Streaking into the history books: What happened Oct. 6, 1956, on Maxwell Field echoes through Linfield history and the college football record books

Streaking into the history books: What happened Oct. 6, 1956, on Maxwell Field echoes through Linfield history and the college football record books

By Matthew Hodges (Class of 2006) and illustrations by Ward Hooper in Linfield magazine/Summer 2021

> Tip of the Wildcat hat to Matt Hodges. It was 100% his idea on the oral history project and writing the story. What a great accomplishment! Congrats to him!!<

See this story as presented in Linfield magazine via this link: https://www.linfield.edu/magazine/article/streaking-into-the-history-books

It wasn’t the stuff of Hollywood movie legend. There was no last-second shot to win a championship, Hail Mary pass to win the big game or inspirational halftime speech to rally a team of lovable but scrappy underdogs.

Regardless, what happened Oct. 6, 1956, on Maxwell Field echoes to this day through Linfield history and the college football record books.

Linfield was coming off back-to-back losing seasons that had ended with identical 3-6 records, and things weren’t looking better early in the 1956 campaign. The season had started with a lackluster tie against Portland State and a loss to Lewis & Clark.

Across the field was a semi-professional team in the midst of a dynastic run. The Seattle Ramblers won 10 conference titles in the 14 years between 1948 and 1964, and the team’s roster was made up of former college and professional players who knew their business. They had beaten Linfield the year before on the way to a 5-1 record of their own.

Members of the Linfield team recall many players on the Ramblers being significantly taller and heavier than the Wildcats and remember seeing a defensive end standing 6-foot-8 who was able to pick opponents up with one hand.

The crowd packed into the grandstand for the evening spectacle cheered as Linfield quarterback Ron Parrish ’59 fired a 30-yard pass to Jerry Beier ’58 in the opening quarter for the first touchdown of the game. In the second quarter, the Wildcats put together a 60-yard drive that culminated when fullback Sel Spray ’63 plunged into the end zone to give the ’Cats an unexpected 13-0 advantage at halftime.

As they came off the field, Coach Paul Durham told his young team not to pay attention to the Ramblers in the neighboring locker room.

“And of course, because he told us not to look, we looked,” Paul Ward ’59, who played guard, remembered. “And they are in there, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes at halftime. So, we knew we kinda had them the second half because they did run out of gas.”

Linfield held on to win the game 13-7 and would never lose again that season.

They had no way to know it, but theirs was the first winning season in what would become “The Streak,” a run of the most consecutive winning seasons in college football history.

=“Once we had a winning season, we knew we could win,” Ward said. “We had to experience it and build up over the years.”=

 

And so they did. But coming to Linfield the year before, Ward would never have imagined this team of small-town kids and war veterans would start a legacy that would outlive them all – let alone that they’d be talked about in 2021.

At 5-foot-8 and 155 pounds, Ward was not the biggest member of the Wildcat football team. As Ward describes it, during his freshman year at Linfield, he “had a lot of eye-opening experiences right off the bat.”

He had come to college after attending three high schools in three states. After earning all-league honors as a senior at Newport High School, his football coaches, Leroy Merchant ’51 and Jesse Edwards ’48, called Durham about their transient young star.

“Durham accepted me. I could come and turn up for football,” Ward said. That meant a lot to Ward at the time, although he now jokes, with the advantage of time and distance, “I think if anyone could walk and chew gum at the same time, you were probably accepted.”

On his first day in McMinnville, Ward drove his old car onto campus and realized they were handing out gear. He hustled over to Memorial Stadium to get in line.

“The guy in front of me was 6-foot-2, a 27-year-old Korean War veteran with two kids and was married,” Ward remembered. “I asked him what position he played, and he said guard. And that was me (my position).”

He also was surprised that all the gear – jocks, t-shirts and socks – was pink.

“I thought, ‘why in the hell would a football team have pink socks and jerseys?’” Ward said. “I found out later on that it was to keep people from running away with them.”

The opening day of practice did little to build the diminutive freshman’s confidence.

“The very first time I lined up – they lined you all up to do blocking against each other – I was on defense and the other guy was on offense,” Ward remembered. “I got pancaked.”

But Ward worked hard in practice, making the 32-player traveling squad in his first year.

“I was just hanging on in those days,” Ward recalled. “I was happy to be part of the traveling squad. I didn’t [make the starting lineup] until I was a senior. But I still enjoyed every bit of it. I even enjoyed running wind sprints.”

Ward wasn’t the only seemingly unconventional member of the team. With the Korean War ending in 1953, many players were returning from active duty and using their G.I. Bill benefits to attend college. The 1956 roster listed 53 players, of which 12 were 21 years of age or older and nine were married.

“We had some really dedicated players – Fox and Morris,” Ward remembered, referring to Vic Fox ’58 and Howard Morris ’58, who along with Ad Rutschman ’54 are the only Linfield football players to have their jersey numbers retired.

=During Ward’s time at Linfield, the Wildcats would follow his 3-6 freshman season by winning 21 games over the next three years while losing only three games total.=

 

They claimed a conference championship in 1956, only the second in school history, and laid the groundwork for Linfield’s first playoff appearance and first run to the national championship game, which would come in 1961.

It was a run of domination the team would never have the audacity to even dream about on that chilly October night against the Seattle Ramblers.

“I can guarantee you that in 1956, nobody had any idea there would be any kind of streak,” Ward said. “We were just happy that we could get through the season with a win.”

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

1956 Linfield Football Scores

Portland State College 0-0 tie

*Lewis & Clark 19-17 loss

Seattle Ramblers 13-7 win

At OCE (Western Oregon) 27-13 win

*At Whitman 14-13 win

*At Willamette 12-12 tie

*College of Idaho 20-7 win

*Pacific 21-7 win

SOC (Southern Oregon) 27-13 win

Overall: 6-1-2. *Conference: 3-1-1

 

Caption for Linfield 1956 football team photo - Front row from left: M. Bergan, H. Edgar, V. Marshall, B. McLaren, R. Traux, R. Grady, P. Ward, J. Langenbach, G. Wells, H. Crawford, B. Hughey, R. Hintz, T. Warren, A. Willis. Second row: D. Holliday, B. LeMaster, V. Fox, B. Flood, S. Spray, H. Morris, R. Parrish, J. Beier, R. Kofford, B. Cotman, D. Umbarger, H. Glenn, C. Allen, D. Dye. Back row: D. Spray, D. Youngs, B. Stewart, G. Davidson, J. Whipple, M. Harsh, R. Putman, N. Fridley, B. Holmes, L. Adams, J. Lytle, J. Crawford, C. Zimmerman, G. Manley, D. Tank, L. Stanphill, Coach P. Durham.

Caption for photo of Paul Ward being interviewed -- The interview with Paul Ward ’59 is part of an oral history project organized by Linfield University Archives. Videos, photos and transcripts from interviews with members of the 1956 football team will be available on the Linfield website in fall 2021. If you are interested in adding to the 1956 football oral history project, contact Rich Schmidt, director of archives, at 503-883-2734 or rschmidt@linfield.edu.

…..

The author, Matt Hodges, is a development officer at Linfield University and  project director for “The Streak: The National Record that Continues.”

https://www.linfield.edu/magazine/article/streaking-into-the-history-books

INTERESTING TO NOTE ABOUT LINFIELD COLLEGE COACHES ROY HELSER and TED WILSON

INTERESTING TO NOTE ABOUT LINFIELD COLLEGE COACHES ROY HELSER and TED WILSON

Roy Helser was a Linfield College graduate and a standout athlete for the Linfield Wildcats. He went on to coach football (assistant), men’s basketball (head coach and co-head coach) and baseball (head coach) for Linfield.

Ted Wilson was an Eastern Oregon University (Eastern Oregon College when he attended) graduate and a standout athlete for the EOC Mountaineers. He went on to coach football (assistant) and men’s basketball (head coach) for Linfield.

Helser served as Linfield baseball coach in 1945 while he was a Linfield student. Read more here:

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2016/03/knowns-and-some-not-well-knowns-about.html

Wilson served as EOC men’s basketball coach during the 1945-1946 season, while a soon to graduate student at that college. He also coached (or helped coach) EOU baseball. Read more here:

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2015/08/ted-wilson-biographical-info.html

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DUFFY REYNOLDS was one of the LINFIELD OLD LADIES

DUFFY REYNOLDS was one of the LINFIELD OLD LADIES

In the Fall 2007 Linfield Magazine was a class note about Duffy Reynolds, Linfield Class of 1951, "Charlotte Filer ’54, Margaret (Hopkins) Macaulay ’82 and Phyllis Smith ’83 along with former staff members Norma Cochran, Vera Sullivan, Henrietta Cox, Lois Welton, Judy Johnson, Sherie Dulaney and Dorothy Pullen call themselves the Linfield Old Ladies and meet for breakfast monthly in McMinnville."

The Linfield Magazine item was based on a story by Linfielder Starla Pointer in a 2007 edition of the McMinnville N-R / News-Register. That story text follows:

Lots of laughs for Linfield Old Ladies

By Starla Pointer, McMinnville N-R/News-Register, Sept. 15, 2007

These women laugh out loud a lot. That's not why they call their group LOL, though.

The name refers to the connection that brought them together in the first place - working at Linfield College. It stands for Linfield Old Ladies.

All spent much of their careers at the college, collectively racking up about 234 years. They watched the school grow from fewer than 900 students to more than 2,600 at two sites, and the McMinnville campus grow and change and modernize.

Now retirees, they applaud the new facilities and fondly remember the old - especially Norma Cochran, who spent the first eight of her 37 Linfield years working in the Riley Hall snack bar and checking out shoes at the two-lane bowling alley.

The LOLs are ladies who've sent children and grandchildren to the school. All five of Lois Welton's kids are Wildcats, in fact.

They've taken classes and degrees there themselves. Margaret Macaulay, Phyllis Smith, Edith "Duffy" Reynolds and Charlotte Filer all are Linfield graduates.

Along the way, they've cheered on students and co-workers. And they still cheer on one another.

As for the middle word ... well, they are proud to be seniors. They're still taken aback, a bit, though, when they think about how old their children have grown.

Dorothy Pullen has a son coming to McMinnville for his 40-year reunion this fall, for instance. Imagine!

One woman did try to alter the name a bit once. "Ladies of Linfield," she suggested.

Others thought that sounded a little risqué, though, so LOL remained Linfield Old Ladies.

"I think it's a terrific name," said Macaulay, who is retired from the education department.

Smith, who worked in the registrar's office, started LOL back in 2000 with switchboard operator Welton and cashier Henrietta Cox.

Smith even knitted scarves for each member: LOL in purple on a red field. Wildcat colors.

Each woman knows her own scarf, because it also has her initial knitted in it. That's "V" for Vera Sullivan, who spent 35 years with Upward Bound and the education department; "S" for Sherry Dulaney, who put in 32 years in the print shop; "J" for Judy Johnson, who ran the bookstore.

They tried letting a man into the group once, even attaching his name to "LOL" like a caboose.

He was likable and all, they said, but he pushed for lunch meetings instead of breakfast. Forced to choose between him and scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast, the Linfield Old Ladies told him good-bye.

Once a month, they spend a morning together catching up and sharing news of other former Linfield folk they've seen lately, such as retired professors Craig Singletary and Wes Caspers. They talk tenderly about lost friends, such as longtime controller Arnold Mills, who died in October 2006.

"Arnold was a big tease, one of those characters on campus," Macaulay said.

With equal fondness, Reynolds recalled her freshman English professor, Avard Whitman. He later became a co-worker when she was a home economics professor and he was the registrar.

"He was a witty, very clever man," she said.

Reynolds recalled enrolling in his course in 1947, when Linfield was filled with veterans who had just returned from World War II. "Professor Whitman and all those vets, and me, just a teenager ... the comments were flying over my head," she said.

Filer attended Linfield not long after Reynolds did. After graduating, she went to work for the News-Register, which then was a daily.

Soon after that, she was contacted by one of her professors, Jim Milligan, who ran the Linfield news bureau as well as teaching journalism. He asked her to take over writing news releases so he could teach full-time.

Later, Filer also taught.

After 19 years with Linfield, she transferred to Pacific University. She taught there for 16 years.

"Charlotte had a boyfriend there," Cochran kidded, joking about why Filer would be so disloyal as to run off to a different college.

Actually, Filer said, she just planned to be at the Forest Grove school for a year. Besides, she's still loyal to old Linfield.

So loyal, in fact, that she even can recall the first class she ever had as a student there: a one-credit health course taught by Roy Helser in Cozine Hall.

Some of the other LOLs took classes after they already had started working at the college.

Macaulay, for instance, was nearing retirement age when she signed up for a biology course taught by John Hare.

"I had to miss class one day, and it was the same day a nurse was coming in to talk about birth control," Macaulay recalled. "I was 61. I figured I could miss that day."

Staff members weren't treated any differently than students, Smith noted.

During the eight years she took classes before receiving her degree, classmates sometimes assumed Smith would be the teacher's pet. When they realized she wasn't getting perks, they accepted her as one of the crowd.

At their monthly breakfasts, the LOLs discuss current events and current diets.

"On this one, I have to eat five times a day," one LOL said. That prompted another to sigh, "Oh, I'd love that!"

And they talk about their kids, of course - where they are and what they're doing, information shared with great pride.

For many of the women, working at Linfield had a huge benefit: their children received free tuition. But not everyone took advantage of that.

"My three dumb kids all went to Oregon State, not Linfield," Macaulay grumbled, joking. "Now I tell them they owe us money."

The LOLs discuss what's happening at Linfield these days, marveling at how the campus has expanded and admiring the new library, music building and other facilities. They often have breakfast at Jake's Deli, on the edge of the campus. They also attend some events - Smith just got tickets for the home football season, for instance.

But they limit the time they spend at Linfield.

"Good memories, but we don't go back much," Cochran said.

Reynolds explained, "We have to let the new people do their thing."

#

Edith ‘Duffy' Reynolds was a great Linfield Wildcat fan; she remembered watching Ad Rutschman star for Linfield football playing in Forest Grove versus the Pacific University Badgers

Edith ‘Duffy” Reynolds was a great Linfield Wildcat fan; she remembered watching Ad Rutschman star for Linfield football playing in Forest Grove versus the Pacific University Badgers

With her death on 8/22/2021 of Edith "Duffy" Reynolds, a Linfield College grad and Linfield home economics professor emeritus, the Linfield Wildcats lost a great fan

The first Linfield College sporting event she attended was a football game in McMinnville. It was the 1947 season and she was a freshman. Wayne Harn was the Wildcats head coach. Harn was Linfield head football coach for the 1939 and 1946 and 1947 seasons.

Maxwell Field was a “sloppy mess,” she told Wildcatville. “It was a mud bowl after rain. At one game after halftime you could not tell one player from another because of mud on uniforms covering up jersey numbers.”

Attending all home football games, all men’s basketball games (no women’s intercollegiate sports then) and some baseball games were something Duffy always did as a Linfield student.

Something she did not do was attend games when Linfield was on the road. “I didn’t have a car. No one had a car,” Duffy said.

She wanted to major in history at Linfield. But, Duffy was advised it’d be hard or next to impossible to get a job with a history degree. She changed her major to English with a Home Economics minor and planned to use that education to be a school teacher.

After graduating from Linfield in 1951, her first job was teaching Gaston near Forest Grove. “Gaston High had me teaching girls’ physical education for grades seven through 12. I was not a good PE teacher,” she said.

A bright side to Gaston: There were Pacific University graduates in Gaston. They gave her a ride to and from the Sat., Oct. 20, 1951, Linfield at Pacific football game in Forest Grove. There she saw Ad Rutschman, freshman Linfield football player, a standout running and defensive back, help lead the Linfield Wildcats, coached by Paul Durham, to a 6-0 victory over the Pacific Badgers.

POSTCRIPT --

Paul Stagg was head football coach of the Pacific University "Badgers," 1947–1960. He was the son of Amos Alonzo Stagg, considered one of the great innovators in the development of college football.  Paul Stagg considered recruiting Ad Rutschman to play football for Pacific after Rutschman graduated from Hillsboro High School/Hilhi in 1950.  (Pacific in Forest Grove and Hilhi in Hillsboro only about 10 miles apart.)

Stagg visited Hilhi and said Rutschman was "too small" to play for Pacific.  The rest of the story is that Rutschman went on to stellar career as a Linfield College athlete playing football, basketball and baseball. And, after graduating from Linfield, a stellar career as a coach at both Hilhi and Linfield.

On Jan. 23, 2017, via email Duffy Reynolds, responded to Wildcatville questions about seeing Ad Rutschman playing football for Linfield in Forest Grove versus Pacific.

"I was teaching at Gaston Jr. high and high school, my first year of teaching, 1951-1952," she said. "So the game I attended must have been (Oct. 20, 1951) Somebody (I cannot remember who) invited me to go to the Pacific-Linfield game. We were sitting with the Pacific fans, with the team sitting down below us. When Ad Rutschman made a touchdown (he was a really fast runner), a (Linfield fan) sitting a couple rows below me stood up and yelled 'Hey, Staggs, so Rutschman is too little to play for Pacific!'

"Looking at the (6-0) score I guess (Ad) only made one touchdown, but he made several good plays because I know the man yelled several times."

My "memory of the yeller is vivid.  I think he had a few drinks before he came to the game.  I thought it was really funny but I did not laugh because I was surrounded by Pacific fans."

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Kaho Akau, Joe Stuart join the Linfield athletics communications staff

Kaho Akau, Joe Stuart join the Linfield athletics communications staff

Story and photo from Linfield Sports Information 8/22/2021

Two recent graduates have joined the Linfield University sports communications office.

This month, Kaho Akau and Joe Stuart are stepping into key roles within the athletic department where they'll help promote current news, information and live sports action involving Linfield student-athletes and events.

Akau, a 2019 Linfield graduate, returns to his alma mater where he will assume the role of assistant sports information director from Avi Mehta, who departed after two years to accept a position as Strategic Communications Director for the Texas A&M Commerce athletic department.

As a Linfield student, Akau spent two years working with the athletic department's communication office, serving as statistician, feature writer, and broadcast engineer.

A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, he competed in baseball for two seasons at Linfield. More recently, Akau spent the past two years as media relations assistant for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, an NCAA Division II alliance based in Portland.

Stuart, a 2020 graduate, is a name familiar to Linfield fans and McMinnville residents. During the spring, he served as a freelance play-by-play broadcaster on the Linfield Sports Network following a four-year stint as a student in various roles within sports communications. His play-by-play experience includes announcing Wildcats basketball, soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball games.

The McMinnville High School graduate also spent two seasons as sideline reporter on Linfield football broadcasts. As part of his new role, he'll move into the lead play-by-play position for football, pairing with longtime color analyst Dave Hansen.

"Kaho and Joe represent the next wave of rising sports communications professionals to come through Linfield," said Kelly Bird, longtime sports information director. "Their enthusiasm for sports media, commitment to excellence and love of Linfield make them tremendous assets to our department and university. I'm thrilled to be working alongside two such talented young professionals."

 

DEATH OF LINFIELD PROFESSOR EMERITUS/GRAD EDITH ‘DUFFY’ REYNOLDS

DEATH OF LINFIELD PROFESSOR EMERITUS/GRAD EDITH ‘DUFFY’ REYNOLDS

Wildcatville learned Edith “Duffy” Reynolds, age 92, Linfield home economics professor emeritus and a 1951 Linfield College graduate, died 8/22/2021 in McMinnville.

Born 11/1/1928, in Dalhart, Texas.

She taught home economics at Linfield some 37 years, 1953-1990. In 1992 she received a Linfield College “Alumni Service Award.”

 

Read about/see photos of Duffy via these links:

=Photo of Edith 'Duffy' Reynolds as a Linfield College student

(posted 8/22/2021)

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2021/08/photo-of-edith-duffy-reynolds-as.html

 

….

=Linfielder Duffy Reynolds: Wildcat football fan

(posted 1/29/2018)

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2018/01/linfielder-duffy-reynolds-wildcat.html

….

=Duffy Reynolds' 90th birthday celebration in McMinnville on 11/4/2018

(posted 11/4/2018)

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2018/11/duffy-reynolds-90th-birthday.html

…

=YOU’RE INVITED TO 90th BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR ‘DUFFY’ REYNOLDS

(posted 10/27/2018)

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2018/10/youre-invited-to-90th-birthday-party.html

….

=Duffy Reynolds, season ticket holder: Great view since 1958 from her Memorial Stadium seat, Linfield home football games

(posted 9/16/2018)

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2018/09/duffy-reynolds-season-ticket-holder.html

….

=Duffy Reynolds, at 90, looking back on a life of learning, teaching

(posted 11/13/2018, ‘Stopping By’ column by Starla Pointer, McMinnville N-R/News-Register 11/13/2018)

http://mac97128news.blogspot.com/2018/11/duffy-reynolds-at-90-looking-back-on.html

….

=Earthquake shook McMinnville, Linfield campus April 13, 1949

(posted 11/29/2017)

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2017/11/earthquake-shook-mcminnville-linfield.html

….

=Linfield Archives Photo: Professor Edith Reynolds assists a student with weaving.

“This photo captures a candid moment of instruction. Reynolds taught home economics at Linfield College from 1953-1990.”

https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/lca_photos/277/

....

=Edith ‘Duffy” Reynolds was a great Linfield Wildcat fan; she remembered watching Ad Rutschman star for Linfield football playing in Forest Grove versus the Pacific University Badgers

(posted 8/22/2021)

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2021/08/edith-duffy-reynolds-was-great-linfield.html

Photo of Edith 'Duffy' Reynolds as a Linfield College student

Photo of Edith 'Duffy' Reynolds as a Linfield College student. She graduated from Linfield in 1951.
http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Family/Bernice-080-Duffy.html

 

Linfield grad Joe Stuart, whose hometown is McMinnville, becomes broadcast 'voice' of the Linfield Wildcats

NO AVERAGE JOE: McMinnville's Joe Stuart becomes voice of the Wildcats 

By Linfielder Rusty Rae, McMinnville N-R/News-Register 8/20/2021

 When his dream of playing Major League Baseball soured as an 11-year-old little leaguer, McMinnvillian Joe Stuart turned lemons into lemonade in the form of a career in broadcasting. This summer the 24-year old Linfield University graduate took the first step toward his ultimate dream job, becoming the play-by-play announcer of an NBA team, when he was named the voice of his alma mater’s sports broadcasting team.

Stuart will partner with longtime Linfield analyst and color commentator Dave Hansen to bring fans the action on the Linfield Sports Network beginning this fall. The Wildcats’ first football game in more than a year against Simon Fraser University is September 11. Stuart will also continue play-by-play announcing for basketball and other sports.
It wasn’t long after his baseball career ended that Stuart found his new love in broadcasting. “I think I’ve always known I wanted to go into sports casting. You may find you’re not good at one thing (baseball) but you also find what you’re good at.
“I was always good at writing and at making presentations in school, so it was really natural to gravitate toward broadcasting,” he said. That allowed him to stay involved with athletics while also giving him an outlet for his story-telling passion.
Once Stuart entered high school, he took full advantage of the opportunity to venture toward his chosen profession. That journey began with a weekly sports program as part of the MHS SOAR program featuring other McMinnville High athletes – Tanner Autencio, Garrett Scales, and Kade Mechals. Stuart anchored of the program.
That led to play-by-play announcing of McMinnville football and basketball games on MCM 11, the local access television station during his junior and senior years. He did two or three football games, but was a regular broadcaster of Grizzly basketball.
When it was time for college, Linfield was the last place Stuart considered. His initial choices were of the University of Oregon and Gonzaga, but his mother pestered him into going through the application process at his now alma mater.
“My mom thought it would be a good fit for me if it wasn’t in McMinnville. She was like ‘You might as well as apply.’ I applied, begrudgingly. She got me to go to Discovery Day and there was a lot I liked right away.
“One of my predecessors, Kevin Nelson (now a former Wildcat play-by-play announcer), who was still a student happened to be in the studio when we were getting the tour. The tour guide knew I was interested in broadcasting and called Nelson over and we had a great conversation about the program,” he said.
Nelson believed Stuart’s experience could propel him on air as soon as he arrived on campus. Notes Stuart, “That was a huge selling point to me, and I was really impressed by the mass communication department. That was a big draw for me – knowing I’d get to do on-air work with an athletics program with people who care about a standard of excellence,” he said.
Stuart knew if he attended Gonzaga or U of O, he would have to wait until he was a junior or senior before he’d get a chance at real on-air work, whereas as a freshman at Linfield, he was in the rotation of soccer broadcasters his first year. During his freshman year he also worked as camera operator for football games, and assisted in engineering on volleyball broadcasts, gaining valuable experience.
Stuart’s talent was recognized immediately at Linfield. He became Nelson’s color commentator for basketball games his freshman year. The following year he became the number one broadcaster for soccer, and then they offered him the number one play-by-play slot for basketball.
“I think that’s where things really started to take off, and also where I started to realize that this was really what I wanted to do and what I loved doing,” he said.
As Stuart has progressed through various assignments, he’s found watching sporting games has become an enjoyable academic endeavor. “I’ll watch the game like a fan – but I’m also thinking about how the various guys or gals are telling the story. I’m thinking, I like the set-up for this play, or I like the transition here. Or I like what he said – or how little was said,” Stuart noted.
Throughout his formative years Stuart learned to be the consummate team player. He finds joy working with the broadcast team and says, “Any kind role – whether it’s play-by-play or hosting is like being a point guard or a quarterback. You’ve got to keep things in control – you’ve got to set everybody up, make sure everybody is getting their turn. And you’ve got to got to be able to read things as they come and be able to adjust on the fly.”
Stuart calls Blazer broadcaster Brian Wheeler one of his broadcast heroes. “Growing up here I listened to ‘Wheels’ do Blazer games regularly, and he’s someone who’s helped shape me,” he said. But he also lists Kevin Harlan, Jim Nance, and Joe Buck as voices that taught him.
“I know many people don’t like Buck, but I think he’s a really good broadcaster,” Stuart said.
As he heads into his first full football season as play-by-play announcer for the Wildcats, Stuart admits to some anxiety. He notes, “We all know that the following for Linfield football is really special. Knowing that I’m going to be able to reach out to all those people who love Linfield football, be the go-between between the program and them watching at home – it really means a lot.”
Stuart, however, has always felt comfortable behind the microphone and says, “I’ve taken to it pretty naturally. I’ve never felt awkward or clunky – not that I’m not nervous before the game. But once we’re on, that all falls away and the focus is on doing the best job of calling the game – I kinda get into the zone,” he said.
This is what he’s been working for since his freshman year. He adds, “I love the energy of a live broadcast. It’s the most ad-libbed of any type of media – even news reporters stick to a series of talking points.”
The frenetic job of relaying the story to listeners and TV viewers back home energizes Stuart.
“In play-by-play broadcasting, you never know where the story is going to go. I love telling the story while it’s happening – twirling a nice phrase that captures the moment,” he said.
But the genuine payoff for Stuart happens when a grandparent or parent -- someone unable to attend games regularly approaches to him after a game and tells him they love watching the broadcast.
“Between the excitement of doing a live broadcast and knowing that people at home are enjoying it as it is happening – that’s always been a really great feeling for me.”
Whether at Linfield, or with an NBA team in the future, those feelings of camaraderie with the audience at home lie at the heart of Stuart’s on-air artistry.
#


 

LINFIELDER JOHN EKEMO (Class of 1969) REFLECTS

 

 

Linfielder John Ekemo reflects on:

-- 2019 van trip during which he traveled through 48 U.S. states, eight Canadian provinces and Mexico.

--van life off the grid on the Olympia Peninsula in western Washington state

John Ekemo (Linfield College Class of 1969) traveled alone in his camper van for 177 days in 2019 through 48 U.S. states (except Alaska and Hawaii), eight Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) and Mexico.

Now, in 2021, John reflects on life:

WILDCATVILLE -- When we last talked in September 2019, you had just completed your trip to all 48 states and parts of Canada and Mexico. What has life been like for you after that and what are your memories from the trip?

JOHN EKEMO -- First I needed a place to park the van for the winter as the plan was to go back out on the road in the spring of 2020. A friend of mine has five acres on the Olympic Peninsula outside of Quilcene (pronounced “kwil-seen”), Washington, on Dabob Bay, overlooking Broad Spit.(*See footnote.) This site has a sewer, water and electricity on it. My friend kept his trailer RV there. Because my friend had a break-in, he was kinda looking for a property caretaker. Sounded good to me. I said “yes, I’ll stay there.” Little did I know what I was getting into.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- What did you find when you got to the property?

JOHN EKEMO -- It is 5.5 miles from Quilcene, population about 700 people. The roads from there went from paved, to gravel to an overgrown dirt “wagon trail” one-half mile to the site. The nearest neighbor is more than a mile away. The site itself was mostly cleared by also overgrown with bushes, weeds and trees. The sewer, water and electricity worked, but there was neither cellphone service nor internet to the property. I spent the first two months getting basic cell service and internet. I was about as far off the grid as you could get. Eventually I got cell service that allowed me to receive and send text messages, but I could not make nor receive a voice call. There was basic internet with a dish but no TV, which was by choice. I called it living in the “abyss.”

 

WILDCATVILLE -- John, what is daily life like for you living there?

JOHN EKEMO -- I was overwhelmed at the situation at first. There was so much to do. The road was so overgrown and covered with leaves -- it was fall by then -- that I couldn’t tell where the road bed was located. Clearing it became an ongoing project which I am still working on today. The site was in the same condition. There was a view of Dabob Bay, but the bushes and trees were blocking it. That became another ongoing project, clearing the site to open up the view.

 

WILDATVILLE -- What else?

JOHN EKEMO -- Living in the van had presented its own set of issues. It took trips to three different garages before I found one that could fix a water leakage in the van problem. Then it was the hot water heater, then the refrigerator. It seemed that there was always something that needed repaired. I was living in the van 24/7 and putting a lot of strain on the appliances.

My van is a limited living area, everything has to have a place according to how much it's used. Dishes have to washed and put away immediately. The bed has to be made back into the couch. For a sloth and procrastinator like me, these were obstacles I overcame on a daily basis.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- What do you do to pass the time when you are  in your van outside of Quilcene?

JOHN EKEMO -- On my U.S.-Canada-Mexico trip I got used to not watching TV, so my time in Quilcene without a TV was and is “not a problem.” I read a lot of books, mostly suspense and mysteries, but a little of everything. I also browse news online. The Microsoft Game Store has a variety of card and other games which I play. Also I work computer jigsaw puzzles, no lost pieces

I read paper book, most of which I get from Goodwill Stores. However, my sister in Cordova, Alaska, loves to read and she sends me books when she's done with them. A friend in Port Orchard, is helping a 96-year-old lady clean out her stuff and has given me shopping bags full of her books.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- John, what have you learned from this experience?

JOHN EKEMO -- First, it's not for everyone, especially if you’re getting older like me. There is more work involved than I was expecting. There’s emptying the holding tanks of sewage and keeping the water tank and propane tanks filled. All of these require time and effort. If I don't do it correctly, it could result in a big mess, Think sewerage on the ground.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- What were the things you hadn’t counted on that influenced living there?

JOHN EKEMO -- Weather, mice and mosquitos. Weather, because it dictated whether I could work outside in the yard or on the road. When it was raining or snowing, I was pretty much confined to staying inside the van. The worst weather event was when I was snowbound for 10 days in February 2020. I ran out of coffee and tried to drive out in my Nissan automobile. I got stuck twice, the second time I needed a wrecker to pull me back onto the road.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- And?

JOHN EKEMO -- Mice became a big problem, one I am still dealing with today. They got inside both my car and the van, nested and reproduced. I have non-lethal traps in both vehicles as I don’t want dead mice in places I cannot get to them. It cost more than $1,200 to repair the damage they did when they nested inside the fan compartment of the Nissan. It’s my private war.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- What else?

JOHN EKEMO -- Mosquitos are always a nuisance, I have several different repellent devices that I use in and around the van to try and control them.

The flip side to living out here is the solitude. It is beautiful and quite. I face east so I get great sun and moon rises over the bay. Deer routinely wander through the property. It was been a perfect place for me to ride out the Corona virus

 

WILDCATVILLE -- How has Covid-19 changed things for you?

JOHN EKEMO -- The plan was to get back on the road in the spring of 2020. Obviously that didn’t happen because of the virus. The fact that I was already isolated here in Quilcene became a good thing. I could limit my trips to Sequim (pronounced “skwim”) or Port Hadlock for groceries and errands to once or twice a week. Zoom really became a saving factor for me. Because of Zoom I’m able to stay in contact with my meetings, friends and family.

Knowing that I was going to spend more time here has also allowed me to do some upgrading of the van: new toilet, replacing the carpet with vinyl and new curtains. It has also given me more time to finish the road project and some work on the site.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- What does “finish the road project” mean?

JOHN EKEMO -- Photos (posted here) show how overgrown sections of the road became. My work/exercise is clearing it back so I can see and use the entire road bed when driving.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- Do you have plans for more travelling?

JOHN EKEMO -- Yes. I’m still concerned with the new strain of Covid so I’m going to start with a couple trips to Oregon in August and October 2021. There are still places, especially in the West I would to visit that I missed on my trip and some places I would like to go back to visit again.

Eventually I will take the time and organize all the information and photos from the trip into a written narrative. Obviously, things have changed in the country since I took the trip and those changes will be in my recollection of events that I experienced along the way.

 

WILDCATVILLE -- Finally, John, what have you learned?

JOHN ELEMO -- I break things, not intentionally, but it seems if I use something long enough I can break it. At one time, I had three lawnmowers, two chainsaws and the motorized wheeled trimmer all in the shop getting repaired. I’m on my second coffee makers and it is held together with Gorilla Tape as is my laptop.

I don’t read/follow directions very well. If there are multiple parts to something, obviously they all have a purpose. Leftover parts are not good.  Eventually I will figure it out. I’ve gotten better at creating something out of the materials at hand that will work, not pretty but functional.

…………

Read …

TRAVELIN’ MAN IN HIS VAN: Linfielder John Ekemo visited 48 U.S. states, 8 Canadian Provinces and Mexico during a 177-day tri

… from Wildcatville. Posted Oct. 26, 2019

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2019/10/travelin-man-in-his-van-linfielder-john.htm

……..

Photos provided by John Ekemo:

-- John stands in Arizona in the Four Corners of the southwestern U.S. consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico

-- Walking out of the corn outfield of the "Field of Dreams" in Dyersville, Iowa, is John.

-- Near Quilcene, Wash., John's camper van next to his automobile and his friend's trailer RV.

-- Part of the road John traverses when traveling to and from where John lives.

…..

*Footnote: “Perched on the “hood” of crooked Hood Canal, Dabob Bay, overlooking Broad Spit, is part of an unusually pristine, scenic and hard-to-get-to pocket of the Salish Sea. The clear, clean, very deep waters of the Bay have created an unspoiled habitat for salmon, shellfish, seals, porpoises and sea birds.” Source: saveland (dot) org

#

 

#5 Travis Masters carries the ball for Linfield College in its 45-0 football win in Puyallup, Wash., over PLU on Sat., Nov. 15, 2008. (Wildcatville photo.)

#5 Travis Masters carries the ball for Linfield College in its 45-0 football win in Puyallup, Wash., over PLU on Sat., Nov. 15, 2008. (Wildcatville photo.)

 

 

 

Historic: Linfield College cross-country

Linfield College cross-country competes at Pier Park in North Portland. 

Linfield harriers/Wildcat cross-country team with Coach Hal Smith on far left.

Gary Hunt and Tom Rohlffs, Linfield retro athletes

Photos provided by Tom Rohlffs