Thursday, October 06, 2011
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
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.
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.”
::::::::::
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...
“(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.”
::::::::::
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.
..............
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
..................
'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.).
...............
Friday, August 05, 2011
2011 Wildcat Open, 8/5/2011
These photos are from the 2011 Wildcat Open held Aug. 5, 2011, at Michelbook Country Club in McMinnville. A Linfield Athletics annual fundraiser, the event included an 18-hole golf tournament, lunch, barbecue dinner and auction.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Monday, August 01, 2011
Great in the classroom; great on the field
Ten members of Linfield’s 2011 NCAA DIII National Championship softball team are members of the Northwest Conference 2010-2211 Academic All-Conference team. To see the entire list, which includes all sports, see information posted here on 8/1/2011 by the NWC.
Wildcats on the softball academic all-NWC team follow. Hometowns are in Oregon unless otherwise noted.
-Jaydee Baxter Jr. Exercise Science 3.84 Damascus
-Katy Brosig Fr. Math./Education 3.56 Forest Grove
-Ashley Garcia Fr. Chemistry 3.54 Beaverton
-Alex Hartmann Sr. Business 3.57 Bellevue, Wash.
-Kristin Herren Fr. Creative Writing 3.80 Auburn, Wash.
-Kayla Hubrich Sr. Exercise Science 3.81 Hillsboro
-Sami Keim Jr. Elementary Education 3.98 Corvallis
-Rachelle Ridout So. Education/Math. 3.75 Montesano, Wash.
-Shelby VandeBergh Fr. Business 3.91 Beaverton
-Claire Velaski Sr. Exercise Science 3.66 Portland
Thursday, July 28, 2011
100th birthday party awaits Linfield grad Margaret Lever Dement of Madras, Ore.
MADRAS, Ore. – When Margaret Lever Dement was growing up poor with eight siblings, birthday parties were so rare she doesn't remember any for herself.However, soon she will have a birthday she is sure to recall, her 100th.
Margaret turns 100 on Aug. 12, 2011. Her open-to-the-public 100th birthday party will be 1:30-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Jefferson Co. Senior Center. 860 SW Madison St.
The second of Marguerite and Henry Lever’s nine children, she is one of four still living. She was born in 1911 in Dixon in the Missouri Ozarks.
Her mother was an accomplished musician. The background of her father – who later became a real estate broker and agent in Madras – included coaching and serving as athletic director at Linfield College in McMinnville.
Margaret graduated from Oregon’s Myrtle Point High School in 1930 and from Linfield in 1934.
Linfield officials say Margaret is one of the college’s oldest living alumna. College records show she earned a bachelor of arts degree in English. Margaret says she minored in music and journalism, too.
Her first job out of college was teaching English and music at Glendale High School in Oregon. She also taught full time at high schools in Oakridge, Vernonia and Myrtle Point. She has been a substitute teacher at Madras High School.
A former manager of the Jefferson County Historical Society Museum in Madras, she used to be a news correspondent for the Oregon Journal and Oregonian daily newspapers of Portland.
She has been organist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church here, played piano at the Jefferson Co. Senior Center and Mountain View Living Center in Madras, edited the center’s newsletter and was secretary for the Seniors of Jefferson County.
Margaret and Karl Dement, who died in 1979 at age 65, had three children. Daughter Marian and her husband, Jon Granby, live in Madras.
Son Thomas Dement lives in Spokane. Son Erik died at age 2 in a tragic drowning.
The Granbys and Thomas Dement are hosts of the party.
Wildcatville photo from April 2009
Friday, July 01, 2011
Linfield 2011 NCAA DIII Coaching Staff of the Year, says Nat'l Fastpitch Coaches
Jackson Vaughn, Linfield College Wildcats head softball coach, and assistant coaches Erica Hancock, Greg Herman and Shelley Vaughan, are the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III National Coaching Staff of the Year.
They are pictured above. In the large photo is Jackson Vaughn. Left to right in the smaller photos are Hancock, Herman and Shelley Vaughn left to right.
Also announced by the association on 6/30/2011 was the fact Vaughan and his staff are the West Region Coaching Staff of the Year award winners.
The Wildcats went 51-3 in the 2011 season, culminating in their second national championship in five seasons. The first title was in 2007. Linfield set NCAA Division III records for wins and home runs (103) in a season.
Ranked No. 1 in the NFCA poll from the start of the season until the finish – the first team ever to do so – Linfield set new standards for team success. The Wildcats put together a 35-game win streak on their way to capturing an eighth straight Northwest Conference championship, a second consecutive regional title, plus the inaugural NWC Tournament crown.
At the NCAA regional in Pella, Iowa, Linfield won all four games while outscoring opponents 49-0. The Wildcats flew from Iowa to the NCAA finals in Salem Va., where they won six of seven games, outscoring the opposition 50-9.
Linfield’s season statistics were also impressive. The Wildcats broke the 2007 national championship team’s record for batting average, hitting .396. The team also set new standards for slugging percentage (.682), on-base percentage (.471), hits (.595) and runs scored (484). The record-breaking 103 home runs on the season surpassed only their own number of 78 from a year ago.
Linfield NFCA All-American first baseman Staci Doucette set new single-season records for batting average (.547), on-base percentage (.653) and walks (45). Her teammate and fellow All-American, Emilee Lepp, a catcher, set the school- and NCAA-record for home runs with 29, as well as single-season marks for slugging percentage (1.089), hits (89), total bases (195), runs (74), and RBI (94).
Through 10 seasons at Linfield, Jackson Vaughan has recorded a 368-86-1 record with eight straight NWC titles, four national finals appearances, one national championship runner-up finish, and two national titles.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
About Chris Casey, Linfield grad, former Linfield football player, former Linfield asst. football coach
Les Schwab Bowl: Coach Chris Casey, Aloha players savor final go-round
By Jerry Ulmer
Oregonian, June 21, 2011
The season is more than two months away, but the football carousel already is spinning at a dizzying pace for Aloha coach Chris Casey.
Six months after leading the Warriors to their first state championship – completing a storybook turnaround – he presided over spring practices that included nearly 200 players.
He's been busy tracking the eligibility of players, spearheading fundraising efforts and dealing with the logistics of taking about 130 players to Aloha's annual team camp in Gold Beach next week.
If that's not enough, he is coaching the North team in the Les Schwab Bowl high school all-star game this week. The game is 6 p.m. Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium, and Aloha leaves for team camp at 6 a.m. Sunday.
“It never ends,” said Casey, a father of four. “When people ask me if I recharge, truthfully, the wheels are always turning. The timing of the game isn't perfect, but I think it's important to do.”
The round-the-clock dedication is a big reason why Casey's star has quickly risen in the last two seasons.
Before he arrived at Aloha in 2004, the Warriors had won 17 games in the previous 14 seasons. In 2009, they ended a 22-year playoff absence. Last season, they won their first Metro League title since 1984 and the Class 6A championship.
Casey was a no-brainer pick as Class 6A coach of the year. This year, everyone is waiting to see if Casey and the Warriors – who have adopted the blue-collar image of their community in unincorporated Washington County – can contend for another title.
Casey already is working on the motivation for the Warriors in 2011.
“Everything we do is with a chip on our shoulder,” said Casey, a college assistant for 19 seasons at Linfield (1985-93) and Whitworth (1994-2003) in Spokane before joining Aloha.
“We have to do that at Aloha because even though many things have changed with overall belief and pride, the community and confidence, we still don't have the money and the socio-economic factors that influence the people around us in our league. Everything we do has got to be blue-collar.”
The lunch-pail gospel of Casey has struck a chord at Aloha. Four members of Aloha's senior class are hearing it one more time this week as members of the North team – linebackers Jesse Bresser and John Shaffer, defensive back Caylen Clardy and defensive end Michael Plueard.
They are savoring every moment.
“I'm looking forward to playing, but then again, I don't want it to be my last game with Coach Casey,” said Clardy, who also played quarterback for Aloha. “It's definitely going to be emotional for us. To be able to play one more game, to have him as a coach one more time, I feel privileged.”
Bresser said he is interested to see how Casey's message gets through to his North teammates.
“Coach Casey's message works for me not only in sports, but in life,” Bresser said. “You could almost say he's a father figure to me, outside of my home.
“He's probably the most mild-mannered guy you'll ever see, but he's a fierce competitor. I feel like that's how I am, so that's why I kind of got hooked. He wants to get the best out of every minute he has, and he pushes you to do that.”
Casey has created a monster of sorts at Aloha, which has an enrollment of more than 1,800, 11thhighest in the state, according to figures from 2009-10.
In his first season, he had about 120 players in the program. This season, after everything washes out, he expects to have more than 150. Included in the nearly 200 that turned out for spring football were more than 70 incoming freshmen.
The turnout was so large that Aloha had to order extra equipment.
“We've never seen that many in the Beaverton School District,” said Sunset athletic director Pete Lukich, who helps oversee the athletics budget for the district. “That was huge.”
As they rise to become one of the state's elite programs, it's important to Casey that the Warriors stay true to their identity.
The team did its annual fundraiser, “1,000 yards to Gold Beach,” on June 11. The previous week, they passed out fliers around Aloha, offering to do yardwork for donations. Players and coaches amassed on a Saturday and tackled the jobs, raising $11,000.
“We want them to have to invest and appreciate it,” Casey said. “People love it because we're providing a service, and the kids are having to work, instead of going door to door asking for money.”
Aloha players are the embodiment of Casey's work ethic. This week, Casey is seeing it reflected back to him one more time in his seniors.
“There are so many things we have that have helped us develop an identity, and it's fun to be with those guys and do that stuff again,” Casey said. “I care about our players about as much as anybody in the world, outside of my own family. It really means a lot to me.”
::::::::
SPORTS COLUMN
Casey's Aloha Warriors prove they were 'team of destiny'
By Kerry Eggers
Portland Tribune
Dec 11, 2010
CORVALLIS – A few seconds after Chris Casey got drenched with an ice shower from his jubilant Aloha High players, his older brother happened by.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am for him,” Pat Casey said, wearing a wide grin. “He’s done at Aloha what has always done – made people around him better.”
There can be no argument about what Chris Casey has done at Aloha, the exclamation point dotted Saturday with the Warriors’ 34-13 victory over Tualatin for the school’s first Class 6A state championship at Reser Stadium.
A downtrodden program in a blue-collar community overshadowed by its Metro League brethren is on top of the world, a long haul that began seven years ago when Casey took over as head coach.
When Casey began in 2004, the Warriors had gone 1-26 the previous three seasons. They didn’t win immediately, but they have slowly built to this season, when they finished 12-1 and got revenge against Tualatin, the only team to have beaten them.
“It’s great for the community, great for the school, great for all of us in the program,” said tailback Thomas Tyner, a breathtaking 6-1, 200-pound sophomore who carried 26 times for 163 yards and a touchdown.
The Warriors are a close-knit group of players who deflect praise to teammates and adore their coach.
“I don’t know where to start when talking about Coach Casey,” said Tyner, the state 100-meter champion as a freshman who will be the focus of a national recruiting push the next two years. “To sum it up in a word, it would be, ‘Hard worker.’ I guess that’s two words.”
“The hardest worker I’ve met in my life,” said Jesse Bresser, a senior who had the game of his life on the state’s biggest stage. “The only time Coach Casey is away from working for our football team is when he goes home to go to church. Then he
rests up so he can get back here and do it again.”
Casey’s principles were born during his playing days at Linfield under the great Ad Rutschman. His position coach there was Mike Riley, and he later spent nine years working with Jay Locey running the Wildcat defense. Casey loves to win, especially at a place where it hadn’t happened for the longest time.
“We’ve had to overcome so much,” Casey said. “We don’t have a lot of things most of the other schools have. There were a lot of years of losing. I’m so happy that’s over.
“You don’t a chance to get to the state finals very often. We couldn’t let this opportunity slip by. We were a team of destiny.”
Aloha was opportunistic Saturday, taking advantage of four first-half turnovers by Tualatin to seize a 24-0 lead. The Timberwolves made it interesting with a pair of touchdowns to get to within 24-13 late in the third quarter, but the Warriors were not to be denied.
Tyner was Aloha’s meal ticket on Saturday, but there were other heroes for Aloha.
Bresser scored on a 42-yard reception and a 40-yard interception return, one of his two picks. Quarterback Caylen Clardy, a shifty senior listed at 5-11 but probably closer to 5-9, was brilliant running the option and threw just enough to keep the Timberwolves honest.
“Caylen can make things happen,” Casey said. “We talk about having balance on offense; that’s not just running the dive play. He made a lot of good decisions tonight.”
Bresser and linebacker Nicolas Brockhoff – who had a game-high 13 tackles and a sack – led a defense that kept Tualatin’s pistol attack holstered most of the way.
“Our defense carried us again,” Casey said.
As the final seconds ticked away, the large throng of Aloha supporters chanted, “We’re No. 1!” Afterward, the students rushed the field and celebrated with their classmates.
“We wouldn’t be where we are without them,” Bresser said. “They’re our 12th man.”
Throughout the game, and especially in the closing minutes, Warrior players often would point a finger to the sky.
“That’s not for, ‘We’re No. 1,’ " Casey said. “That’s for Alex Vaandering.”
The Warriors dedicated the season to the 11-year-old ballboy, who died in his sleep on Oct. 1.
“He’s been our No. 1 motivation,” Bresser said. “I know Alex is looking down at us right now. I hope he’s real proud.”
Pat Casey was real proud of his brother on Saturday. But Casey – who coached Oregon State to back-to-back national baseball championships – couldn’t resist a dig.
“He needs one more title to catch me, dad gum it,” the younger Casey said. “As soon as he gets a second one, we’ll start talking.”
“I have two – got one at Linfield,” Chris Casey said with a smile. “Pat conveniently forgets about that.”
The Aloha coach will attend his church service as usual Sunday morning. Then he’ll begin working on that second one.
By Jerry Ulmer
Oregonian, June 21, 2011
The season is more than two months away, but the football carousel already is spinning at a dizzying pace for Aloha coach Chris Casey.
Six months after leading the Warriors to their first state championship – completing a storybook turnaround – he presided over spring practices that included nearly 200 players.
He's been busy tracking the eligibility of players, spearheading fundraising efforts and dealing with the logistics of taking about 130 players to Aloha's annual team camp in Gold Beach next week.
If that's not enough, he is coaching the North team in the Les Schwab Bowl high school all-star game this week. The game is 6 p.m. Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium, and Aloha leaves for team camp at 6 a.m. Sunday.
“It never ends,” said Casey, a father of four. “When people ask me if I recharge, truthfully, the wheels are always turning. The timing of the game isn't perfect, but I think it's important to do.”
The round-the-clock dedication is a big reason why Casey's star has quickly risen in the last two seasons.
Before he arrived at Aloha in 2004, the Warriors had won 17 games in the previous 14 seasons. In 2009, they ended a 22-year playoff absence. Last season, they won their first Metro League title since 1984 and the Class 6A championship.
Casey was a no-brainer pick as Class 6A coach of the year. This year, everyone is waiting to see if Casey and the Warriors – who have adopted the blue-collar image of their community in unincorporated Washington County – can contend for another title.
Casey already is working on the motivation for the Warriors in 2011.
“Everything we do is with a chip on our shoulder,” said Casey, a college assistant for 19 seasons at Linfield (1985-93) and Whitworth (1994-2003) in Spokane before joining Aloha.
“We have to do that at Aloha because even though many things have changed with overall belief and pride, the community and confidence, we still don't have the money and the socio-economic factors that influence the people around us in our league. Everything we do has got to be blue-collar.”
The lunch-pail gospel of Casey has struck a chord at Aloha. Four members of Aloha's senior class are hearing it one more time this week as members of the North team – linebackers Jesse Bresser and John Shaffer, defensive back Caylen Clardy and defensive end Michael Plueard.
They are savoring every moment.
“I'm looking forward to playing, but then again, I don't want it to be my last game with Coach Casey,” said Clardy, who also played quarterback for Aloha. “It's definitely going to be emotional for us. To be able to play one more game, to have him as a coach one more time, I feel privileged.”
Bresser said he is interested to see how Casey's message gets through to his North teammates.
“Coach Casey's message works for me not only in sports, but in life,” Bresser said. “You could almost say he's a father figure to me, outside of my home.
“He's probably the most mild-mannered guy you'll ever see, but he's a fierce competitor. I feel like that's how I am, so that's why I kind of got hooked. He wants to get the best out of every minute he has, and he pushes you to do that.”
Casey has created a monster of sorts at Aloha, which has an enrollment of more than 1,800, 11thhighest in the state, according to figures from 2009-10.
In his first season, he had about 120 players in the program. This season, after everything washes out, he expects to have more than 150. Included in the nearly 200 that turned out for spring football were more than 70 incoming freshmen.
The turnout was so large that Aloha had to order extra equipment.
“We've never seen that many in the Beaverton School District,” said Sunset athletic director Pete Lukich, who helps oversee the athletics budget for the district. “That was huge.”
As they rise to become one of the state's elite programs, it's important to Casey that the Warriors stay true to their identity.
The team did its annual fundraiser, “1,000 yards to Gold Beach,” on June 11. The previous week, they passed out fliers around Aloha, offering to do yardwork for donations. Players and coaches amassed on a Saturday and tackled the jobs, raising $11,000.
“We want them to have to invest and appreciate it,” Casey said. “People love it because we're providing a service, and the kids are having to work, instead of going door to door asking for money.”
Aloha players are the embodiment of Casey's work ethic. This week, Casey is seeing it reflected back to him one more time in his seniors.
“There are so many things we have that have helped us develop an identity, and it's fun to be with those guys and do that stuff again,” Casey said. “I care about our players about as much as anybody in the world, outside of my own family. It really means a lot to me.”
::::::::
SPORTS COLUMN
Casey's Aloha Warriors prove they were 'team of destiny'
By Kerry Eggers
Portland Tribune
Dec 11, 2010
CORVALLIS – A few seconds after Chris Casey got drenched with an ice shower from his jubilant Aloha High players, his older brother happened by.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am for him,” Pat Casey said, wearing a wide grin. “He’s done at Aloha what has always done – made people around him better.”
There can be no argument about what Chris Casey has done at Aloha, the exclamation point dotted Saturday with the Warriors’ 34-13 victory over Tualatin for the school’s first Class 6A state championship at Reser Stadium.
A downtrodden program in a blue-collar community overshadowed by its Metro League brethren is on top of the world, a long haul that began seven years ago when Casey took over as head coach.
When Casey began in 2004, the Warriors had gone 1-26 the previous three seasons. They didn’t win immediately, but they have slowly built to this season, when they finished 12-1 and got revenge against Tualatin, the only team to have beaten them.
“It’s great for the community, great for the school, great for all of us in the program,” said tailback Thomas Tyner, a breathtaking 6-1, 200-pound sophomore who carried 26 times for 163 yards and a touchdown.
The Warriors are a close-knit group of players who deflect praise to teammates and adore their coach.
“I don’t know where to start when talking about Coach Casey,” said Tyner, the state 100-meter champion as a freshman who will be the focus of a national recruiting push the next two years. “To sum it up in a word, it would be, ‘Hard worker.’ I guess that’s two words.”
“The hardest worker I’ve met in my life,” said Jesse Bresser, a senior who had the game of his life on the state’s biggest stage. “The only time Coach Casey is away from working for our football team is when he goes home to go to church. Then he
rests up so he can get back here and do it again.”
Casey’s principles were born during his playing days at Linfield under the great Ad Rutschman. His position coach there was Mike Riley, and he later spent nine years working with Jay Locey running the Wildcat defense. Casey loves to win, especially at a place where it hadn’t happened for the longest time.
“We’ve had to overcome so much,” Casey said. “We don’t have a lot of things most of the other schools have. There were a lot of years of losing. I’m so happy that’s over.
“You don’t a chance to get to the state finals very often. We couldn’t let this opportunity slip by. We were a team of destiny.”
Aloha was opportunistic Saturday, taking advantage of four first-half turnovers by Tualatin to seize a 24-0 lead. The Timberwolves made it interesting with a pair of touchdowns to get to within 24-13 late in the third quarter, but the Warriors were not to be denied.
Tyner was Aloha’s meal ticket on Saturday, but there were other heroes for Aloha.
Bresser scored on a 42-yard reception and a 40-yard interception return, one of his two picks. Quarterback Caylen Clardy, a shifty senior listed at 5-11 but probably closer to 5-9, was brilliant running the option and threw just enough to keep the Timberwolves honest.
“Caylen can make things happen,” Casey said. “We talk about having balance on offense; that’s not just running the dive play. He made a lot of good decisions tonight.”
Bresser and linebacker Nicolas Brockhoff – who had a game-high 13 tackles and a sack – led a defense that kept Tualatin’s pistol attack holstered most of the way.
“Our defense carried us again,” Casey said.
As the final seconds ticked away, the large throng of Aloha supporters chanted, “We’re No. 1!” Afterward, the students rushed the field and celebrated with their classmates.
“We wouldn’t be where we are without them,” Bresser said. “They’re our 12th man.”
Throughout the game, and especially in the closing minutes, Warrior players often would point a finger to the sky.
“That’s not for, ‘We’re No. 1,’ " Casey said. “That’s for Alex Vaandering.”
The Warriors dedicated the season to the 11-year-old ballboy, who died in his sleep on Oct. 1.
“He’s been our No. 1 motivation,” Bresser said. “I know Alex is looking down at us right now. I hope he’s real proud.”
Pat Casey was real proud of his brother on Saturday. But Casey – who coached Oregon State to back-to-back national baseball championships – couldn’t resist a dig.
“He needs one more title to catch me, dad gum it,” the younger Casey said. “As soon as he gets a second one, we’ll start talking.”
“I have two – got one at Linfield,” Chris Casey said with a smile. “Pat conveniently forgets about that.”
The Aloha coach will attend his church service as usual Sunday morning. Then he’ll begin working on that second one.
Monday, June 20, 2011
John Schindelar of the famous "Water Crew" of Linfield College Football celebrated his 70th birthday on June 20, 2011, in downtown McMinnville, Ore.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Clarifying story about coaching success of Linfield's Ad Rutschman
Photo of Ad and Joan Rutschman by Wildcatville.
McMinnville N-R letter to editor, 4/23/2011
Enjoyed ‘Mac in time’
As I was not a resident of McMinnville during the 1970s, I have especially enjoyed Karl Klooster’s articles “Mac in time.” I find them enlightening and entertaining; the well-targeted commentary is amusing (e.g., the bridge and the bypass).
I would have added one sentence to Part I. Mr. Klooster reported that Ad Rutschman coached Linfield to a national collegiate baseball championship in 1971. I wish you had added that Rutschman would go on to coach the Wildcats to three national collegiate (NAIA) football championships and is still the only coach in collegiate history, at any level, to win national championships in both football and baseball.
There was even a suggestion in 1986 that McMinnville, named for an early 19th century governor of Tennessee, should be renamed Rutschman for the man who put this wonderful town on the national map.
Dennis Anderson
McMinnville
……..
Notes and anecdotes by Karl Klooster, McMinnville N-R, 6/22/2011
(Edited by Wildcatville to only include Ad Rutschman mention.)
Coaches to monuments to rail buses and rutted roads
As often as not, there's more to a given story than what has been told by the end of the last sentence. Following are much appreciated additional details that have been brought to this writer's attention about several recent stories.
First class coach
"Mac in time - the 1970s, Part One" was the Connections feature of April 2, 2011.
This 10th installment of an 13-part series on the history of McMinnville, included an item from the year 1970 that mentioned iconic Linfield coach Ad Rutschman. It stated:
"After heating up Linfield athletics, baseball coach Roy Helser retires with 14 NWC championships in a 21-year run.
"Replacement Ad Rutschman not only holds the job for the next 13 years, but goes on to serve 24 as head football coach and 25 as athletic director."
McMinnville resident Dennis Anderson felt that, even in such a short overview, Rutschman's singular accomplishments deserved to be recounted in greater detail.
"I wish you had added that Rutschman would go on to coach the Wildcats to THREE NAIA national collegiate football championships and is still the only coach in collegiate history, at any level, to win national championships in both football and baseball," he said.
"There was even a suggestion in 1986 that McMinnville, named for an early 19th century governor of Tennessee, should be renamed 'Rutschman' for the man who put this wonderful town on the national map."
Right you are, Dennis. And to elaborate on the point, he reached the post-season playoffs 13 times, won 15 conference titles and retired from coaching football in 1991 with a career record of 183-48-3 or .788.
Rutschman was honored as the state of Oregon's Slats Gill man of the year five times, more than any other individual. He was named to the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
His admission into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998 would have capped anyone's career. But he loves the sport so much he was persuaded to return to the football coaching staff part time in 2001 and has continued with it ever since.
Enjoyed ‘Mac in time’
As I was not a resident of McMinnville during the 1970s, I have especially enjoyed Karl Klooster’s articles “Mac in time.” I find them enlightening and entertaining; the well-targeted commentary is amusing (e.g., the bridge and the bypass).
I would have added one sentence to Part I. Mr. Klooster reported that Ad Rutschman coached Linfield to a national collegiate baseball championship in 1971. I wish you had added that Rutschman would go on to coach the Wildcats to three national collegiate (NAIA) football championships and is still the only coach in collegiate history, at any level, to win national championships in both football and baseball.
There was even a suggestion in 1986 that McMinnville, named for an early 19th century governor of Tennessee, should be renamed Rutschman for the man who put this wonderful town on the national map.
Dennis Anderson
McMinnville
……..
Notes and anecdotes by Karl Klooster, McMinnville N-R, 6/22/2011
(Edited by Wildcatville to only include Ad Rutschman mention.)
Coaches to monuments to rail buses and rutted roads
As often as not, there's more to a given story than what has been told by the end of the last sentence. Following are much appreciated additional details that have been brought to this writer's attention about several recent stories.
First class coach
"Mac in time - the 1970s, Part One" was the Connections feature of April 2, 2011.
This 10th installment of an 13-part series on the history of McMinnville, included an item from the year 1970 that mentioned iconic Linfield coach Ad Rutschman. It stated:
"After heating up Linfield athletics, baseball coach Roy Helser retires with 14 NWC championships in a 21-year run.
"Replacement Ad Rutschman not only holds the job for the next 13 years, but goes on to serve 24 as head football coach and 25 as athletic director."
McMinnville resident Dennis Anderson felt that, even in such a short overview, Rutschman's singular accomplishments deserved to be recounted in greater detail.
"I wish you had added that Rutschman would go on to coach the Wildcats to THREE NAIA national collegiate football championships and is still the only coach in collegiate history, at any level, to win national championships in both football and baseball," he said.
"There was even a suggestion in 1986 that McMinnville, named for an early 19th century governor of Tennessee, should be renamed 'Rutschman' for the man who put this wonderful town on the national map."
Right you are, Dennis. And to elaborate on the point, he reached the post-season playoffs 13 times, won 15 conference titles and retired from coaching football in 1991 with a career record of 183-48-3 or .788.
Rutschman was honored as the state of Oregon's Slats Gill man of the year five times, more than any other individual. He was named to the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
His admission into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998 would have capped anyone's career. But he loves the sport so much he was persuaded to return to the football coaching staff part time in 2001 and has continued with it ever since.
After winning nat'l title, good vibes continue for Wildcat Softball
Wildcatville photo of Alex Hartmann, Linfield Softball player, 2nd base.See below for a great article about Linfield Softball from the 6/11/2011, McMinnville News-Register. However, Wildcatville protests the article’s headline, “Wildcats settle into afterglow.” PLU Scene for Winter 2003 explains that “afterglow” follows all PLU football games. Afterglow is described as a “gathering in the hundreds including players, coaches, parents and friends where hugs, compliments, love, laughter and tears flow in equal.” Thus, “afterglow” is definitely a PLU word to be avoided in any story solely about Linfield athletics.
By Carl Dubois, McMinnville N-R
More than two weeks have passed since Linfield wrapped up its most successful softball season with its second Division III national championship. The 2011 Wildcats understand they've left behind a standard that might be impossible to match.
Nobody has to tell that to outfielder Jaydee Baxter, who will be a senior on the next Linfield team to take the field.
"It's going to be hard to want to achieve or be satisfied with achieving any less than we did this year," Baxter said.
The ripples from that championship season continue. Emilee Lepp, the junior catcher who broke the Division III record for home runs with 29, is one of 11 finalists nationally for the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year Award.
Baxter, an emotional team leader who may well have set the record for hugs, said the first two weeks of the offseason were marked by reminders of Linfield's accomplishment.
"Life's pretty much back to normal," Baxter said, "but when I see people I haven't seen yet this summer, they talk to me about it and congratulate me.
"It's still pretty awesome. I still feel pretty excited about everything."
Claire Velaski, the senior pitcher who set the Linfield record for victories (25), won't get another shot at a championship. For Velaski and her classmates, this was it. After the Wildcats were national runners-up in 2010, returning players dedicated themselves to getting those seniors back to the championship game for one final try.
"We were happy we were able to do what we set out to do a year ago," Velaski said.
"We know that without the other classes, we wouldn't have been able to do it," she said, speaking for the departing seniors.
During Linfield's remarkable postseason run, during which the Wildcats outscored their opponents 99-9, the seniors from the 2010 team weren't far from the 2011 team's thoughts.
"They were talking to us throughout," Velaski said, "and they were so happy for us and so excited for us. They won a national championship when they were freshmen, and they wanted us to have that experience."
They got it, fighting through the losers bracket to win a series of elimination games before nailing down the championship May 24 in Salem, Va.
"The excitement of winning sunk in pretty quickly," Linfield coach Jackson Vaughan said at a celebration party on campus after the team returned from the championship finals.
"The big picture, what the team accomplished as a whole, winning 51 games and all the rest, that part didn't sink in right away for me. When you have a chance to reflect and go through it and look over the stats, you say 'Wow' because of what they were able to accomplish."
At a May 27 gathering in the Ice Auditorium, city and school administrators rattled off a long list of records and statistical milestones from the 2011 season. The Wildcats kept a small research staff busy checking for necessary updates to the record books.
Lepp's power surge helped Linfield break its own Division III record with 103 home runs in a season. The list of other superlatives is a long one, so much so that each speaker at the on-campus tribute to the Wildcats had plenty of material.
Consistency is one of the feats. Linfield won its eighth consecutive Northwest Conference championship on the way to a second national title in five seasons. The Wildcats have become so dominant, the question arises: Why is Linfield so good in softball?
"Jackson is incredible," Velaski said, crediting the coach. "He puts so much time and effort into making the team the best that it can be. He puts countless hours into scouting and watching film and making us watch our own film and practice - and just everything."
Players said Vaughan recruits players with that kind of work ethic.
"Because there's an aura of hard work," Velaski said, "I'm not surprised that we have success."
Vaughan expanded the circle of credit.
"The support we get in athletics is really good," he said. "I think we've been fortunate to get some really good players. Part of it is picking the right people, and to some extent it's also being a little bit lucky."
For example, even those who expected Lepp to have a good season could not have projected her record-setting power display.
The coach knows this type of success changes things. Linfield's 2007 national championship produced joy, because it was a first for the Wildcats. This time? Yes, the emotions were similar, he said, but there was an extra dimension by virtue of Linfield's No. 1 preseason ranking.
"That put some pressure on us," Vaughan said, "so there was that aspect too, almost like there was some relief when we won it, that we were able to get it done with such expectations on us."
The flight home came with its own punctuation mark that drove home the achievement.
"There were fire trucks that sprayed water over our plane," Baxter said, "and once we got into town we got a police escort to the campus, and everyone was waiting outside of our bus. It was all pretty incredible."
She thought about it some more.
"It's been a ride," Baxter said.
She wasn't talking about the bus or the plane.
More than two weeks have passed since Linfield wrapped up its most successful softball season with its second Division III national championship. The 2011 Wildcats understand they've left behind a standard that might be impossible to match.
Nobody has to tell that to outfielder Jaydee Baxter, who will be a senior on the next Linfield team to take the field.
"It's going to be hard to want to achieve or be satisfied with achieving any less than we did this year," Baxter said.
The ripples from that championship season continue. Emilee Lepp, the junior catcher who broke the Division III record for home runs with 29, is one of 11 finalists nationally for the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year Award.
Baxter, an emotional team leader who may well have set the record for hugs, said the first two weeks of the offseason were marked by reminders of Linfield's accomplishment.
"Life's pretty much back to normal," Baxter said, "but when I see people I haven't seen yet this summer, they talk to me about it and congratulate me.
"It's still pretty awesome. I still feel pretty excited about everything."
Claire Velaski, the senior pitcher who set the Linfield record for victories (25), won't get another shot at a championship. For Velaski and her classmates, this was it. After the Wildcats were national runners-up in 2010, returning players dedicated themselves to getting those seniors back to the championship game for one final try.
"We were happy we were able to do what we set out to do a year ago," Velaski said.
"We know that without the other classes, we wouldn't have been able to do it," she said, speaking for the departing seniors.
During Linfield's remarkable postseason run, during which the Wildcats outscored their opponents 99-9, the seniors from the 2010 team weren't far from the 2011 team's thoughts.
"They were talking to us throughout," Velaski said, "and they were so happy for us and so excited for us. They won a national championship when they were freshmen, and they wanted us to have that experience."
They got it, fighting through the losers bracket to win a series of elimination games before nailing down the championship May 24 in Salem, Va.
"The excitement of winning sunk in pretty quickly," Linfield coach Jackson Vaughan said at a celebration party on campus after the team returned from the championship finals.
"The big picture, what the team accomplished as a whole, winning 51 games and all the rest, that part didn't sink in right away for me. When you have a chance to reflect and go through it and look over the stats, you say 'Wow' because of what they were able to accomplish."
At a May 27 gathering in the Ice Auditorium, city and school administrators rattled off a long list of records and statistical milestones from the 2011 season. The Wildcats kept a small research staff busy checking for necessary updates to the record books.
Lepp's power surge helped Linfield break its own Division III record with 103 home runs in a season. The list of other superlatives is a long one, so much so that each speaker at the on-campus tribute to the Wildcats had plenty of material.
Consistency is one of the feats. Linfield won its eighth consecutive Northwest Conference championship on the way to a second national title in five seasons. The Wildcats have become so dominant, the question arises: Why is Linfield so good in softball?
"Jackson is incredible," Velaski said, crediting the coach. "He puts so much time and effort into making the team the best that it can be. He puts countless hours into scouting and watching film and making us watch our own film and practice - and just everything."
Players said Vaughan recruits players with that kind of work ethic.
"Because there's an aura of hard work," Velaski said, "I'm not surprised that we have success."
Vaughan expanded the circle of credit.
"The support we get in athletics is really good," he said. "I think we've been fortunate to get some really good players. Part of it is picking the right people, and to some extent it's also being a little bit lucky."
For example, even those who expected Lepp to have a good season could not have projected her record-setting power display.
The coach knows this type of success changes things. Linfield's 2007 national championship produced joy, because it was a first for the Wildcats. This time? Yes, the emotions were similar, he said, but there was an extra dimension by virtue of Linfield's No. 1 preseason ranking.
"That put some pressure on us," Vaughan said, "so there was that aspect too, almost like there was some relief when we won it, that we were able to get it done with such expectations on us."
The flight home came with its own punctuation mark that drove home the achievement.
"There were fire trucks that sprayed water over our plane," Baxter said, "and once we got into town we got a police escort to the campus, and everyone was waiting outside of our bus. It was all pretty incredible."
She thought about it some more.
"It's been a ride," Baxter said.
She wasn't talking about the bus or the plane.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Linfielder Jeff Basinski was a Forest Grove High School ‘fixture’
Teacher, coach Jeff Basinski dies at 65Mayor says former AD was ‘a fixture’ at the local high school
By the Forest Grove News-Times with slight editing by Wildcatville, Jun 1, 2011 and July 3, 2012
Longtime Forest Grove teacher, coach and administrator Jeff Basinski, a 1965 Wilson High School (Portland) and 1968 Linfield grad and former Wildcat football player, died in his sleep in his Vancouver, Wash., home on May 27, 2011, at the age of 65.
He coached basketball and wrestling at Forest Grove High School for many years. He was head coach of the Viking football team from 1980 to 1991, leading league champion teams in 1981 and 1985. Before that he assisted coach Jeff Durham, Linfield grad, and after he left the head coaching job he served on the staffs of coaches Bill Bloomer and Mike McCabe.
He retired as the school’s athletic director in 2005.
Basinski taught social studies and personal finance at FGHS. After retirement, he helped coach at Centennial High School.
He is survived by his wife Connie, also a 1968 Linfield grad, son B.J. and daughter Jamie. His father was Eddie Basinski, who played professional baseball in the Major League and for the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League.
“He was a fixture at Forest Grove High School and will be missed,” said Forest Grove Mayor Pete Truax.
FGHS activities director Howard Sullivan, who knew Basinski for 30 years, called him a “friend and mentor to us all.”
Services were pending at press time. An obituary will appear in the June 8 issue of the News-Times.
-----------
Photo from 2002 NIAAA (National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Assn.) national conference in Orlando, Fla., shows Linfield grad/Forest Grove High’s Jeff Basinski (left) and Ashland High’s Jim Nagel, now Linfield football offensive coordinator/QB coach.
..........
Sports item below as well as obit from June 2, 2011, Oregonian
Memorial service to honor longtime high school football coach Jeff Basinski
A memorial service in honor of Jeff Basinski, a longtime Oregon high school football coach who died in his sleep Friday, is scheduled for June 12 at 1 p.m. at Forest Grove High School.
Basinski, 65, was head coach at Forest Grove from 1980 to 1991, leading the Vikings to records of 11-1 in 1981 and 10-1 in 1985. In his 41 seasons of coaching in the state, he also assisted at St. Helens, Sunset and Centennial, where he spent the last six years.
Basinski was a member of the 1965 Linfield team that played in the NAIA national championship game.
-- Jerry Ulmer
Memorial service to honor longtime high school football coach Jeff Basinski
A memorial service in honor of Jeff Basinski, a longtime Oregon high school football coach who died in his sleep Friday, is scheduled for June 12 at 1 p.m. at Forest Grove High School.
Basinski, 65, was head coach at Forest Grove from 1980 to 1991, leading the Vikings to records of 11-1 in 1981 and 10-1 in 1985. In his 41 seasons of coaching in the state, he also assisted at St. Helens, Sunset and Centennial, where he spent the last six years.
Basinski was a member of the 1965 Linfield team that played in the NAIA national championship game.
-- Jerry Ulmer
..........
Note: A friend of Wildcatville attended the 1-3 p.m. Sunday June 12, 2011, Jeff Basinski “Celebration of Life” at Forest Grove High Schools’ Ellen Stevens Auditorium. Friend said the auditorium was packed. Indeed, another Wildcatville friend, who also attended, said there were more than 400 in attendance and added, "The Big Cat touched a lot of lives."
.........................
Forest Grove News-Times, June 8, 2011Obituary: Jeffery BasinskiJeffery “Coach Bass” Basinski died Friday, May 27, 2011 in La Pine. A celebration of life gathering will be held Sunday, June 12, at 1 p.m. at Forest Grove High School.
He was born April 21, 1946 in Portland. He developed a love of sports at a very
young age when he spent time with his father Eddie in the Portland Beaver’s Dugout. He played football at Wilson High School where he graduated in 1964. He continued his football career as a member of the Linfield Wildcat Football Team. While at Linfield, he met his future wife, Connie. They were married in August of 1968 in Beaverton.
He earned his Masters in Education from Linfield in 1970 and began his career in coaching and teaching at St. Helens High School. In the fall of 1972, they moved to Beaverton where he began working at Sunset High School. While at Sunset High School, he was a part of the 1975 State Champion Football Team.
They moved to Forest Grove in the fall of 1976 where he began his 30-year career at Forest Grove High School.
He was honored to be a part of the 1976 State Finalist Football Team during his first year at Forest Grove High School. While at Forest Grove, he coached football, wrestling, basketball, track, and baseball. During his tenure there, he served as head coach in both football and wrestling. He led several teams to the league championship and coached three State Champion Wrestlers.
He was the Vice-Principal and Athletics & Activities Director at Forest Grove High School from 1995 until his retirement in 2005.
He enjoyed his retirement. He spent time traveling with family and friends to Mexico, Florida, Hawaii, and Arizona. He had recently returned from a Panama Canal Cruise. He continued coaching into his retirement with his son at Centennial High School. The family enjoyed fishing, hiking, and boating in central Oregon.
He had worked to establish the Hall of Fame to recognize the achievements of Athletes and Coaches at Forest Grove High School and had just been notified that he would be inducted.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Connie; son, BJ; daughter, Jaime; two grandchildren; his father, Eddie; brothers, Dave and Mike; and sisters, Megan and Mary.
Remembrances may be made to the American Diabetes Association in Portland, to the Forest Grove Hall of Fame at the Forest Grove High Athletic Department, or Centennial High School Football in Gresham.
.........................
Forest Grove News-Times, June 8, 2011Obituary: Jeffery BasinskiJeffery “Coach Bass” Basinski died Friday, May 27, 2011 in La Pine. A celebration of life gathering will be held Sunday, June 12, at 1 p.m. at Forest Grove High School.
He was born April 21, 1946 in Portland. He developed a love of sports at a very
young age when he spent time with his father Eddie in the Portland Beaver’s Dugout. He played football at Wilson High School where he graduated in 1964. He continued his football career as a member of the Linfield Wildcat Football Team. While at Linfield, he met his future wife, Connie. They were married in August of 1968 in Beaverton.
He earned his Masters in Education from Linfield in 1970 and began his career in coaching and teaching at St. Helens High School. In the fall of 1972, they moved to Beaverton where he began working at Sunset High School. While at Sunset High School, he was a part of the 1975 State Champion Football Team.
They moved to Forest Grove in the fall of 1976 where he began his 30-year career at Forest Grove High School.
He was honored to be a part of the 1976 State Finalist Football Team during his first year at Forest Grove High School. While at Forest Grove, he coached football, wrestling, basketball, track, and baseball. During his tenure there, he served as head coach in both football and wrestling. He led several teams to the league championship and coached three State Champion Wrestlers.
He was the Vice-Principal and Athletics & Activities Director at Forest Grove High School from 1995 until his retirement in 2005.
He enjoyed his retirement. He spent time traveling with family and friends to Mexico, Florida, Hawaii, and Arizona. He had recently returned from a Panama Canal Cruise. He continued coaching into his retirement with his son at Centennial High School. The family enjoyed fishing, hiking, and boating in central Oregon.
He had worked to establish the Hall of Fame to recognize the achievements of Athletes and Coaches at Forest Grove High School and had just been notified that he would be inducted.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Connie; son, BJ; daughter, Jaime; two grandchildren; his father, Eddie; brothers, Dave and Mike; and sisters, Megan and Mary.
Remembrances may be made to the American Diabetes Association in Portland, to the Forest Grove Hall of Fame at the Forest Grove High Athletic Department, or Centennial High School Football in Gresham.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Linfield softball stats, records, notes update 5/16/2011
Five Wildcats have started all 47 games this season: 1b Doucette, c Lepp,
2b Hartman, lf Hubrich and 3b Prestianni
ss Keagbine has started 45 games and cf Baxter 43
--Velaski has been the starting pitcher in 26 games and Harvey has started 17 games. Velaski started all four regional games, allowing no runs (0) in 21 innings pitched. In the first two she allowed one hit (a bunt single) in 11 innings.
Linfield has won 34 consecutive games and has a 45-2 record. The last game Linfield lost was on March 18, 8-7 in eight innings to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in a multi-team event at Chapman in Orange, Calif.
--The Wildcats’ 47 victories ties the school record set in 2007, the year Linfield won the NCAA Division III championship. They have broken the record of fewest losses with 2; the record is 6 and the most Linfield can lose in the double-elimination nationals would be 2 more for a total of 4.
Catcher Emilee Lepp has handled 262 straight chances without making an error. Her only error of the season came in the second inning of the second game, against Whitworth. Her fielding percentage is .996.
1b Doucette also has 1 error in 47 games and 3b Prestianni has 2 errors in 47 games.
Linfield’s team fielding percentage is .966 with a total of 42 errors in 47 games.
The school records for highest percentage (.981) and fewest errors (22) were both set in 2008.
--More than half of Linfield’s victories (23 of 44) have been “mercy” victories: The games have been terminated after 5 or 6 innings because Linfield was ahead by at least 8 runs
The Wildcats have already broken several major team offensive records: = 95 home runs (obliterating the mark of 78 set last year);
= 434 runs scored, surpassing 409 by 2007’s national championship team;
= 413 RBIs, beating 2007’s total of 357 set in five more games.
= 917 total bases, far beyond the 852 by the 2007 national champions.
...and are on track to break some others:
= .400 batting average; the record is .388 set by that great 2007 team;
= .699 slugging average, more than 100 points above last year’s .592
= 9.23 runs per game; the 2007 champions averaged 7.87
= .474 on-base average; the record is .433 set in 2007
Linfield pitchers’ aggregate (team) earned run average is 1.74 earned runs per game; opponents’ team earned run average is 9.37 earned runs per game
Holding all four opponents scoreless in the regional, the Wildcats broke the school record for shutouts with 18; it was 16 in 2004
Linfield made no errors in its first three NCAA regional games; the Wildcats have played 21 errorless games this season, in spite of often playing on infields that were not in top condition because of the wet Northwest spring.
Lepp has gotten multiple hits (two or more) in 26 games, including 19 two-hit games. Keagbine and Doucette each have had 23 multiple-hit games and Hubrich has had 22.
Lepp has had 25 multiple-RBI games; Doucette has had 20.
Lepp and Doucette will take nine-game hitting streaks into the nationals. Longest this season was Doucette’s 16 games.
2b Hartman, lf Hubrich and 3b Prestianni
ss Keagbine has started 45 games and cf Baxter 43
--Velaski has been the starting pitcher in 26 games and Harvey has started 17 games. Velaski started all four regional games, allowing no runs (0) in 21 innings pitched. In the first two she allowed one hit (a bunt single) in 11 innings.
Linfield has won 34 consecutive games and has a 45-2 record. The last game Linfield lost was on March 18, 8-7 in eight innings to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in a multi-team event at Chapman in Orange, Calif.
--The Wildcats’ 47 victories ties the school record set in 2007, the year Linfield won the NCAA Division III championship. They have broken the record of fewest losses with 2; the record is 6 and the most Linfield can lose in the double-elimination nationals would be 2 more for a total of 4.
Catcher Emilee Lepp has handled 262 straight chances without making an error. Her only error of the season came in the second inning of the second game, against Whitworth. Her fielding percentage is .996.
1b Doucette also has 1 error in 47 games and 3b Prestianni has 2 errors in 47 games.
Linfield’s team fielding percentage is .966 with a total of 42 errors in 47 games.
The school records for highest percentage (.981) and fewest errors (22) were both set in 2008.
--More than half of Linfield’s victories (23 of 44) have been “mercy” victories: The games have been terminated after 5 or 6 innings because Linfield was ahead by at least 8 runs
The Wildcats have already broken several major team offensive records: = 95 home runs (obliterating the mark of 78 set last year);
= 434 runs scored, surpassing 409 by 2007’s national championship team;
= 413 RBIs, beating 2007’s total of 357 set in five more games.
= 917 total bases, far beyond the 852 by the 2007 national champions.
...and are on track to break some others:
= .400 batting average; the record is .388 set by that great 2007 team;
= .699 slugging average, more than 100 points above last year’s .592
= 9.23 runs per game; the 2007 champions averaged 7.87
= .474 on-base average; the record is .433 set in 2007
Linfield pitchers’ aggregate (team) earned run average is 1.74 earned runs per game; opponents’ team earned run average is 9.37 earned runs per game
Holding all four opponents scoreless in the regional, the Wildcats broke the school record for shutouts with 18; it was 16 in 2004
Linfield made no errors in its first three NCAA regional games; the Wildcats have played 21 errorless games this season, in spite of often playing on infields that were not in top condition because of the wet Northwest spring.
Lepp has gotten multiple hits (two or more) in 26 games, including 19 two-hit games. Keagbine and Doucette each have had 23 multiple-hit games and Hubrich has had 22.
Lepp has had 25 multiple-RBI games; Doucette has had 20.
Lepp and Doucette will take nine-game hitting streaks into the nationals. Longest this season was Doucette’s 16 games.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Linfield Softball’s ‘Mercy’ victories so far in 2011
Special thanks from Wildcatville to Dennis Anderson for supplying this information.
Through May 16, 2011, half of Linfield’s softball victories this season (23 of 45) were “mercy” victories; i.e., games that by rule were terminated after 5 or 6 innings because Linfield was ahead by at least 8 runs.
Only four of those games were played at Linfield; 15 were Northwest Conference games, including one in the NWC Tournament. All four of Linfield’s NCAA regional tournament games were “mercy” wins.
On six days, Linfield invoked the mercy rule in both games of a doubleheader.
Linfield has won 34 games in a row, and 6 of the last 8 have been “mercy” victories
These were the “mercy” victories so far this season:
Games listed below played at Linfield unless designated with @ for opponent field or * for neutral field.
Feb. 26 Whitworth
12-2 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Baxter hit 4x4 with 3 RBI
Feb. 26 Whitworth
10-1 in 6 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Lepp had her only error of the season and hit her first of 29 home runs
Feb. 27 + Whitworth
16-0 in 5 innings
March 5 @ George Fox
12-0 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Velaski pitched a no-hitter and struck out 10; Lepp hit 3-run home run
March 5 @ George Fox
11-0 in 5 innings2nd game of doubleheader
Doucette hit 3-run double; Lepp and Keagbine each hit their 4th home run
March 6 + Lewis & Clark
12-4 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Keagbine hit solo HR and 3-run double, both in the 2nd inning, and had 5 RBIs total
March 6 + Lewis & Clark
20-1 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Keagbine and Baxter each hit two home runs; Baxter hit 2-run HR and 3-run HR both in the second inning, when Linfield scored 11 runs on 13 hits. Hubrich and Keagbine each hit 5x5 and Linfield got 27 hits total. Keagbine had 4 RBIs, giving her 9 RBIs for the day, and scored 4 runs.
March 19 @ Chapman (Calif.)
10-2 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Hubrich hit 3-run, inside-the-park HR
March 19 @ Chapman (Calif.)
15-2 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Doucette hit 3-run HR
March 22 @ Cal Lutheran
15-1 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Baxter hit 2B, HR and had 4 RBI; Prestianni hit 3-run HR
March 23 @ Whittier (Calif.)
12-0 in 6 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Lepp hit 4x4 with 2-run HR and grand slam for 6 RBIs; Velaski (5 innings) and Karscig (1 inn.) pitched 1-hitter
March 26 + George Fox
8-0 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Hubrich 3 hits, triple, 3 RBIs
March 26 + George Fox
12-0 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Hartmann and Keagbine both hit 3-run HRs; Doucette hit a 3-run double; Keagbine had 5 RBIs altogether.
April 3 Puget Sound
8-0 in 5 innings in 3rd game of tripleheader
Lepp hit 2-run double and 2-run HR; Freshman Paavola pitched shutout.
April 7 @ Lewis & Clark
12-4 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Prestianni 3-run HR; Lepp hit 4x4,
3-run double, HR and 5 RBIs.
April 7 @ Lewis & Clark
18-4 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Doucette hit 3-run HR and grand slam in first two innings for 7 RBI
April 12 @ Puget Sound
11-1 in 5 innings
Keagbine hit 2 HRs, team hit 6
April 17 Pacific
8-0 in 6 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Karscig pitched shutout
April 22 Pacific Lutheran
11-2 in 5 innings at NWC tournament
Lepp hit grand slam, her 27th HR; Doucette hit 18th and Keagbine 16th
May 12 + Anderson (Ind.)
10-0 in 6 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa*
Velaski pitched one-hitter; Lepp and Doucette hit 3-run home runs
May 14 + Washington (Saint Louis)
17-0 in 5 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa*
Velaski pitched no-hitter; Baxter hit bases-loaded triple and Prestianni hit grand slam, both in first inning
May 15 + Coe (Iowa)
10-0 in 5 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa*
Doucette hit 3-run HR in first inning, her 20th; Velaski extended scoreless string to 20 innings in regional games
May 16 @ Central (Iowa)
12-0 in 5 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa
Keagbine hit her 17th HR, doubled and she and Hartmann each drove in 3 runs; Velaski pitched her fourth shutout in five days, a 2-hitter
The “mercy” rule also was invoked in one of the Wildcats’ two losses
March 12 @ Pacific Lutheran2-10 in 6 innings
Velaski gave up 10 runs (4 earned) in 5.1 innings; PLU ended game with 6 runs in bottom of the 6th inning, 5 of them on two home runs
More info:
--After 3 games in the NCAA regional softball tournament, Linfield outscored opponents 37-0 and all three games were terminated by mercy rule.
--Linfield has only batted in 14 innings! (did not need to bat in bottom of 5th Saturday or Sunday as the Wildcats were the home team)
.............
Linfield vs. Central (Iowa) at Kuyper Athletic Complex, Central College, Pella, Iowa
Monday, May 16, 2011
Play-by-play from NCAA regional tourney in Pella, Iowa, Linfield vs. Central of Iowa
Through May 16, 2011, half of Linfield’s softball victories this season (23 of 45) were “mercy” victories; i.e., games that by rule were terminated after 5 or 6 innings because Linfield was ahead by at least 8 runs.
Only four of those games were played at Linfield; 15 were Northwest Conference games, including one in the NWC Tournament. All four of Linfield’s NCAA regional tournament games were “mercy” wins.
On six days, Linfield invoked the mercy rule in both games of a doubleheader.
Linfield has won 34 games in a row, and 6 of the last 8 have been “mercy” victories
These were the “mercy” victories so far this season:
Games listed below played at Linfield unless designated with @ for opponent field or * for neutral field.
Feb. 26 Whitworth
12-2 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Baxter hit 4x4 with 3 RBI
Feb. 26 Whitworth
10-1 in 6 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Lepp had her only error of the season and hit her first of 29 home runs
Feb. 27 + Whitworth
16-0 in 5 innings
March 5 @ George Fox
12-0 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Velaski pitched a no-hitter and struck out 10; Lepp hit 3-run home run
March 5 @ George Fox
11-0 in 5 innings2nd game of doubleheader
Doucette hit 3-run double; Lepp and Keagbine each hit their 4th home run
March 6 + Lewis & Clark
12-4 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Keagbine hit solo HR and 3-run double, both in the 2nd inning, and had 5 RBIs total
March 6 + Lewis & Clark
20-1 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Keagbine and Baxter each hit two home runs; Baxter hit 2-run HR and 3-run HR both in the second inning, when Linfield scored 11 runs on 13 hits. Hubrich and Keagbine each hit 5x5 and Linfield got 27 hits total. Keagbine had 4 RBIs, giving her 9 RBIs for the day, and scored 4 runs.
March 19 @ Chapman (Calif.)
10-2 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Hubrich hit 3-run, inside-the-park HR
March 19 @ Chapman (Calif.)
15-2 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Doucette hit 3-run HR
March 22 @ Cal Lutheran
15-1 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Baxter hit 2B, HR and had 4 RBI; Prestianni hit 3-run HR
March 23 @ Whittier (Calif.)
12-0 in 6 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Lepp hit 4x4 with 2-run HR and grand slam for 6 RBIs; Velaski (5 innings) and Karscig (1 inn.) pitched 1-hitter
March 26 + George Fox
8-0 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Hubrich 3 hits, triple, 3 RBIs
March 26 + George Fox
12-0 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Hartmann and Keagbine both hit 3-run HRs; Doucette hit a 3-run double; Keagbine had 5 RBIs altogether.
April 3 Puget Sound
8-0 in 5 innings in 3rd game of tripleheader
Lepp hit 2-run double and 2-run HR; Freshman Paavola pitched shutout.
April 7 @ Lewis & Clark
12-4 in 5 innings in 1st game of doubleheader
Prestianni 3-run HR; Lepp hit 4x4,
3-run double, HR and 5 RBIs.
April 7 @ Lewis & Clark
18-4 in 5 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Doucette hit 3-run HR and grand slam in first two innings for 7 RBI
April 12 @ Puget Sound
11-1 in 5 innings
Keagbine hit 2 HRs, team hit 6
April 17 Pacific
8-0 in 6 innings in 2nd game of doubleheader
Karscig pitched shutout
April 22 Pacific Lutheran
11-2 in 5 innings at NWC tournament
Lepp hit grand slam, her 27th HR; Doucette hit 18th and Keagbine 16th
May 12 + Anderson (Ind.)
10-0 in 6 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa*
Velaski pitched one-hitter; Lepp and Doucette hit 3-run home runs
May 14 + Washington (Saint Louis)
17-0 in 5 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa*
Velaski pitched no-hitter; Baxter hit bases-loaded triple and Prestianni hit grand slam, both in first inning
May 15 + Coe (Iowa)
10-0 in 5 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa*
Doucette hit 3-run HR in first inning, her 20th; Velaski extended scoreless string to 20 innings in regional games
May 16 @ Central (Iowa)
12-0 in 5 innings at NCAA regional @ Pella, Iowa
Keagbine hit her 17th HR, doubled and she and Hartmann each drove in 3 runs; Velaski pitched her fourth shutout in five days, a 2-hitter
The “mercy” rule also was invoked in one of the Wildcats’ two losses
March 12 @ Pacific Lutheran2-10 in 6 innings
Velaski gave up 10 runs (4 earned) in 5.1 innings; PLU ended game with 6 runs in bottom of the 6th inning, 5 of them on two home runs
More info:
--After 3 games in the NCAA regional softball tournament, Linfield outscored opponents 37-0 and all three games were terminated by mercy rule.
--Linfield has only batted in 14 innings! (did not need to bat in bottom of 5th Saturday or Sunday as the Wildcats were the home team)
.............
Linfield vs. Central (Iowa) at Kuyper Athletic Complex, Central College, Pella, Iowa
Monday, May 16, 2011
Play-by-play from NCAA regional tourney in Pella, Iowa, Linfield vs. Central of Iowa
Background:
Linfield improved to 45-2, tying school record for victories in a season set by the 2007 national championship team
--Central eliminated Coe 7-3 in 8 a.m. game May 16, 2011
--Linfield entered game vs. Central with 44-2 record (ranked first by coaches); Central was 39-8 (ranked 8th)
=LINFIELD 1st
Hubrich singles to left center
Baxter sacrificed to pitcher, Hubrich to second
Lepp walked
Hubrich to third and Lepp to second on wild pitch
Doucette walked; Herren pinch ran for her, bases loaded
Prestianni hits sacrifice fly to CF, Hubrich scored ‘Cats 1-0
Keagbine doubled, Lepp scored; Herren advanced to third ‘Cats 2-0
Hartmann tripled down right-field line, Keagbine and Herren scored ‘Cats 4-0
Watson walked, Karscig pinch-ran for her; runners on first and third
Mixsell grounded out to 2b
Linfield: 4 runs, 3 hits, 2 left on, 0 Central errors
‘Cats 4, Central 0
=CENTRAL 1st
Strike out swinging on 2-2 count
Single through right side on 0-2 count
Force out, pitcher to 2b
Strike out swinging on 2-2 count
Central 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 left, 0 Linfield errors
=LINFIELD 2nd
Hubrich hits first pitch for single to center
Central changes pitchers
Baxter forces out Hubrich at second base, ss to 2b
Lepp flies to left on 1-0 count (2 out)
Doucette flies to right on 1-2 count
Linfield 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 left, 0 Central errors
=CENTRAL 2nd
Ground out to ss on 3-1 count
Strike out called
Error on SS Keagbine, Linfield’s first error in the tournament
Pinch hitter pops out to 1b
Central: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 left on, 1 Linfield error
=LINFIELD 3rd
Prestianni flies out to CF on 3-1 count
Keagbine fouls off three straight pitches, then homers to left center ‘Cats 5-0
Hartman singles to left on 0-1 count
Watson singles to left on 2-2 count after 3 straight foul balls, Hartman advances
Mixsell hit by pitch, loading the bases
Hubrich singles to short stop. Hartman scores ‘Cats 6-0
Baxter rallies from 0-2 to hit three foul balls and walks on 3-2 count, forcing in Garcia, bases still loaded
‘Cats 7-0
Lepp singles to left field, Mixsell scores, bases still loaded ‘Cats 8-0
Doucette lines out to second, Lepp double off first
Linfield: 4 runs, 5 hits, 2 left on base, 0 Central errors
‘Cats 8, Central 0
=CENTRAL 3rd
Strike out swinging on 1-2 count after 3 straight foul balls
Pop up to 2b on first pitch
Ground out to pitcher on 2-2 count
Central 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 left on, 0 Linfield errors, 11 pitches
=LINFIELD 4th
Prestianni flies out to left on 1-1 count
Keagbine singles up middle on first pitch
Hartmann hits first pitch, reaches on fielder’s choice, runners on first and second
Garcia reaches by error on 2b; Keagbine scores ‘Cats 9-0
Mixsell singles to LF to drive in Hartmann ‘Cats 10-0
Central changes pitchers
Hubrich grounds out to 2b on 1-1 count, runners advance to 2nd and 3rd
Baxter flies out to RF on 2-2 count
Linfield 2 runs on 3 hits, 2 left on, 0 Central errors,
‘Cats 10, Central 0
=CENTRAL 4th
Swinging strike out on 3 pitches
Single to center on 1-0 count; pinch runner (what’s the point down 10-0?)
Double play, short stop to 1b on 2-0 count
Central: 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 left on base, 0 Linfield errors
=LINFIELD 5th
Lepp doubles to left on 0-1 count
Doucette singles through left side on 1-0 count; Lepp to third
Prestianni walks on 3-2 count, bases loaded
Keagbine fouls out to RF, sacrifice fly; Lepp scores, Doucette to third
‘Cats 11-0
Hartmann flies out to LF on 1-2 count, sacrifice fly, Doucette scores
‘Cats 12-0
Garcia walks, runners on first and second
Mixsell walks on 3-2 pitch after numerous foul balls, bases loaded
Hubrich strikes out swinging
Linfield: 2 runs, 2 hits, 3 left on base, 0 Central errors
Cats 12, Central 0
=CENTRAL 5th
Pinch hitter strikes out swinging
Fly out to right field
Ground out to second base
Central: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 left on base, 0 Linfield errors
Final score: LINFIELD 12, CENTRAL OF IOWA 0
Claire Velaski pitched her fourth NCAA regional tournament shutout in five days; runs her string of scoreless innings to 25 and improved her season record to 23-1 while lowering her earned run average to 1.70. She walks no one, strikes out six, allows two singles and faces 17 batters, two over the minimum.
Keagbine hits her 17th home run and her 13th double. Keagbine and Hartmann each drive in 3 runs.
Central’s Kiley Lythberg, who pitched six innings and 96 pitches in the earlier game today, lasted one inning and one batter against Linfield, allowing four hits and four earned runs. She faced 10 batters and walked three of them. She took the loss, falling to 20-7
In the regional, Linfield outscored four opponents 49-0, with all four games terminated early because of the “mercy” rule.
The Wildcats batted .505, out-hitting their opponents 50 to 6.
The team earned run average was, of course, 0.00 with Velaski pitching all but one of 21 innings. Freshman Karina Paavola pitched the last inning on Sunday.
Linfield has won eight straight regional games, going 4-0 last season also.
Linfield will fly directly from Iowa to Salem, Virginia, and will play the State University of New York-Cortland, on Friday, May 20, in the first round of the NCAA Division III national championship tournament. The 8-team, double-elimination tournament runs through Tuesday, May 24
It will be Linfield’s fourth trip to the finals in six years, since 2006. The Wildcats won the championship in 2007 and placed second last year to East Texas Baptist.
Salem is familiar to Linfield athletics. In 2004, the Linfield football team won the NCAA DIII national title. s As he is today, Linfield head softball coach Jackson Vaughn was defensive coordinator on the football team.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Don Rutschman: McMinnville High Sports Hall of Fame
At home at McMinnville
Rutschman part of family legacy
By Carl Dubois
McMinnville News-Register
The five other inductees in the 2011 class of the McMinnville High School Sports Hall of Fame live in other cities now. They have varying ties to present-day Mac, mostly characterized by distance of time and place.
Don Rutschman is a different story. A three-sport athlete from 1968-71, he has coached at the high school since 1991. His high school past encircles him daily during his high school present.
Hall of Fame plaques line a hallway leading from the main office to the area with gyms, athletic offices and other remembers of Mac sports. Six new plaques will join them soon after the Hall of Fame banquet at 7 p.m. today at Evergreen Aviation Museum.
Rutschman is at home in McMinnville, where the family legacy cuts a wide swath. Ad
Rutschman, his father, is a Linfield living legend, an Oregon sports figure of prominence, with awards and sports venues bearing his name.
Father and son share the Linfield bond, as Don Rutschman enrolled in college in 1971, the year his father started coaching the baseball team. The younger Rutschman played for the Wildcats.
Linfield won the NAIA national championship in 1971.
“If they wouldn’t have won that national title,” Don Rutschman said, “you don’t know where I might have ended up. Maybe I would have been at Washington State playing baseball.”
Instead, he stayed in the town where he went to high school, where his high school was in the midst of a couple of decades of success in baseball, basketball and football that, as a whole, is unlike the present.
“Mac was on a big run in the ’60s and ’70s,” Rutschman said.
He was a part of it, playing each of those sports, including quarterback on the football team, pitcher on the baseball team and guard on the basketball team.
Today he remains a firm believer in the value of playing multiple sports. He looks at the rosters of teams at Linfield, Oregon and Oregon State, and he sees athlete after athlete who played more than one sport in high school.
He thinks it’s great preparation.
“I think many times that the people highly encouraging athletes in high school to do just one sport were probably one-sport people themselves in their athletic careers,” Rutschman said.
He enjoyed success in all three sports ... He enjoyed practice and setting goals for himself. That helped keep things fresh for him, as did playing three sports.
“If I would have had to play just one sport, I would have been bored to death,” he said.
If he hadn’t played any sports?
“Pruning, fertilizing, gardening, edging and mowing are not my deal,” he said, “and
I know if I wasn’t out for a sport, I was probably going to have to do some manual labor.
“That was not,” he said, laughing, “a part of my program. I did enough of that on the weekends to see the alternative to playing sports.”
Family can vouch. There’s Ad, his dad, his mom, Joan, a former secretary in the athletic department at Mac. Brothers, sisters and sons are part of the family’s Mac tree.
Rutschman teaches driver training — thank him when you make it from one end of town to the other safely — and is an assistant football coach. He coached baseball for years.
He started in education after graduating from Linfield in 1975, and after coming back to Mac High in 1991, he’s something of a “Welcome Back, Kotter” story come to life.
With no end in sight.
“People ask me almost daily,” he said, “and I get tired of it, ‘Geez, how many years do you have left?’ I’m a little irritated by this comment, because I’ve put in a few years, I’m getting older.
“I love what I’m doing. I don’t have a hobby. This is it. So I tell them the alternative is mowing, edging, fertilizing, pruning and trimming, and I hate those things — so I’m still teaching and coaching.”
There were hard times, especially during the recent struggles in football, but Rutschman said he doesn’t regret any of it.
“It’s just been fun,” Rutschman said. “There’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s been fun.”
What: McMinville High School Sports Hall of Fame Banquet
When: 7 p.m. tonight
Where: Evergreen Aviation Museum
Tickets: $35 per person
To buy: Call 503-883-3262
Class of 2011: Alan Cockerham (1983-86), Stephanie (Egan) Banford (1987-91), Ethan McCoy (1999-2002), Tommy Paterson (1997-2001), Don Rutschman (1968-71, 1991-present), Chris Winkler (1978-81)
Distinguished Service Award Recipients: Davison Auto Parts, Doug Fredricks, Farnham Electric, J & W CarStar, Michelbook Country Club, Steve Bernards
Source: Mac HS
Rutschman part of family legacy
By Carl Dubois
McMinnville News-Register
The five other inductees in the 2011 class of the McMinnville High School Sports Hall of Fame live in other cities now. They have varying ties to present-day Mac, mostly characterized by distance of time and place.
Don Rutschman is a different story. A three-sport athlete from 1968-71, he has coached at the high school since 1991. His high school past encircles him daily during his high school present.
Hall of Fame plaques line a hallway leading from the main office to the area with gyms, athletic offices and other remembers of Mac sports. Six new plaques will join them soon after the Hall of Fame banquet at 7 p.m. today at Evergreen Aviation Museum.
Rutschman is at home in McMinnville, where the family legacy cuts a wide swath. Ad
Rutschman, his father, is a Linfield living legend, an Oregon sports figure of prominence, with awards and sports venues bearing his name.
Father and son share the Linfield bond, as Don Rutschman enrolled in college in 1971, the year his father started coaching the baseball team. The younger Rutschman played for the Wildcats.
Linfield won the NAIA national championship in 1971.
“If they wouldn’t have won that national title,” Don Rutschman said, “you don’t know where I might have ended up. Maybe I would have been at Washington State playing baseball.”
Instead, he stayed in the town where he went to high school, where his high school was in the midst of a couple of decades of success in baseball, basketball and football that, as a whole, is unlike the present.
“Mac was on a big run in the ’60s and ’70s,” Rutschman said.
He was a part of it, playing each of those sports, including quarterback on the football team, pitcher on the baseball team and guard on the basketball team.
Today he remains a firm believer in the value of playing multiple sports. He looks at the rosters of teams at Linfield, Oregon and Oregon State, and he sees athlete after athlete who played more than one sport in high school.
He thinks it’s great preparation.
“I think many times that the people highly encouraging athletes in high school to do just one sport were probably one-sport people themselves in their athletic careers,” Rutschman said.
He enjoyed success in all three sports ... He enjoyed practice and setting goals for himself. That helped keep things fresh for him, as did playing three sports.
“If I would have had to play just one sport, I would have been bored to death,” he said.
If he hadn’t played any sports?
“Pruning, fertilizing, gardening, edging and mowing are not my deal,” he said, “and
I know if I wasn’t out for a sport, I was probably going to have to do some manual labor.
“That was not,” he said, laughing, “a part of my program. I did enough of that on the weekends to see the alternative to playing sports.”
Family can vouch. There’s Ad, his dad, his mom, Joan, a former secretary in the athletic department at Mac. Brothers, sisters and sons are part of the family’s Mac tree.
Rutschman teaches driver training — thank him when you make it from one end of town to the other safely — and is an assistant football coach. He coached baseball for years.
He started in education after graduating from Linfield in 1975, and after coming back to Mac High in 1991, he’s something of a “Welcome Back, Kotter” story come to life.
With no end in sight.
“People ask me almost daily,” he said, “and I get tired of it, ‘Geez, how many years do you have left?’ I’m a little irritated by this comment, because I’ve put in a few years, I’m getting older.
“I love what I’m doing. I don’t have a hobby. This is it. So I tell them the alternative is mowing, edging, fertilizing, pruning and trimming, and I hate those things — so I’m still teaching and coaching.”
There were hard times, especially during the recent struggles in football, but Rutschman said he doesn’t regret any of it.
“It’s just been fun,” Rutschman said. “There’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s been fun.”
What: McMinville High School Sports Hall of Fame Banquet
When: 7 p.m. tonight
Where: Evergreen Aviation Museum
Tickets: $35 per person
To buy: Call 503-883-3262
Class of 2011: Alan Cockerham (1983-86), Stephanie (Egan) Banford (1987-91), Ethan McCoy (1999-2002), Tommy Paterson (1997-2001), Don Rutschman (1968-71, 1991-present), Chris Winkler (1978-81)
Distinguished Service Award Recipients: Davison Auto Parts, Doug Fredricks, Farnham Electric, J & W CarStar, Michelbook Country Club, Steve Bernards
Source: Mac HS
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Nov. 12, 2011, on campus: Linfield quarterback Mike Barrow to be honored
Former Linfield College football quarterback Mike Barrow will be honored during a Nov. 12, 2011, public event on the college campus in McMinnville, Ore.
The Mike Barrow Study Room in Nicholson Library will be dedicated in an hour-long program originating in the library’s Austin Reading Room. It will start about 4 p.m., after conclusion of the Lewis & Clark at Linfield AT&T Hall of Fame football game, which has a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Barrow graduated in 1968 from Linfield and in 1963 from Prineville’s Crook County High School. At age 23, he died June 23, 1969, in combat in Vietnam serving with the U.S. Army.
He lettered in Linfield football for the 1964, 1965 and 1967 seasons. Barrow “quarterbacked” the 1967 Linfield football team which upset the University of Hawai'i, 15-13, in Honolulu, before a crowd of 20,000, the most ever to see a Linfield game.
Taking part in the program, organized by Barrow’s Linfield football teammates, will be his sister, Mary Gail Barrow, Portland. His parents Missionary Baptist Elder Eugene and Myrna Barrow and brother, Gerald (“Jerry”), a Linfield grad, are deceased.
When the library opened in 2003, it included the study room named for Barrow thanks to a fund-raising effort led by the late Ken Williams, former Linfield faculty athletic representative and registrar.
For additional information about the event, contact Bob Ferguson, robefergus@aol.com, 360-254-1224.
The Mike Barrow Study Room in Nicholson Library will be dedicated in an hour-long program originating in the library’s Austin Reading Room. It will start about 4 p.m., after conclusion of the Lewis & Clark at Linfield AT&T Hall of Fame football game, which has a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Barrow graduated in 1968 from Linfield and in 1963 from Prineville’s Crook County High School. At age 23, he died June 23, 1969, in combat in Vietnam serving with the U.S. Army.
He lettered in Linfield football for the 1964, 1965 and 1967 seasons. Barrow “quarterbacked” the 1967 Linfield football team which upset the University of Hawai'i, 15-13, in Honolulu, before a crowd of 20,000, the most ever to see a Linfield game.
Taking part in the program, organized by Barrow’s Linfield football teammates, will be his sister, Mary Gail Barrow, Portland. His parents Missionary Baptist Elder Eugene and Myrna Barrow and brother, Gerald (“Jerry”), a Linfield grad, are deceased.
When the library opened in 2003, it included the study room named for Barrow thanks to a fund-raising effort led by the late Ken Williams, former Linfield faculty athletic representative and registrar.
For additional information about the event, contact Bob Ferguson, robefergus@aol.com, 360-254-1224.
