy Helser
Having never played high school sports, Helser stepped onto thefootball and baseball fields and basketball courts and found hisplace.

Known as "Lefty," southpaw Helser went on to a 14-year professionalbaseball career with the Cincinnati Reds and later with the PortlandBeavers.

As a coach, he led the 1966 baseball team to its first national championship.He succeeded in turning an unsuccessful team into a perennialconference champion, Sports Information Director Kelly Bird said.

"He was revered by his players," Carnahan said.

To honor his contributions, especially to the baseball program,Linfield named the field after Roy Helser in 1973, the year he retiredfrom his position as athletic director. Helser died in 1994.

Paul Durham
A classmate of Helser's, Paul Durham was a triple-sport athlete,excelling in football, basketball and track.

Competing in the 1930s, he was one of the few Wildcats in history toearn 10 or more letters.

Just a decade after graduating, he returned as the football coach.Durham is credited with starting the winning-seasons record of thefootball team, which now stands at 52 seasons.

He was soon promoted to athletic director. But he didn't let thedemands of the job keep him from doing everything—Durham alsomoonlighted as the sports editor of the McMinnville News-Register forseveral years.

Durham left his position at Linfield to become athletic director atthe University of Hawaii.

He died in 2007. The foyer adjacent to the trophy case in the HHPAcomplex commemorates his contributions to the program.

Hal Smith
If anyone could be in three places at once, it was Hal Smith.

In his 31-year career at Linfield, Smith served as head coach of crosscountry, track and wrestling teams, as well as serving as a professorof physical education and the college intramural director.

His pleasant demeanor prompted the students to nickname him "Happy Hal." In honor of Smith, the fitness center in the HHPA complex isnamed after him.

Several other places around campus feature prominent names as a resultof generous donations.

Maxwell Field is named after the Maxwell family. They donated the land in the 1920s when the college decided to move the field from where Melrose Hall now stands, to its current location.

The Jim Wright Stadium on Helser Field sports the name of a benefactorwho greatly contributed to the construction of the stadium.

All of these men shared a deep respect for Linfield athletics and allof the students who played for them.

They are held in high esteem by the students and alumni of Linfield,Carnahan said.

As a student in the late sixties, Carnahan knew Wilson, Helser and Rutschman.

"They are all models of what we try to emulate," Carnahan said. "Theyare all classy gentlemen; they all did things the right way."

Note mention of Linfield’s Maxwell Field

Note mention of Linfield’s Maxwell Field

In this May 11, 2008, Oregonian story is the following:

“J.O., a staunch Baptist, donated land to McMinnville College, later known as Linfield College, and today the athletic field there is called Maxwell Field. The school was chartered as a Baptist college in 1858 by the Oregon Territorial Legislature, and its name was changed in 1912.:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1210380905179330.xml&coll=7

Ranch's 19th-century fence preserves story of an early Oregon romance

James Oliver Maxwell's pride in his work attracted Nancy Hand, and the rest was history

Sunday, May 11, 2008

RICHARD COCKLE

The Oregonian

HAINES --

M iles of splintered split-rail fence still crisscrosses the Maxwell Ranch in northeast Oregon, a relic of a long-ago romance between a beautiful girl who lived under a bridge and a frontier cattleman.

James Oliver Maxwell began building this tamarack rail fence in 1880. He was a good-looking bachelor who rose at 4 a.m. daily, hitched up a team, and split and loaded rails before starting his other ranch chores.

He had no family and nobody to pass the ranch on to. But fate took a hand, literally, in the form of 18-year-old Nancy Hand.

Nancy was so poor in the summer of 1886, according to one story, that she lived under a bridge with her mother and five brothers and sisters.

"They were stranded," says her great-grandson, 67-year-old Tommy Moore of Portland. "Her mother was widowed, and they didn't have a breadwinner."

According to family lore, one golden morning, passing by J.O. Maxwell's fenced fields with her mother, Nancy said, "Those haystacks are beautiful. Whoever owns this ranch has a lot of pride."

Her mother said, "That ranch is owned by some old bachelor."

"How old is he?" Nancy asked.

"He's 33 years old," replied her mother.

The teenage girl pondered the vast gulf between their respective ages, and said, "I'm going to marry that man."

"She measured the man's character by the pride in those haystacks," said Tommy Moore.

History fails to record how Nancy and J.O. met. Their granddaughter 90-year-old Alta Rose Moore of Union thinks it might have been in church. J.O. had organized and built the Haines Baptist Church, and they were married there during the first month of 1887.

He ran the ranch, and she took charge of the garden and orchard, the cooking, and a growing tribe of youngsters who ultimately numbered six sons and four daughters. Mondays on the Maxwell Ranch were washdays for Nancy. The work lasted from dawn to dusk.

Joann Bond Boyer, a neighbor and former schoolteacher of several Maxwells, described washdays during an Oregon Historical Society century farm award ceremony in 1980. She wrote that Nancy was a perfectionist who ironed everything from socks to sheets. She used three ironing boards and numerous flatirons that she heated on a wood stove.

"On summer days, it must have seemed hot enough to be standing over hell," Boyer wrote.

During harvest season, meals were eaten at a table that seated 18. Threshing crews were so large that Nancy fed the workers in three shifts per meal at that table. Emptying a 48-pound sack of flour daily wasn't unusual. One rainy autumn, the crews remained for six weeks until the crops finally were in and they had consumed two full-sized beef cows.

"Every woman who grew up on that ranch can bake cakes, pies, cookies and cobblers," said Tommy Moore. "They can smoke and cure meats, make ice cream; they can can any fruit or vegetable, make jams and jellies, make sauerkraut, pickles and sausage, and never look at a recipe."

Nevertheless, 40 percent of everything produced on the Maxwell Ranch was consumed by the 19th century's equivalent of diesel-guzzling farm equipment: 20 draft horses.

Raising 10 children tried Nancy's patience. Son Glen once was pestering his sister Olga as she dried dishes and was cut when he ventured too close to the butcher knife she was wiping. She cried, "Oh, I've killed him."

A weary Nancy is said to have finished washing the plate in her hands before saying, according to the family, "Go ahead, kill each other if you have to."

In 1901, their home burned, and they built an impressive two-story house with a southern exposure and view of the Elkhorn Mountains. It cost $2,000 and still stands, but the house never had an indoor toilet in J.O.'s and Nancy's lifetimes.

J.O., a staunch Baptist, donated land to McMinnville College, later known as Linfield College, and today the athletic field there is called Maxwell Field. The school was chartered as a Baptist college in 1858 by the Oregon Territorial Legislature, and its name was changed in 1912.

In 1917, after 30 years of marriage, the Maxwells' love story ended. Sixty-four-year-old J.O. succumbed to an influenza epidemic.

"It was hard on grandmother when she lost him," said Alta Rose. "But she carried on. She just took over that ranch. She did all the books and the hiring and firing of the men, and the cooking."

Nancy bought a half-interest in the Rock Creek Reservoir and oversaw construction of a dam and a 280-foot tunnel for irrigation water. On Saturdays, hired hands and family lined up, and she wrote them checks so they could go to town, Tommy Moore said.

"She was a gentle, brilliant manager," he said.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, jobs evaporated and money was scarce. The Maxwell clan came home to the ranch. Alta Rose said it wasn't unusual for 30 people to sit down to Sunday dinner. Nancy and her daughters and granddaughters spent all day cooking and washing dishes.

Nancy died on Christmas Eve 1937 at age 71.

Today, four or five miles of J.O. Maxwell's original split-rail fence still stands, says 75-year-old Gerald Maxwell, a grandson of Nancy and J.O.'s and current owner of the ranch with his wife, Farrell. A son manages the farming end while a daughter oversees the cattle.

The Maxwells and kin number at least 200, and there is always something visually striking about family gatherings, Tommy Moore said.

"The women all look like Nancy Hand," he said. "It's amazing what happens when two people fall in love."

Richard Cockle: 541-963-8890; rcockle@oregonwireless.net

Terry Durham-McMinnville High Sports Hall of Fame

Terry Durham-McMinnville High Sports Hall of Fame

http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=234512

Durham looking forward to Saturday's ceremony

Published: May 6, 2008

By JIM WALKER
Of the McMinnville News-Register

Terry Durham, one of McMinnville High's brightest sports stars in the early 1960's, will join an all-star cast Saturday, May 10 as he is inducted into the Mac High Sports Hall of Fame.

Durham, who graduated in 1963, said his time at Mac High "was a great learning experience" — from academics to the psychology of life. The people — his teachers, his coaches and friends — "made this a great town," he said. "I had a great group of teachers."

One of Durham's finest moments at Mac High came in March of 1962 when the Grizzlies did the unbelievable—upset number one North Eugene in the state basketball tournament at McArthur Court in Eugene. Early on, Mac fell behind by 13 points, and many of the 5,514 fans were betting that North Eugene would handle the Eldore Baisch-coached Grizzlies easily.

But the head and subhead of the News-Register story that appeared in the Friday, March 16 issue tell a different story: Grizzlies Nip N. Eugene; Advance In State—Durham Keys Final Drive. And, with several of his teammates nursing foul trouble, including Big Jack Morrison, who fouled out in the late going, Durham took over.

Here's how News-Register sports correspondent Gene Anderson described the final minute of the March 14 game: "With Morrison on the sidelines and the score 60-59 North Eugene, it was up to Durham, and he came through brilliantly. Thwarted after several attempts to set up a play or shake a player in the clear, he drove down the left side, jumped and banked the ball cleanly through the net with 12 seconds showing on the clock."

And while the Grizzlies added two more points before the final buzzer to win by three (63-60), everyone agreed, including coach Baisch, that without Durham's take-charge performance at the end, North Eugene, not Mac High, would have advanced to the winner's bracket of the tournament.

Durham's time at Mac was well-spent. After a full day of academics, he hit the fields and courts of Mac High, participating in and earning honors in football, basketball and baseball — sports he continued at Linfield College where he also collected a number of honors and awards. He graduated from Linfield in 1967 with a degree in education after quarterbacking the football team, playing guard on the Wildcats' basketball team and competing in baseball under the guidance of Roy Helser.

His performances in Wildcats' athletics were impressive as well: Durham is a member of the Linfield Sports Hall of Fame.

In fact, he was good enough in football to play the 1967 season for Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in the Continental Football League — and he competed for a slot on the Chicago Bears roster in both 1967 and ‘68.

His coaching career started under Linfield baseball coach Ad Rutschman, a period during which he earned his masters.

Durham taught and coached for a few years at the high school and college levels, even assisting his father, Paul Durham, the long-time Linfield football coach. He also served as a graduate assistant for Stanford one season. Then he moved on to other exploits, including officiating. That interest grew into a 24-year career as an NBA official. "It was a great experience," he said of his officiating years. Now, he said, he would like to teach officiating to others.

"There's not a better honor," Durham said of his induction into the Mac Hall of Fame. "Few individuals have such an opportunity."

Durham lives close by in Hillsboro. But the years he spent at Mac High and in the community of McMinnville are etched deep in his memory, he said, and he still has "great friends" who live in Mac.

Like the other inductees, Terry Durham will have a few minutes to talk about his experiences at Mac High and officially take his place in the Mac Sports Hall of Fame at the induction ceremony Saturday, May 10, at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.

Coach Paul Durham passes away June 22, 2007

Former Linfield football players and head coaches, Paul Durham (l) and Ad Rutschman, July 2004, Hillsboro, Ore.

http://www.linfield.edu/sports/release.php?id=2086

Sports News
Linfield General Interest News

June 23 2007 Update

Paul Durham passes away

Paul Durham, one of the founders of the modern Linfield College athletic program, died Friday, June 22, 2007, at his home in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Coach Durham (friends and former players had addressed him as "Coach" for 60 years) would have turned 94 on October 18.

He coached, taught and built the athletics program at Linfield for 20 years. Nearly 40 years after he left Linfield to become athletic director at the University of Hawai'i, Wildcat coaches continue to pass on to their athletes Durham's positive values of dedication, sportsmanship and scholarship.

Durham was Linfield's head football coach for 20 seasons, compiling a record of 122 victories, 51 defeats and 10 ties for a .694 winning percentage. (In his final 12 years ("once I got the hang of it," he said), the Wildcats went 90-16-6 (.830), won six Northwest Conference championships and reached the national championship game of the NAIA twice.

His 1956 team started the string of 51 consecutive winning seasons that continues to this day and is the national record at all levels of college football.

Durham was inducted into six athletics Halls of Fame, including the charter class of the Linfield Hall of Fame in 1998. He also was inducted into the Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame in 2001, Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, the NAIA Football Hall of Fame in 1969, the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame and the University of Hawai'i Circle of Honor in 1997. He also was nominated for the national College Football Hall of Fame.

He was chosen NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) football Coach of the Year in 1962 and Oregon Man of the Year in 1961.

For three seasons (1949-1952), Durham and Oregon baseball Hall of Fame member Roy Helser were co-coaches of men's basketball. One of those teams won the Northwest Conference championship.

In 1961, Durham's football Wildcats capped the first unbeaten, untied regular season in school history with a trip to the "Camellia Bowl" in Sacramento, Calif. Linfield was the first college from the Northwest Conference to participate in the NAIA football playoffs. The Wildcats lost a hard-fought national championship game, 12-7 to rugged Pittsburg State of Kansas.

Linfield again finished unbeaten and untied in 1965 and defeated Sul Ross State of Texas 30-27 in the NAIA semifinals before losing to St. John's of Minnesota 33-0 in the NAIA "Champion Bowl" in Augusta, Ga.

In the season-opening game of 1967, Durham took the Wildcats to Honolulu, where they upset the University of Hawai'i, 15-13, at rainy Honolulu Stadium before a Honolulu Stadium crowd of about 20,000 - still the most ever to see a Linfield game.

Hawaii was so impressed with Durham and the Wildcats that it hired him away from Linfield in 1968 to direct its athletic program. He guided the ambitious Rainbows from lower-level competition into NCAA Division I.

Durham stepped down as athletic director in 1975 for health reasons but taught in the Hawai'i College of Education until his retirement in 1981.

The foyer that serves as main entryway into the Linfield athletics complex, completed in 1989, is named in Durham's honor.

He was a star athlete at Linfield in the 1930s, competing in football, basketball and track and field, and is one of the few Wildcats in history to earn 10 letters.

Durham graduated from Linfield in 1936 and he received his master's degree from the University of Oregon in 1941. He then coached at high schools in Yamhill and Portland - Commerce (now called Cleveland) and Franklin (his alma mater) - before returning to the college 12 years later to coach football. A year later, in 1949, he was appointed Linfield director of athletics.

Durham was a Renaissance man. Not only did he coach and teach (he taught health classes in addition to the life lessons he imparted on the football field), Durham read widely, sang in choirs and as a soloist, was an accomplished formal speaker, a wonderful story and joke teller (the Honolulu Quarterback Club's weekly meetings were officially opened when he told a joke) with a deep, booming voice."

He was an incredible person whose positive impact reached far beyond Maxwell Field and Manoa for more than 60 years," said Chuck Charnquist, long-time Portland Trailblazers official and former Linfield sports information director.

Durham received a small scholarship to attend Linfield as the nation sank into the Great Depression. He earned a free room by working at the original Macy's Funeral Home in McMinnville. "I shared a bed with another football player," Durham said. "In those days, two guys sleeping in the same bed did not raise any eyebrows.

"Raising a family (sons Jeff and Terry and daughter Cathy) on a small-college coach's salary was a challenge, so Durham augmented his income in many other ways.

During summers -- in addition to teaching classes at Linfield -- he ran the McMinnville city recreation program - overseeing activities in the city park during the day and softball games at night.

"Dodging with Durham" sports column head

Aug. 4, 1961, McMinnville News-Register

And, he was sports editor of the then-daily local newspaper, the McMinnville News-Register. He wrote a popular sports column, "Dodging with Durham."

One observer opined that Durham might have been the only college football coach in America who was never criticized in print by the local sports editor.

He was chosen First Citizen of McMinnville by the Chamber of Commerce and was elected president of the Linfield Alumni Association and honored as Alumnus of the Year.

Durham's deep baritone singing voice was in great demand. He sang in the choir at the First Baptist Church on Sunday mornings and picked up a little extra cash singing popular hymns like "How Great Thou Art" at funerals at Macy's.

Durham's second wife, Kitty Chang, died in Honolulu in 1994.

His first wife, Amelia "Litz" Durham, a former Linfield bookstore employee, died in Oregon in 2004.

"Coach" is survived by three children, Jeff of Tigard, Terry of Beaverton, and Cathy Devine of Chicago, Ill., seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren (with two more on the way) and more friends and admirers than could ever be counted.

Memorial services will be Thursday, June 28, in Honolulu, at Borthwick Mortuary, and Monday, July 2, at Linfield's Ted Wilson Gym starting at 1 p.m.

.............
 

After Paul Durham’s death, one of the messages online was the following. It’s from  

Carla Atkinson, posted July 18, 2007 at 10:31 a.m.:

“Paul Durham was my uncle. I would like to add that besides the wonderful things he accomplished as an athletic director, the family side of Uncle Paul was equally as important. 

"Paul was a Christian man who lived his beliefs in his kindness, words of encouragement to the children in the family, and the manner in which he left everyone feeling good. 

"He was a great son and his parents were blessed by his enthusiasm, talent and great humor every day of their life. He made family gatherings fun with his practical joking and great sense of humor. 

"He sang at my wedding 47 years ago, and has blesed my life by word, deed, and example. 

"Through the year 2006, Uncle Paul sent us monthly cartoons and notes. I have mentored many other children in his name. We miss him.”

'Something is happening at Linfield' cover story in 'Northwest,' the Sunday Oregonian magazine 4/28/1968

--Something is happening at Linfield. The college is quiet, peaceful and green, a story book sort of college ... yet, it swings.

--Students are losing the feeling of being sheltered from what is going on in society.

--The art and drama departments are advanced to an extent their existence in a small church-operated college is paradoxical.

--The college has put on art exhibitions that other schools might think far out.

--Some argument remains as to whether this is a changed attitude or just an expansion of a normal and modern process of awakening.

--The head of the Drama Department hopes to move the theater into a closer association with the audience, absorbing them into the whole of the play.

Assuming you can access/read PDFs, please use the links below for easy-to-read (easier to read than the JPGs posted below) text of the 4/28/1968 Sunday Oregonian article:

• Cover https://tr.im/GgaQK

• First of three article pages https://tr.im/tmC1A

• Second of three article pages https://tr.im/XSmcL

• Third of three article pages https://tr.im/k89im

Linews April 25, 1968

Northwest magazine

to feature Linfield

Northwest magazine, weekly section of the Sunday Oregonian will run an article April 28 entitled, "Something is Happening at Linfield."

The story which will be about two pages in length was apparently manufactured after Northwest writers visited here last week for an article on the college student which was run in their April 21 edition.

The article will likely include pictures, but no further details were available.

What some Linfield students were thinking in 1968 (Sunday Oregonian Northwest magazine 4/21/1968)

Linews April 25, 1968

Northwest magazine

to feature Linfield

Northwest magazine, weekly section of the Sunday Oregonian will run an article April 28 entitled, "Something is Happening at Linfield."

The story which will be about two pages in length was apparently manufactured after Northwest writers visited here last week for an article on the college student which was run in their April 21 edition.

The article will likely include pictures, but no further details were available.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Linews article above mentions "an article on the college student" which ran in the April 21, 1968, Oregonian. That article includes what some Linfield students were thinking in spring 1968. R

The Student What Is He Thinking? cover story in 'Northwest,' the Sunday Oregonian magazine 4/21/1968

What is The Student Thinking Today?

How do Oregon college student feel about the future, about advice from parents, success, honesty in business and other vital issues affecting their future?

Sunday Northwest Magazine presents a poll of Oregon college students thinking today. Ten questions were formulated by Joe Bianco, the Northwest Magazine Editor and a scientific poll was constructed by Bardsley and Haslacher Inc., veteran marketing and opinion research firm.

Writers from Northwest Magazine visited five Oregon campuses and asked the poll questions to students picked at random.

Ten students were questioned at each college, for a total of 50 personal interviews.

Art Chenoweth went to Portland State University and Carl Gohs to Pacific University at Forest Grove. Both are free lance writers and frequent contributors to Northwest Magazine.

Linda Lampman, former Oregonian staff member and now a frequent free lance contributor visited Lewis & Clark College in Portland.

Jim Magmer, staff member who also writes frequently for the Magazine covered Linfield College at McMinnville and Oregon State University at Corvallis, accompanied by the Magazine editor.

As a check on accuracy, Roy Bardsley of Bardsley and Haslacher supervised an additional survey by telephone ... etc. etc. etc.

...................

One of the photos taken at Linfield for the April 21, 1968, article has a cutline which reads "IN THE CAFETERIA." In reality, it was taken in the coffee shop of Riley Student Center, not in the commons, Dillin Hall.

Another photo, with cutline reading "AMBULATORY DISCUSSION," appears to show (left to right) Jeff Basinski, Dan Beeson and Norm Musser. 

 The JPG posted below of the Linfield student article from the 4/21/1968 Sunday Oregonian Northwest magazine is hard to read. For a better look at the article, see PDFs linked below:  

1 of 2 pages
http://bit.ly/1zkBTz5
2 of 2 pages
http://bit.ly/15UZbj8

Al Beeler spent 75 years attending Linfield athletic events

Al Beeler spent 75 years attending Linfield athletic events

http://www.linfield.edu/sports/release.php?id=2407

April 3, 2008 from Linfield Sports Information

Wildcat alum Al Beeler passes away

A Linfield and McMinnville icon has passed away.

Al Beeler, class of 1935, died of natural causes in his sleep Thursday
at home in McMinnville. He was 94.

The term "longtime supporter" doesn't begin to properly credit a man
who spent 75 years attending Linfield athletic events and volunteering
his time to help make the college and the city better places.

Beeler was a football and basketball season-ticket holder for decades,
and, as recently as March 21, was seen in his customary seat at Roy
Helser Field for a Wildcats baseball game that day.

"Al was a tremendous supporter of Linfield and its athletic programs,"
said director of athletics Scott Carnahan. "I liken him to the 'Old
Oak.' His devotion was symbolic of the kind of loyalty we have enjoyed
at Linfield for so very long. We are going to miss him."

Beeler was an active member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
Committee and the group's foremost advocate for nominees from the
decade of the 1930s.

Up until five years ago, Beeler volunteered his time each summer to
sell advertisements to area businesses. The ads appeared in Linfield
athletic publications, helping offset the cost of production. He also
was a volunteer each August at the Wildcat Open golf tournament,
selling raffle tickets or assisting with registrations.

Beeler was a regular attendee at the Monday morning Quarterback Club,
a weekly gathering of local Linfield and McMinnville High School fans
and supporters. For many years, he served as the club's treasurer.

Beeler came to McMinnville in 1933 to study business at Linfield. He
found a job at Hamblin-Wheeler Men's Shop, stayed with the store after
he graduated, eventually becoming the owner.

His business motto was, "If you don't like people, you'd better not be
a retailer."

Over the decades, he was active in downtown events. He served on the
beautification committee that revamped downtown Third Street in the
1970s, adding curb cuts, underground wiring and street trees. He also
chaired a downtown business committee and helped the McMinnville
Downtown Association get started.

Beeler was a member of the McMinnville Elks Club for more than 70
years, where he once was an exalted ruler.

A musician, Beeler played the drums at countless Linfield and Elks
dances. Once he sat in with the nationally known Freddie Martin Band,
featuring pianist Merv Griffin, when it visited McMinnville for a
dance.

As a student at Linfield, he organized his own band, Al Beeler's
Campus Knights. The band's name worried President Elam Anderson, who
was concerned that the school's conservative Baptist trustees might be
offended by being linked to swing music.

Over the years with the Elks, he served in almost every office and on
almost every committee. He also held state, district and national
offices, including state president in 1966, district deputy in 1972, a
member of the Grand Lodge Committee in 1978.

In an interview in 2002, Beeler said his most rewarding moments as a
member of the Elks came while working on service projects, such as
providing food baskets to needy people at Christmas.

His is survived by his wife, Beverly. The father of three children and
four stepchildren, Beeler especially enjoyed projects related to young
people.

Super Wildcat fan Al Beeler dies at 94 (April 2008)

Super Wildcat fan Al Beeler dies at 94 (April 2008)

http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=233227

Al Beeler dies at 94

Published: April 3, 2008

By Starla Pointer, McMinnville, Ore., News-Register

Longtime McMinnville businessman Al Beeler died this morning in McMinnville. He was 94.

Beeler came to McMinnville as a Linfield College student in the 1930s. During college, he played drums with dance bands that performed downtown.

Once he sat in with the nationally known Freddie Martin Band, featuring pianist Merv Griffin, when it visited McMinnville for a dance. He even had his own band at Linfield, Al Beeler's Campus Knights.

While still a college student, he went to work for Hamblin Wheeler, the Man's Shop. He eventually became owner of the popular downtown clothing store and continued to operate the business until his retirement.

Beeler was a 72-year member of the McMinnville Elks Lodge. He remained active at the local, state and national levels, and recently spoke at a state Elks convention.

He had served as exalted ruler of the local lodge and president of the state Elks organization. He was inducted to the Elks Hall of Fame in 1990.

Over the years, Beeler especially enjoyed helping with projects related to young people. He was proud of the Elks' major state project, the Casey Eye Clinic, and of the youth hoop shoot that started in Oregon and has become a nationwide event.

Beeler had just been installed as McMinnville Lodge 1283's leading knight, heading up charitable activities. A former state youth activity chairman, he also was proud of the organization's ability to raise so much money for scholarships.

"Everybody likes Al," said Gary Anderson, president of the McMinnville Lodge. Anderson said he had encouraged Beeler to accept his latest post, knowing "his wisdom and spirit would inspire new members and old."

Arrangements are pending with Macy & Son Funeral Directors.

Linfield track steeplechase water hazard morning of 5/3/2012

Linfield College landmark oak falls to its death (Pendleton EO 1-8-2008)

Linfield College landmark oak falls to its death

Jan 8, 2008, Pendleton East Oregonian newspaper

McMINNVILLE - A proud symbol of Linfield College fell to its death.

The Old Oak, an 80-foot-tall tree that had been standing since the college was founded more than a century ago, collapsed in a matter of seconds Tuesday (Jan. 8, 2008). No one was injured.

The tree was estimated at 250 years old and was described by the first settlers to the valley. The oak was mature when Pioneer Hall opened in 1882, the first building on the new campus of then-McMinnville College. Pioneer Hall and the Old Oak became symbols of the college, and had been pictured together on everything from calendars to college stationery.

But the tree was starting to show its age. A consultant who examined the tree last year found an infestation of carpenter worms. The tree was labeled a hazard, because a branch could fall at anytime.

College officials took steps to keep the tree standing as long as possible, but crews planned to move the senior class bench, which was placed under the tree 60 years ago, to discourage people from getting too close.

Light rain was falling Tuesday afternoon, but there was no wind to explain the sudden collapse of the beloved oak. "Incredible," onlookers said as they gaped at the dome-shaped base of the tree, where spongy, rotten wood was visible.

Linfield College landmark oak falls to its death (Pendleton EO Jan. 8, 2008)

Linfield College landmark oak falls to its death

Jan 8, 2008, Pendleton East Oregonian newspaper

McMINNVILLE - A proud symbol of Linfield College fell to its death.

The Old Oak, an 80-foot-tall tree that had been standing since the college was founded more than a century ago, collapsed in a matter of seconds Tuesday (Jan. 8, 2008). No one was injured.

The tree was estimated at 250 years old and was described by the first settlers to the valley. The oak was mature when Pioneer Hall opened in 1882, the first building on the new campus of then-McMinnville College. Pioneer Hall and the Old Oak became symbols of the college, and had been pictured together on everything from calendars to college stationery.

But the tree was starting to show its age. A consultant who examined the tree last year found an infestation of carpenter worms. The tree was labeled a hazard, because a branch could fall at anytime.

College officials took steps to keep the tree standing as long as possible, but crews planned to move the senior class bench, which was placed under the tree 60 years ago, to discourage people from getting too close.

Light rain was falling Tuesday afternoon, but there was no wind to explain the sudden collapse of the beloved oak. "Incredible," onlookers said as they gaped at the dome-shaped base of the tree, where spongy, rotten wood was visible.