N-R story. Wildcatville photo.
Signing off with one final
score
By Robert Husseman,
McMinnville News-Register sports editor, 11/12/2013
Craig Singletary works along
a fine line. He must tell the Linfield football fans at Maxwell Field what
happens during games, emphasizing the football more than the school that plays
it.
“My feeling is, we’ve got a
good cheerleading squad,” Singletary says in his trademark baritone. “Let them
do that, and I’ll tell what’s happening on the field.”
Singletary and Roald Berg
honored at halftime of the Wildcats’ 79-3 victory over Puget Sound on Saturday
for their service as public address announcers, Singletary for football and
Berg for basketball. Both men are retiring at the end of their respective
sporting seasons.
Singletary, a Linfield
professor emeritus and former radio broadcaster, has never seen a losing
football season in his 40-year tenure – another testament to the indelibility
of Linfield football’s streak of 58 consecutive winning seasons.
“I’ve told people at various
times I wouldn’t have stayed this long if we had a number of losing seasons,”
he says. “It’s been a remarkable experience to see these kids. None of these
teams want to be the team that breaks the winning streak.”
The Portland native
graduated from Lewis & Clark College and moved to McMinnville in 1954 to
work for the radio station KMCM (now KLYC). He was offered a part-time faculty
position at Linfield in 1958, moving to full-time two years later. Singletary
earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Oregon during a
hiatus in his Linfield tenure.
“I may be the only
82-year-old Ph.D. football announcer in the country,” he notes with a laugh.
Singletary called Wildcats
football games for KMCM for 10 years, beginning in 1956, before accepting the
position as public address announcer. The 1965 NAIA football playoffs rank
among his fondest memories, as Linfield defeated Sul Ross State of Texas on a
last-second field goal, 30-27, to advance to the NAIA championship game. (The
Wildcats lost to St. John’s, 33-0, on Dec. 11, 1965.)
“I can still remember the
name of the guy who kicked the field goal – Tim Kubli,” Singletary says. “Even
in losing (the final), we did well to get there.”
One bad memory from his time
as public address announcer stands out – the “Miracle in the Mud” NCAA Division
III playoff game in 2000, when Linfield lost 20-17 to Central College of Iowa
on a blocked Central field goal that was picked up and returned for a touchdown
on the game’s final play.
“I was speechless,”
Singletary remembers. “I couldn’t say anything more into the microphone. I was
just blown up.”
This season has been a
notable one for Singletary in its own right. On Oct. 26, he called Linfield’s
84-7 victory over Lewis & Clark – his alma mater – the highest-scoring game
in the history of Wildcats football.
“In that game I felt so bad
for those kids from Lewis & Clark,” he says. “I didn’t want to announce the
final score because it was so embarrassing to watch.”
On Saturday, Linfield
recorded the third-highest-scoring game in its history, trouncing the Loggers.
The Wildcats emptied the bench, as they did against Lewis & Clark. The
challenge for Singletary and his daughter, Diane Brown, who serves as his
spotter, is one of accuracy.
“You have to be alert,”
Singletary says. “You’ve got to be clued in as to who’s coming into the
ballgame and who’s coming out. If you have an unusual pronunciation, you have
to be careful about that.”
“Not only are you a public
address announcer covering the game on the field, you’re also – I probably
shouldn’t say this – a commercial huckster who’s selling products,” Singletary
says. “It’s become more complicated.”
Singletary intends to spend the
offseason – as he has for many others since his retirement in 1993 – traveling,
creating video travelogues that are passed along to family and friends. He and
his wife, Fae, spent 15 days this past June and July on a Viking River Cruise
from Amsterdam to Budapest.
Once football season rolls
around again, Singletary will take a seat in the Maxwell Field grandstand to
watch another season of Linfield football.
“Of course now, I can yell
and shout just like everybody else,” he says.
SENIORS HONORED -- Linfield
honored 34 football players who are on track to graduate next month or next
spring during its annual Senior Day festivities. The players are Jesse
Archambault, Michael Carrillo, Louie Colasurdo, Ben Duca, Tim Edmonds, Colin
Forman, Dominique Forrest, Brandon Funk, Jeremy Girod, Trevor Gomez, Zack
Hickman, Kyle Jones, Logan Krellwitz, Michael Link, Michael MacClanathan,
Michael Madden, Mike Maierhofer, KeAlii Poomaihealani, Jacob Priester, Derek
Priestley, Kyle Rehberger, Josh Repp, Tyler Robitaille, Jordy Romick, Josh
Smith, Mikkel Smythe, Reid Sullivan, Curtis Terry, Connor Varnell, Jordan
Walker, Kyle Wright, Josh Yoder and Ian Zarosinski. Athletic trainers Mason
Haye, Courtney Alley, Kimberly Chase, Kendra Dahl, Waverly James and Victoria
Kraft and cheerleader Maddy Pihas were also honored.
HALL OF FAMERS-- Two former
Linfield coaches and six athletes were also honored at halftime as the newest
inductees into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame. The inductees are Marci
(Warnecke) Cammann (class of 1998, track and field); Dawn Cartwright (1990,
volleyball); Scott Hilgenberg (1985, baseball); Gary McGarvie (1993, football
and track); David Russell (2002, football); Mark Siegner (1982, football); Dr.
Garry Killgore (retired cross country and track and field coach); and Wes Suan
(1978, former tennis and assistant football coach; currently an assistant
football coach at Southern Methodist University).
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Leaving a legacy at Linfield
By Gilberto Galvez, Linfield Review features editor, 11/18/2013
This year, Craig Singletary, a retired Linfield professor, is hanging up his microphone and no longer working in the public address box during Linfield football games. Singletary began working in the P.A. box the same year the Wildcats’ winning streak began 58 years ago.
Singletary was born and raised in Portland, Ore. He graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 1954, majoring in speech communications while working on music. He played cello and played in the Portland Junior Symphony. Singletary began working in McMinnville at KMCM radio.
Craig Singletary is retiring from working in the Linfield football P.A. system. Before he worked there, he was the head professor in thecommunications department.
Singletary attends to details during a forensics tournament. He taught various public speaking classes at Linfield, and received his Ph.D. in rhetoric and public address from University of Oregon.
Singletary is seen at another forensics tournament. Singletary was also essential to the creation of KSLC and helped students run the radio station.
“I had a friend in the investment business down here,” Singletary said. That friend helped Singletary acquire a job in the McMinnville area.
“In a small town radio station, you do everything,” Singletary said. “I had a morning show for a couple of years.” Singletary also worked as a director of various aspects of the radio station, music director, program director, etc.
KMCM began broadcasting Linfield games in 1956. Singletary did that for the next ten years.
In 1958, Dr. Roy Mahaffey, who was then the chair of the Linfield Speech Department, approached Singletary about a part-time job at Linfield. Singletary accepted the offer. He taught a broadcast class and a public speaking class.
It was in 1960 when Singletary started his full-time job as a Linfield professor. He taught a variety of classes until his retirement in 1993: argumentation, persuasion, interpersonal communication. At the same time, he still worked on an early morning show for KMCM.
To further his education, Singletary studied at University of Oregon to receive a Masters in radio and television. He then later acquired a Ph.D. in rhetoric and public address from the same university, taking a short leave of absence in 1966.
“I was also a forensics director for five years,” Singletary said. When Mahaffey retired in 1970, Singletary became the Speech and Debate team’s director.
“I was surprised and really pleased to find out they named the high school tournament after me,” Singletary said.
While teaching his class on broadcasting, Singletary realized that students were not receiving much experience at Linfield, so in the early 1960s, he started a radio station here at Linfield, KLIN.
“I felt that it was one way to give the students practical experience,” Singletary said.
The first incarnation of the student radio station had spotty signal because it was carrier current radio station. In 1971, the Federal Communications Commission gave Singletary and the college permission to have an FM radio station, KSLC.
“We didn’t have the facility in the basement of Renshaw then. We had a space in the basement of Pioneer,” Singletary said. “It was nice because students walking to class could look in and see guys working on air.”
In either 1973 or 1974, Singletary was asked to do the PA announcing for the football games. He has worked during every game up until this season. In 2001, he was inducted into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.
“It was getting more complicated with computer screens and everything,” Singletary said. “That is why I decided to retire.”
Singletary has always been a strong voice in his time here at Linfield, and he still hopes to add his voice to football games but not from the press box.
“I will continue to be a fan of the Wildcats in future years and add my voice to the crowd cheering, something I couldn’t do in the press box,” Singletary said.
http://www.linfield.edu/linfield-review/2013/11/leaving-a-legacy-at-linfield
