Linfield’s storied ‘Hartford Pipeline’ is thanks to Coach Joe Beidler

Updated Nov. 11, 2011. Photo from 1952 Whitman College Waiilatpu student yearbook .

The storied “Hartford Pipeline” is part of Linfield sports lore. Ten graduates of Hartford, Conn., high schools came to Linfield and went on to success at the college academically and athletically and to successful careers after graduating from the college.

Meet Joe Beidler (pronounced “Biide-lur”). Without him, there would be no “Hartford Pipeline.” Also, it's been called the "Hartford Connection."

Beidler’s contact with Linfield happened because he was coaching at Whitman College, Linfield’s Northwest Conference rival in Walla Walla, Wash.

He and his wife, Ruth, arrived at Whitman in 1949, after three years (1946-1949) coaching at his alma mater, Trinity College in Hartford.

Initially, he was Whitman head baseball coach and assistant football coach. In 1951, he became Whitman’s head football coach, too. He coached both sports until June 1955, when the Beidlers left Walla Walla and Whitman to return to Connecticut.

Back in Hartford, he coached football and baseball at Weaver High (Hartford) and Conard (West Hartford) until his retirement in 1983.

“In my years at Whitman, Paul Durham and Roy Helser (Linfield head football and baseball coaches respectively), although both staunch rivals and highly competitive, developed into my good friends among those in the coaching world,” Beidler, age 91, told Wildcatville in October 2010 from Vero Beach, Florida, where the Beidlers live.

“I was fortunate to spend time socially with Paul and Roy off the field, often in their homes with their families, during times when our teams were not on the field of competition in Walla Walla and McMinnville,” he said.

“After leaving Whitman, my new assignment of coaching in high school in Harford enabled me to make recommendations for student-athletes whom I believed would be successful with at Linfield,” said Beidler.

The first athlete Beidler recommended to Linfield was Curtis Manns, who had played football for him three years at Weaver High. He entered Linfield in 1958 and lettered in his first three years. He gave up football as a Linfield senior to concentrate on academics. Ultimately, he earned a doctorate degree and served for many years on the faculty of Florida A&M.

Of the remaining nine athletes who entered Linfield from 1959-1967, seven played football: Mike Stelman, Bernie Grant, Pete Dengenis, John Lee, Ron Rudo, Eddie Griffin and Bob Sullivan. Rick Turner was a basketball player and Bob Raffalo was a swimming team member and played baseball. (Griffin came to Linfield indirectly. Read on.)

“This was an unusually talented group,” he said. As evidence are some of the individual honors earned. The group includes Pete Dengenis, John Lee, Bob Sullivan and Bob Raffalo, all members of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.

In addition, Dengenis was named to the NAIA All-American team in 1963 and he was All-Northwest Conference in 1961, 1962 and 1963. Also All-NWC were Sullivan (1968, 1969 and 1970) and Stelman, Lee and Griffin in 1961, 1963 and 1967 respectively.

Six “Hartford Connection” members became educators after graduating from Linfield. In addition to Manns, they include Turner, who earned a doctorate and served in the University of Virginia administration; Dengenis; Sullivan; Ruffalo and Lee, now a pastor.

Mike Stelman’s accomplishments include a successful real estate business in San Diego. He travels frequently on behalf of the Rotary Club. A Rancho Bernardo, Calif., resident, his honors include being a member of the Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame and Soroptimist Man of the Year. In addition, he is on the board of directors of the San Diego International Sports Council, Holiday Bowl.

Eddie Griffin (Edward Ploma Griffin, Jr.), an outstanding football and basketball player for Linfield (graduated 1968), is a state high school championship high school boys basketball coach in Hartford. He transferred to Linfield after his freshman year at Virginia State. He followed in the footsteps of his cousin, John Lee (John Earl Lee, graduated 1967), who started at Linfield as a freshman.

Griffin is a member of the Hartford Public High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a player.

So, Beidler was key in Lee going to Linfield. In turn, Lee was key in Griffin going to Linfield.

An almost “Hartford Connection” member is the Beidlers' daughter, Jo. She attended Linfield (psychology major), 1967-68, and then transferred to and graduated from the University of Hawaii.

Beidler has frequent e-mail, mail and telephone contact with “Hartford Connection” members. In November 2005, he traveled from Florida to McMinnville for reunion of some members as well to visit with Paul Durham, who had traveled from Hawaii to Linfield for a Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony and football game.

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Research subsequent to this story indicates the "Hartford Connection” also includes: 

Harold D. Abrams -- Grad of Hartford High School, played basketball for Linfield, graduated from Linfield in 1973. After a 30-year career in government, retired in 2007 as City of Hartford director of parks and recreation. 

Charles Ferguson – Grad of Hartford’s Bulkeley High School, wrestled for Linfield, graduated from Linfield in 1982. Coached wrestling at Bulkeley and coached (still coaches?) at New Britain, Conn., High School. 

Clifford "Suge" Mitchell (Clifford J. Mitchell, Jr.) -- Grad of Hartford's Hartford High School, played basketball for Linfield, graduated from Linfield in 1972.

Lance S. Powell -- Grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School, swimmer for Linfield, graduated from Linfield in 1974. 

Anthony P. "Tony" Ragazzi Jr. -- Grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School, played football for Linfield. 

Billy R. Scott -- Grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School, played football for Linfield, graduated from Linfield in 1974. 

Ronald "Ronnie" "Smitty" Smith -- Grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School, played basketball for Linfield. 

Robert "Bobby" Williams -- Grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School, played football for Linfield, graduated from Linfield in 1974. 

Kevin Rivers -- Grad of Hartford's Bulkeley High School, tried out for Linfield football team, but did not play football for the Wildcats. He graduated from Linfield in 1973.

Other Linfielders from Hartford, who apparently did not participate in sports for the Wildcats, include:

Pete Casarella, Class of 1972. He's a grad of Hartford’s Bulkeley High School.

April Everett, Class of 1974. She’s a grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School.

Brenda Joiner, Class of 1974. She’s a grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School.

Edmond "Ed"/"Eddie" Ware, Class of 1975. He’s a grad of Hartford’s Weaver High School.

Called "Hartford High School" here, it's correctly identified as Hartford Public High School.

See Wildcatville story, "Hartford Connection's Pete Dengenis, Mike Stelman visit Linfield Football practice at Maxwell Field 10/15/2010."

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After 10/18/2014 unveiling of the Coach Paul Durham (in the background) statue on the campus of Linfield in McMinnville, Cathy (Bake) Sullivan took this photo (left-right) of her husband, Bob Sullivan; Pete Dengenis, John Lee and Mike Stelman. They're part of Linfield's storied "Hartford (Connecticut) Connection." Photo posted 8:39pm 10/19/2014 http://on.fb.me/1t2tP2N by Cathy Sullivan at Facebook BWC-Linfield with this cutline: "Four of "The Hartford Connection" who were recruited by, and played for Coach Durham. (left to right) Bob Sullivan 71', Pete Dengenis 64', John Lee 67', Mike Stelman 63'."

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Joseph B. Beidler, 1918-2016

Hartford, Connecticut, COURANT newspaper

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hartfordcourant/obituary.aspx?pid=182401932

Joseph B. "Coach" Beidler, 97, died Monday, October 31, in the comfort of his home.

He was born November 15, 1918.

Joe served our country during WWII as a Lieutenant in the Navy aboard a mine sweeper.

His passing leaves a void in the hearts of many, especially his devoted daughter, Nancee (Ray Torns) and his adoring wife and "best girl" of 74 years, Ruth.

He is also survived by his daughter JoAnn Schaaf, his son Robert, his only granddaughter, Brandy Caban, three grandsons Kalua, Kama and Kahoa McKeague, and his special great-granddaughter, Kiana Caban.

Joe's passion was football and baseball. First as a player and then as a coach.

His career spanned nearly 4 decades, beginning at his beloved alma mater, Trinity College, migrating to the Pacific West and returning home to CT to coach at Weaver High and Conrad High.

One of his proudest achievements was creating what became known as the "Hartford Connection." Between 1958 and 1967 Coach sent 10 young and talented players to Linfield College in Oregon.

Coach believed in his players and inspired them to fulfill their potential. Joe's 15 year run of coaching with McKee at Conrad High was legendary, winning over 80% of games played.

When he hung up cleats and retired to Vero Beach with Ruth they "played" together at golf, Bridge, square dancing and pool! Always learning!

He volunteered for the Dodgers at Spring Training and relished being the driver who talked "game" all the way to the airport. Coach Beidler was a great guy. Loved and respected. A coach who knew the science of football and a gentleman on and off the field. His word was gold. He left the world a better place.

The family extends its sincere gratitude to all the caregivers and Masonicare Hospice professionals who gave Joe such exceptional care.

A Celebration of Coach Joe Beidler's life will be held at Trinity College Chapel at a later date. Please visit our guestbook at www.taylorandmodeen.com

Robert Raffalo of Linfield "Hartford Connection" fame, Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame member enshrined 11/12/2011

This info from Linfield Sports Information. Robert Raffalo of Linfield "Hartford Connection" fame was enshrined Nov. 12, 2011, in the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.


Robert Raffalo
Athlete 1961 - 1965

Robert Raffalo of the Class of 1965 rarely experienced defeat over his four-year career as a baseball and swimming student-athlete at Linfield.

Raffalo was a four-year starter for the baseball club coached by Roy Helser, during which time the Wildcats won four Northwest Conference championships, made four postseason appearances and posted a 71-42-1 win-loss record.

He began his career as a third baseman, earning first team all-conference honors as a freshman and sophomore. His first year in uniform, he led the ‘Cats in RBIs and posted a career-best .364 batting average.

Raffalo made the transition to the shortstop position as a junior. His highly decorated senior year included first team all-conference honors, NAIA honorable mention All-America recognition, All-Oregon Sportswriters Association accolades and Linfield’s Most Improved Player award. After graduation, he was invited to a professional baseball tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals.

He boasts a .345 career batting average and still ranks in the Top 10 in three individual single-season categories at Linfield, including on-base percentage (.528), triples (6) and appearances (35).

Raffalo enjoyed an equally prolific career in the pool. A four-time all-Northwest Conference and NAIA District 2 champion in diving, Raffalo became the first Wildcat to qualify at the NAIA National Swimming & Diving Championships as a senior in 1965. Unfortunately, due to mechanical plane problems and extreme winter weather conditions in La Crosse, Wis., he was unable to compete in the meet.

Over his four-year career, Raffalo went undefeated in NAIA District 2 competition and lost just twice to NWC opponents. He was recognized as a conference and regional all-star all four seasons.

Raffalo was an active member of the Linfield community. In addition to his athletic pursuits, he served as the Senior Class President, Lettermen’s Club President and Vice President of Linfield’s Chapter for the Oregon Education Association. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health with a minor in social studies.

After graduating in 1965, he returned to his hometown of Hartford, Conn., where he taught and coached in the public school system for 38 years. During that time, he also found the time to complete two additional degrees, volunteer with multiple sports organizations and serve as athletic director at his alma mater, Bulkeley High School.

Raffalo retired in 2004, and currently resides in Old Saybrook, Conn. He has two grown children, Kelly and Robert, Jr.

Lewis & Clark at Linfield football 11/12/2011: Linfield Wildcats beat L&C Pioneers, win Northwest Conference title

Links to four Mike Barrow stories

This was posted 2/11/2015

"Cheering over, but Mike Barrow still remembered" story related to Nov. 12, 2011, dedication of the Mike Barrow Study Room in Nicholson Library at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. Linfield is Mike's alma mater.

http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2011/10/cheering-over-but-mike-barrow-still.html

Same story here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/71190985/Mike-Barrow-Flyer

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Linfield Review (Linfield College student newspaper) Nov. 14, 2011, story about Nov. 12, 2011, dedication of Mike Barrow Study Room in Linfield College (McMinnville, Oregon) Nicholson Library. Linfield is Mike's alma mater

http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2011/11/linfield-review-story-about-nov-12-2011.html

Same story here:

http://thelinfieldreview.com/9008/the-rest/linfield-alum-veteran-honored-with-study-room-2

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Story about Mike Barrow, "A Wildcat remembered," in the Nov. 18, 2011, Prineville, Oregon, Central Oregonian newspaper. Mike is said to have been from Portland, Oregon. However, he grew up in Central Oregon and graduated from Crook County High School in Pineville, Oregon.

http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2011/11/mike-barrow-wildcat-remembered.html

Same story here:

http://portlandtribune.com/component/content/article?id=182601

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Mike Barrow included in Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) "Wall of Faces" 


http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/2675/MICHAEL-E-BARROW

College sports: Smitten with Division III

Sat., Nov. 12, 2011

From guest columnist The Oregonian. Link to posted column here.

By Barry Glassner
President
Lewis & Clark College


Our football team is having its best season since 1963.

Don't feel bad if this is the first you've heard of the team's astounding turnaround. An unexpected 7-0 start would get notice in Sports Illustrated or ESPN if it happened at any of the previous schools where I've worked. But those places -- Syracuse University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Southern California -- are Division I, and now I'm president of Lewis & Clark College, a Division III school.

I sometimes wish our teams and their inspiring seasons got big play in the sports press. And I confess that I miss the spectacle, resources and athleticism of Division I sports. But I'm happy to trade them, and the costs that accompany them, for the satisfactions of D-III.

Now, instead of worrying about a player's father being absent from the upcoming game because he's meeting with a sports agent, I worry about the health of the father with cancer who has never missed his son's game -- and who thanks me, every time I greet him at the stadium, as if I'm the one who's done something herculean.

Instead of reeling from news about an alumnus of my school going through the public embarrassment of giving back his Heisman Trophy, I revel in updates from an athlete who graduated a few years ago and is now a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. And instead of hearing professors complain about athletes who view classes as rest stops en route to the NFL or NBA, I get messages like the one a humanities professor sent a few days ago:

"Saturday's game was a delight in so many ways, and oddly, least of all because it was a win," the professor wrote. "It was just a delight to see our students play spirited football and to do so with real pleasure, to talk to an alum who treasures his football-playing experience now, nearly six decades gone by, and to meet the parents of one of our offensive linemen who was my student last year, and his brother, who plays on the other team."

You couldn't have found a prouder, happier family, that professor wrote, than the family he witnessed on the field after the game. "Win, lose or draw," the professor said, "mom and dad were tickled that their sons played in a game across from each other -- and are both getting a great education (although we know who is getting the better one)."

To be sure, there are equally proud parents, and for much the same reasons, at D-I schools. In my view, the NCAA and Division I schools have received more criticism lately than they deserve -- although the recent scandal involving Penn State's fabled football program is deeply disturbing, to put it mildly. Still, Division I might benefit from some of the Division III philosophy, which calls on member colleges to pursue their intercollegiate sports programs in a manner that places the highest priority "on the overall quality of the education experience and the successful completion of all students' academic programs."

Division III schools emphasize the experience of the athletes, not the sports-consuming public. The NCAA specifically calls on us to "place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators ... and the general public and its entertainment needs."

Played far from network television cameras and the 100,000-seat stadiums you'll find on the nation's most famous football campuses, our games take place in more idyllic settings. At the site of our team's home games, towering evergreens line one side of the field, opposite the atmospheric wooden grandstand, and as you follow the arc of a high punt or pass, you catch a glimpse of distant foothills between the trees. To be sure, Griswold Stadium at Lewis & Clark is not the L.A. Coliseum or Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. But it has a charm of its own -- faculty and staff kids playing on the track at one end of the field, a small pep band (complete with the octogenarian alumnus on bass drum) plugging away in the thick of the crowd -- a charm that speaks to a more innocent iteration of intercollegiate athletics.

On D-III playing fields, student-athletes really are student-athletes. At this level, no one gets athletic scholarships. Students compete not for fame and big crowds, not for a shot at a pro career, but purely for the fun, excitement and educational benefits they derive.

Sure, some of the disappointments and the worries are the same as you'll find at high-profile football universities. Players get injured in Division III just as they do in Division I; a torn ACL or a concussion is no less painful or troubling for them and the coaches, parents and professors who care about them. Even here, it pains me to say, you'll find student-athletes who are not paying as much attention to their studies as they should.

This Saturday, I'll be living and dying with every play as my college takes on Linfield for the football championship of the Northwest Conference.

At the same time that we're playing, before a crowd maybe 20 times larger, the team representing my former employer will be battling the high-flying squad of another major university. I wish them the best. I'll try to catch the highlights on ESPN, if I can.

Del Smith dies at age 84 (McMinnville N-R 11/7/2014)

"Athletics benefactor Del Smith passes away," Linfield Sports Info release 11/7/2014
http://bit.ly/1GzKm3I

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By Nicole Montesano
of the McMinnville News-Register 

Delford M. (Del) Smith, founder of McMinnville's Evergreen International Aviation and Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, died of natural causes late Friday afternoon at his Dundee home, the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office has confirmed.

Smith, 84, had been battling ill health for some time.

The sheriff's office said a death investigation found no evidence of anything other than natural causes. It said Macy & Son had picked up the body and would be handling arrangements.

The life-long aviation enthusiast and entrepreneur is survived by his wife, Maria, and son, Mark. Another son, Michael, preceded him in death.

Smith was a U.S. Marine and self-made man. Though his aviation empire failed in the end, he left a larger than life legacy in the field.

According to The Associated Press, reporting in 2001, “His adoptive father died in a car accident when Smith was 2, and he was raised in near-poverty by his mother. At age 8, he borrowed $2.50 from a Centralia, Wash., bank to buy a lawn mower. Three years, three paper routes and half a dozen other menial jobs later, at age 11, he bought her a house. …

“He invested the equity from the house he bought for his mother to pay both for her long-term care and his tuition to the University of Washington, from which he graduated in 1953. Starting in 1960 with two Hiller helicopters and a 40-foot trailer, Smith began building a global aviation empire that has operated in 178 countries. The 5,500 people who work for his companies generate annual revenues of more than $560 million.”

He founded his aviation enterprise in 1960, starting with a single helicopter. He grew it to the point where it had a fleet of 747s hauling freight to the far corners of the world.

He went on to found the Evergreen Aviation Museum in 2001.

Its centerpiece was, and remains, Howard Hughes' famous Spruce Goose. Smith purchased the wooden behemoth in 1992 and had it disassembled and moved to McMinnville piece by massive piece.

The museum was officially named the Captain Michael Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Institute, in honor of Smith's son, an Air National Guard pilot and auto racer who died in a car crash in 1995.  The museum continued to expand over the next decade, adding a space museum, movie theater, water park, chapel and outdoor facilities.

A lodge has been started, but construction has been stalled for the past year.

Smith's Evergreen International Aviation company also continued to expand, starting with a helicopters division, expanding into cargo and military flights, cargo handling and even into agriculture.

In 1999, Smith received the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy at a ceremony in Washington D.C., hosted by the Aero Club of Washington.

Beginning in 2010, facing major business challenges, Smith began selling off assets, including the helicopter division in a $250 million sale in 2013. Smith told the News-Register he planned to use the money to reinvigorate his airline, but the company was $300 million in debt at the time and could not, in the end, be saved.

Smith closed the airline in November of 2013, and the company declared bankruptcy on New Year's Eve. A trustee was assigned to take control. In June, a federal judge approved the sale of most of the company's assets.

The aviation buildings were put up for sale earlier this year.

A spokesperson from the museum, and others associated closely in personal and business relationships with Smith, expressed sorrow at the news and said more information related to Smith and Evergreen would be made available in days to come.

Linfield at Whitworth (Spokane, Wash.) football 11/5/2011

Linfield at Menlo football, 10/29/2011

Linfield Wildcats defeated Menlo Oaks, 23-6, in a game played on Menlo's Cartan Field.

Linfield 49 at Pacific 6 football on 10/15/2011

Linfield at Pacific football played afternoon of Oct. 15, 2011, at Lincoln Park in Forest Grove, Ore. Linfield Wildcats defeated the Pacific Boxers 49-6 in Northwest Conference action. With the win, Linfield has assured itself of its 56th consecutive winning football season.

Few remember, but Bill Carter will never forget the kick he made for 1967 Linfield football team

By Tim Marsh
Published originally in Fall 2001 Linfield Athletics Newsletter

The 1967 Linfield College football team is best remembered for:

1-- a season opening, 15-13, upset victory in Honolulu over the University of Hawaii and a come-from-behind, 16-7, triumph on Maxwell Field over Willamette.

2-- finishing with an 8-1 win-loss record and, at 5-1, tied for the Northwest Conference title with Willamette and Lewis & Clark. Because of an NWC athletic censure and probation, officially, it was not a co-championship for the Wildcats.

3-- being Paul Durham's 20th and final season before leaving Linfield to become University of Hawaii athletic director, the same job he held at the college.

However, few remember a fan from the stands scoring a point that season during Linfield's, 27-0, NWC win over Pacific University's Badgers in Forest Grove, Ore.
Tim Kubli of Yreka, Calif. , was a 6-foot-3, 210-pound tackle. His Linfield football fame was as a kicker, for kickoffs, fieldgoals and PATs/points after touchdowns.

During the game, the night of Oct. 7 on Pacific's McCready Field, his first PAT kick failed, but he made another. Kubli was clipped on the ensuing kickoff and injured his knee. After Linfied's third touchdown, teammate Deno Edwards kicked.
Kubli and Robillard hurt during first half

Although Linfield led Pacific, 20-0, at halftime, Kubli remembers Durham was not happy. Kubli and star defensive back Joe Robillard of Hood River , Ore., were both injured, knocked out of the game in the first half. "Coach Durham was mad as hell," Kubli remembers. "In the locker room, coach said he thought we were taking the game too lighlty and that was the reason people were getting hurt."

Kubli, Durham and Robillard do not recall who kicked the PAT after Linfield's final touchdown for the final 27-0 score. Bill Carter, then a Linfield freshman JV team tight end and kicker from Bellflower , Calif., does.

Carter was at the Pacific game as a Wildcat fan, sitting in the stands. At halftime he was called him down to the sidelines. Durham told him to go to the locker room, put on Robillard's gear and uniform and prepare to kick in the second half.

The uniform was a good fit, Carter and Robillard were both about 6-1, 200-pounds. More important were shoes. "In those days, most if not all kickers kicked conventional straight-ahead style and used a special flat toed kicking shoe," Carter said. "Of course, I didn't have a kicking shoe I used in JV games with me. Tim's kicking shoe was too big. Joe had really narrow-toed, lightweight shoes that receivers and defensive backs used, not very good for kicking."
Carter wore Robillard's gear and uniform, borrowed shoes

What to do? He borrowed a pair of shoes from a Linfield player, perhaps Johnny Bill "Moon" Self. They were too large. So, Carter put on three pairs of socks to give them a snug fit.

When Ed Griffin scored the last Wildcat touchdown on a 1-yard run in the third quarter, it was Carter's turn to attempt the kick. "If I remember right, it was very cold that night and may have even been raining some," said Carter. "It seems to me that the field was muddy. On the extra point, the ball slipped off the tee slightly, but the holder, Mike Barrow, our quarterback, did a good job of holding it upright so that I could get my foot on it." The kick was good.

While Kubli was hurt, Carter remembers kicking off several times in other games. He also played at least one varsity game at tight end. Of 293 points Linfield scored that season, Carter's one point against Pacific was the only he ever scored in his Wildcat football career. Homesick for his girlfriend and warm California weather – "I wasn't used to playing in the rain, cold, and mud." -- he left Linfield and transferred to Long Beach State.

Attending 30,000-student enrollment commuter college Long Beach State was much different than Linfield with most 1,200 students living on campus. "Not different for the better," he said.

Carter remembers Durham "sitting down at the table in the Riley Student Center coffee shop, having a Coke with me and chatting about how things were going in class." In contrast, at Long Beach State , the head football coach "barely acknowledged your existence unless you were one of the heavily recruited players. Quite a difference."
A team of pride and courage

At the 1967 Linfield football awards banquet, Durham told his players they were on a team of "pride and courage, one with great leadership, closeness and spirit."

During the event, Bill Carter received his Linfield varsity football letter. However, his true reward has come over the years since he played for the Wildcats. "I have more memories of the one year I was at Linfield than my other four years of college," he said.

Postscripts:
--Carter and Kubli live and work in California. Carter, in Fullerton, is involved in real estate. Kubli, in Rio Vista, is a bank chief financial officer.

--Robillard is general manager of a manufacturing company in Guthrie, Okla.

--Durham, age 87, is retired and lives in Honolulu.

--Barrow, serving in the U.S. Army infantry, died at age 23 in combat, June 23, 1969, in Vietnam. His name is on the "The Wall," the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Fund-raising is underway to name a study room for him in Linfield's new library.

--Game was played starting 8 p.m. Saturday Oct. 7, 1967, on Pacific's McCready Field in Forest Grove, Ore. Here's the game's box score from the Oct. 8, 1967, Sunday Oregonian.

There’s even more to the story about 1967 Linfield football game

By Tim Marsh
Published originally in Fall 2002 Linfield Athletics Newsletter

Updated February 2023

My story headlined, “Few remember, but Bill Carter will never forget the kick he made for 1967 Linfield football team,” was published in the Aug. 2001 Linfield Athletics Newsletter.

It was about Bill Carter coming out of the stands to kick a point-after-touchdown for Linfield in a 1967 football win against Pacific in Forest Grove. A hero of the story were the borrowed shoes in which Carter kicked.

The story said the shoes “perhaps” belonged to Johnny Bill “Moon” Self. “They were too large. So, Carter put on three pairs of socks to give them a snug fit.”

One of the reactions to the story came belatedly – in April 2002 – to me from Moon, a 1969 Linfield grad, now a fifth grade public school teacher in Cordelia, Calif.

There was no “perhaps” about it, says Moon. They were his shoes which made it into the game, on Carter’s feet, before Moon, also wearing borrowed shoes, got into the game in its fading minutes.

Moon was a one-of-a-kind person as a Linfield student and as a Wildcat football player who seldom played. He wanted to play, but the coaches did not want him to play. A photocopy of his Linfield football publicity photo he sent me includes his hand inscribed self-description, “Friendliest lineman of the year 66-67 Linfield College.”

Based on the 24-page hand-written letter Moon mailed me along with other enclosures, he’s still one of a kind. Trying to give the essence of what he said in the letter is difficult because he said so much. Much of it is quoteable. Much of it is laughable, especially if you know the Linfield cast of characters. Some of it is profane. Repeating some of it might get people mad at me. I’m going to be careful. What follows is a boiled down sanitized version. I gave myself a byline for this story. But, in reality, it is by Moon as told to Tim Marsh, who was afraid to repeat all of the words of Moon.

Moon is a 1964 graduate of California’s Napa High School, where he played football. He began his college in 1964 at Napa Junior College. He played two years for the JC including the one season during which future NFL Hall of Famer Dick Vermeil was the head coach. This is the same Dick Vermeil currently coaching the Kansas City Chief and previously coach of the Super Bowl winning St. Louis Rams.

Moon was recruited by Linfield Hall of Famer Ted Wilson, best known as Wildcat men’s basketball coach, but, at the same time, also an assistant football coach to Paul Durham.

Moon transferred to Linfield in 1966 as a 20-year-old junior with visions of playing a lot of football for the Wildcats. It was not to be. Instead, Moon says he was initially treated like a freshman football player and it was downhill from that point. But, so much for grousing, Let’s get to the rest of the story about the 1967 Linfield at Pacific night football game in Forest Grove.

Moon did not ride the team bus. To get to Forest Grove, he rode with Coach Wilson in a “station wagon type of contraption” with a load of football equipment bags. “I felt like an assistant student manager,” said Moon.

They arrived after the Wildcat team suited up and was on the field warming up. He put on his gear and joined the other players. There were no more purple game socks available, so he put on pink socks? Pink? Yes, in those days, Joe Groves was the Linfield physical education/athletics equipment manager. He dyed socks, jocks and shirts and other stuff pink, to increase the odds no one would want to steal them.

The game, Moon says, was wet, rainy, “sluggy” and mud caked. “We trudged in the quagmire Pacific called a football field. There was so much mud that punts didn’t even bounce, they just plopped heavily into the mud and the football together, good old Oregon football,” observed Moon from the sidelines, in a clean uniform covered by a warm rain cape.

In the first half, Linfield star defensive back Joe Robillard was injured and so was talented Wildcat kicker Tim Kubli.

At halftime, Carter, a JV player and kicker in the stands as a fan, was hailed. He put on Robillard’s uniform, it fit. But, he could not wear Kubli’s shoes. Too big. Moon described them as “gun boats.” Robillard’s shoes were “jets, not made for kicking,” said Moon.

Pete Dengenis, Linfield Hall of Famer as a football player, was a Wildcat assistant football coach. HE was about to leave the Linfield locker room to see if Pacific would lend shoes for Carter when he spotted shiny, black shoes on Moon’s feet.

“Moon, give Carter your shoes,” said Dengenis. Moon obliged. So, Moon was in full uniform, wearing pink socks with no shoes. But Moon’s shoes, those Carter was going to wear, were too big. So, Carter had to put on three pairs of socks. The middle pink pair were Moon’s.

When the Linfield team returned to the field for the second half, Moon was in the Linfield locker room barefoot. “This is when I made up the ‘Friendliest Lineman of the Year Award,’” said Moon. “I’m so friendly; I’d give you the new shoes and pink socks off my feet.”

Coach Wilson returned to the locker room looking for the trainer’s medical kit. He was surprised to find shoeless, sockless Moon.

They scrounged through all of the spare equipment looking for shoes. They found Kubli’s. As with Carter, they were too big, but they were the only shoes available. So, Moon put them on.

There were no extra socks. He wore them without socks. One shoe had a shoelace. The other did not. Handiwork by Coach Wilson created a short lace from the laced shoe for the unlaced shoe. Then, Coach Wilson and Moon jogged out to the Linfield sidelines. The game was well underway in the second half.

Later, while standing on the sidelines, Moon heard a female voice. It was Kathy Durham, daughter of Coach Paul Durham and Mrs. Litz Durham. Kathy wanted to know why Johnny was not playing. She came to the game in the rain to see him play, she told Moon. To show her sympathy and concern, she brought Moon a cup of coffee, before joining her mother, Litz, in the stands.

As the game progressed, Linfield had it in hand. The Wildcats were going to win. One of the second half points was the point after touchdown kick by Carter. “We had the game on ice – or mud anyway,” said Moon. “Suddenly from the stands there sliced through the drizzle a clear distinctive voice. ‘Hey coach, put Moon in.’ It was Litz. “Put Moon in,” she repeated. We want Moon. We want Moon.”

Said Moon, the wet loyal Linfield students who still clung to their bleacher seats seized the opportunity. Most of them knew me, so they joined in the chant. ‘We want Moon. We want Moon.’ Soon the feet of all the students were stomping in a back beat. I was trying to hide under my cape…”

The chanting worked. Although a center, he was sent into the game in its final minutes to play defense for the Wildcats. Said Moon, “I put all of my live action specialties into immediate action by ripping off my cape, swinging it around in a grand sweep, worthy of a grade B Dracula and flung it back to the bench.”

In response, the Linfield fans “raised the roof” with stomps and cheers. “I ran out about 10 feet into the mud, did a forward roll which changed my white uniform into the same color as the other uniforms on the field.”

In the last three plays of the game, he made two tackles and recovered a fumble. Linfield won, 27-0.

By the time Moon got to the sweaty, stinky locker room, the towels were gone. He took a shower and dried himself off with his pink Linfield t-shirt.

Now, you know that Johnny Bill “Moon” Self played a little football for Linfield, very little. But, he had fun doing it.

Video clips -- UPS at Linfield Football 10/8/2011

Photos -- UPS at Linfield Homecoming Football 10/8/2011

Linfield Homecoming Winery Tour 10/7/2011

Possibly add this later (after confirming with James Lever) to Henry Lever bio

As a job in the summer of 1942 -- in the early part of World War II -- Henry Lever's engineering background was helpful when he was involved in the construction of what is now McMinnville Municipal Airport. Construction was a wartime project funded by the U.S. Army.

Linfield ATO Legacy Garden dedication 10/6/2011

Linfield at Willamette football 10/1/2011, Salem, Ore.

When Linfield banned football

The Linfield Athletics online football record book year-by-year scores includes the fact (see quotes in parens below) that between 1906 and 1921, McMinnville College did not play football by direction of the college’s board of trustees. In 1922, at the same time the college was renamed Linfield, the trustees resumed the sport.

“(Football suspended by the Board of Trustees in the summer of 1906. No football that year or until it was resumed in 1922.)”

A story in the April 25, 2008, Linfield Review student newspaper by Jordan Jacobo, provides interesting information about the time when football was banned by the college.

During the time football was banned it was a “very different sport, Dave Hansen, then Linfield dean of students told the Review. “It was very rough and tumble, and they didn’t have the same level of protective gear. I think even President Theodore Roosevelt had some misgivings about whether it should be a proper sport.”

The article includes:

According to the 1922 edition of the Oak Leaves, student yearbook, “After 16 years, football will again be played at Linfield. Sixteen years ago, the roughness of the game and the death of one student here coming as a direct result of football, caused the administration to put a ban on the game until such time as the rules had changed sufficiently to warrant the reinstatement of the sport.”

That year, the board of trustees and McMinnville College President Leonard Riley decided to approve two intercollegiate football games to be played in the fall of 1922.

There is no other mention of the death that had brought the college’s football program to a halt.

“It would be hard to envision Linfield without football today,” Athletic Director Scott Carnahan said. “When you put an athletic team on display, it represents the institution; it’s a valuable part of our recruiting process.”

“In Bricks Without Straw,” an early history of the college written in 1938 by former professor Jonas A. Jonasson, he said football was “the most popular of all college sports.”

Jonasson describes how football was banned at Linfield: “The president of the college did not share this enthusiasm. On the contrary, he felt that the game as played in America tended to develop rowdyism and brutality, besides exposing players to the danger of permanent physical injury.”

On March 27, 1906, the board agreed to prohibit football indefinitely.

For the next 16 years, students frequently pleaded for the reversal of the decision; however, in 1915 Riley went as far as recommending to the Association of Independent Colleges of Oregon that all intercollegiate football programs be abolished.

In the spring of 1921, a group of athletic directors and student representatives petitioned the McMinnville College Board of Trustees for a reversal of the ban, according to Jonasson, asking for a broader athletic program.

In “Linfield’s Hundred Years,” written by former history professor Kenneth L. Holmes, the student activism is shown to have paid off.

Riley announced a special afternoon chapel on Jan. 10, 1922.

“(The students) felt sure what the surprise was going to be,” Holmes wrote. “They were right; football was again to be a college sport.”

But Riley’s second announcement eclipsed the enthusiasm of the 16-year football ban reversal. He told the students of Frances Ross Linfield’s decision to leave the college her properties in Spokane, Wash., estimated to be worth $250,000.

Riley said in honor of her gift, McMinnville College was to be renamed Linfield College.

Thus, Linfield and its football program were born together, re-created on the same afternoon.

The 1923 Oak Leaves reflects on the first season of football after its reinstatement: “The turn-out was large but most of the men had very little experience. But what was lacking in experience was made up with fighting grit, stick-to-it-iveness and the indomitable Linfield spirit.”
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Below is info (a book review in the Aug. 14, 2011 New York Times) which provides a tenor of the time/1906, when Linfield suspended football

“The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football,” John J. Miller’s informative account of Roosevelt’s impact on the sport’s early years, readers are taken back to 1876 and a contest between Harvard and Yale. It was the first game Roosevelt, then an 18-year-old Harvard freshman, ever attended, and it propelled him into a lifelong love of the sport. Its physical dangers, he thought, helped build character. See info here.

The Times article includes Roosevelt taking center stage in the fall of 1905, when he convened a White House summit with football’s leading coaches and thinkers; even Elihu Root, the secretary of state, attended. Miller argues that this was the moment when Roosevelt put his stamp on the sport by imploring the men to crack down on dirty play and reform the way the game was coached. With Roosevelt’s encouragement, Miller says, a series of rules changes was set in motion — among them, increasing the number of referees and strengthening penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct — that ultimately quieted the critics enough to allow the colleges to play on...

Roosevelt is pictured with this article.


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The American Intercollegiate Football Rules Committee met at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York City beginning January 12, 1906, to create measures “for squelching brutality and all forms of unnecessary roughness.”[3] Numerous changes were made, the primary one being the legalization of the forward pass.

Source: Wikipedia 


109 years ago, some universities banned football, and its very survival at the college level nationally was in jeopardy. In the fall of 1905, there were reports of at least 18 deaths from football games at the college, high school and sandlot levels. Even President Theodore Roosevelt’s oldest son, Ted Jr., was injured that fall playing for Harvard’s freshman squad. At the time, there was none of the protective equipment used by players today, and penalties for brutality were hardly, if ever, enforced. Mr. Roosevelt convened a White House meeting on football. The college presidents in attendance agreed to changes to improve safety after he told them, “I demand that football change its rules or be abolished.” The meeting helped lead to the precursor of the N.C.A.A. the next year and essentially saved what is now the country’s most popular sport.

Source: New York Times' Daily Briefing on Nov.  28, 2014

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'Popular Mechanics magazine' - Jan 1906

"'SOCKER" FOOTBALL.— The appalling list of 19 deaths and 132 serious accidents during the American football season of 1905, has called forth the demand from press, public and college presidents for an immediate and radical change. "Socker" football is suggested as much less strenuous."

(Comment from 2018: Spelled "socker" then, it's "soccer" now.).

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