L.A. Times Archives Oct. 17, 1989 12 AM PT From
Times Wire Services
PORTLAND, Ore. — Pacific University officials have suspended
from the football team a player who stepped off the sidelines and decked a
Linfield player late in Saturday’s game between the two schools.
Bob Bonn, athletic director at the Forest Grove school, said
Monday that starting linebacker Joe Schmelzer, a junior, will not return to the
team this year.
Schmelzer was watching from the sidelines in the fourth
quarter as Linfield defensive back Tony Chiu intercepted a Pacific pass at the
Linfield 40-yard line and raced past the Boxers’ bench. Chiu was about 30 yards
shy of a touchdown when Schmelzer stepped onto the field and flattened him with
a shoulder to the chest.
Bonn said Schmelzer, a 20-year-old junior from Palo Alto,
“feels terrible. He was in tears after the game, and he apologized to his own
team,” Bonn said. “It’s a situation he regrets deeply.”
::::::::::::::::
Pacific player
suspended for off-the-bench tackle
FOREST
GROVE, Ore. (UPI/United Press International, Oct. 17, 1989) -- A Pacific University
player who came off the bench to make a tackle during a game against Columbia
Football Association-rival Linfield has been suspended for the remainder of the
season, athletic officials at the Forest Grove school said Monday.
Joe
Schmelzer was suspended for coming off the bench to tackle Linfield's Tony Chiu
after the defensive back came up with an interception.
'No.
66 came off the sidelines and hit me right in the chest,' Chiu said Saturday
after the game, won by Linfield, 34-22. 'I thought I was wide open and I was
relaxed and smiling. Then, no smile.'
Chiu
made the interception at about midfield and appeared headed for a touchdown
when he was brought down.
Linfield
Coach Ad Rutschman said it was first time in 22 years of coaching he was
involved in a game in which something like that happened.
Pacific
Coach Bill Griffin removed Schmelzer from the game and later apologized to
Rutschman.
::::::::::::
College
football: Sons follow fathers to the path toward Linfield
By Nick Daschel,
Oregonian, Nov. 28, 2012
Football
teams often refer to themselves as family, even if most of the bonds are just
friendships.
At
Linfield, though, there's something to the family talk. The apple doesn't fall
far from Maxwell Field, as at least nine players on the Wildcats' roster have
fathers who participated in Linfield athletics.
Most
sons of former Wildcat fathers say there weren't expectations to attend
Linfield, which plays at noon Saturday in McMinnville in an NCAA quarterfinal
playoff game against Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
The
school and its football program spoke for itself.
"My
dad always encouraged me to look at other places, but of course, he has nothing
but good things to say about Linfield," said senior defensive tackle Tyler
Steele, a 2011 all-American whose father Bill played baseball for the Wildcats.
Defensive
end Jeremy Girod, whose father, Jon, played quarterback at Linfield
during the early 1980s, has twice enrolled at Linfield. Girod played football
as a freshman, left Linfield to play baseball at Vancouver's Clark College, but
felt the Linfield pull again when he returned to McMinnville in 2011.
"I
really liked the team's family-oriented atmosphere and I couldn't find it
anywhere else," Girod said.
Senior
receiver Aaron Hire says he was "intimidated" by his father's
Linfield accomplishments. Doug Hire -- the current assistant head coach
and offensive line coach -- earned two NAIA championship rings as a player, and
an NCAA ring as a coach.
"Are
you kidding? What was I going to do to top that?" Aaron Hire said.
At
first, Hire didn't try. Aspiring to play professional football someday, Hire
decided to attend the two-year Foothill College in northern California, hoping
to attract interest from a Division I program. But following a year there, it
became apparent Linfield was the place to be for Hire.
"The
attraction for kids to follow their dads to Linfield is tradition. It's
overwhelming. It's almost like a lineage of pride," Hire said.
Drew
Wert,
a starting senior offensive guard, says Chuck, a former Linfield linebacker,
didn't push the school on him during the college decision process. Wert picked
Linfield because it came down to winning; no college in the Northwest wins as
regularly as the Wildcats.
"I
wanted to be a part of something that was bigger than myself," Wert said.
"My dad was just happy to watch me play football anywhere. But I think he
does take a little pride that I've had a pretty successful career at
Linfield."
Other
Linfield players with fathers who formerly played football at the school
include sophomore linebacker Nick Fairhart (George), sophomore tight end
Westly Meng (J.P.), junior defensive end Michael MacClanathan
(Todd), junior safety Hoku Kama (Ed, a Linfield all-American) and
freshman linebacker Trey Chiu (Tony).
It's
not a surprise that many sons of former Wildcats ended up at Linfield. Among
the school's current 13-man coaching staff, 10 were former Linfield players,
including head coach Joseph Smith.
Of
all the Linfield sons of former players, the most likely to land in McMinnville
was Hire, even if he first resisted with a trip to a JC. Hire's mother, Teresa,
played soccer at Linfield, as does his sister, Miranda, a freshman. Hire was a
ball boy for Linfield's 2004 national title team.
"When
I was a kid, my mom bought me a helmet, and I made her paint the stripes purple
and red for Linfield," Hire said.
Steele's
father Bill didn't play football, but had plenty of contact with former
Wildcats football coaching great Ad Rutschman, who also coached baseball.
"My
dad would always tell us stories about the character values coach Rutschman
would instill in his players," Steele said.
Someday,
if the current Wildcats have sons, there's a good chance their blood will flow
toward Linfield.
"The
first place we're looking," said Steele, "is Linfield. There's no
doubt he'll find this place is special."
Wert
promises if he has a son, he'll be sure to have plenty of Linfield game video
for him to watch.
"If
he asks, I'm sure I'll give this place a shining review," Wert said.
::::::::::::
http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2019/12/in-1989-pacific-at-linfield-football.html?m=1
In
1989, Pacific at Linfield football game gets national media attention
=THE STORY=
Sideline tackle by Pacific player versus Linfield wins
suspension
LA Times Oct. 17, 1989, with editing by Wildcatville
FOREST GROVE, Ore. —
Pacific University officials have suspended from the football team a player who
stepped off the sidelines and decked a Linfield player late in Saturday’s game
(Oct. 14, 1989, on Linfield’s Maxwell Field in McMinnville) between the two
schools.
(Linfield won,
34-22.)
Bob Bonn, athletic
director at the Forest Grove school, said Monday that starting linebacker Joe
Schmelzer, a junior, will not return to the team this year.
Schmelzer was
watching from the sidelines in the fourth quarter as Linfield defensive back
Tony Chiu intercepted a Pacific pass at the Linfield 40-yard line and raced
past the Boxers’ bench. Chiu was about 30 yards shy of a touchdown when
Schmelzer stepped onto the field and flattened him with a shoulder to the
chest.
Bonn said Schmelzer,
a 20-year-old junior from Palo Alto, “feels terrible. He was in tears after the
game, and he apologized to his own team,” Bonn said. “It’s a situation he
regrets deeply.”
:::::::::::::::::::::
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) —
Pacific University officials have suspended from the football team a player who
stepped off the sidelines and decked a Linfield player late in Saturday’s game
between the two schools.
Bob Bonn, athletic
director at the Forest Grove school, said Monday that starting linebacker Joe
Schmelzer, a junior, will not return to the team this year.
Schmelzer was
watching from the sidelines in the fourth quarter as Linfield defensive back
Tony Chiu intercepted a Pacific pass at the Linfield 40-yard line and raced
past the Boxers’ bench. Chiu was about 30 yards shy of a touchdown when
Schmelzer stepped onto the field and flattened him with a shoulder to the
chest.
Bonn said Schmelzer,
a 20-year-old junior from Palo Alto, “feels terrible. He was in tears after the
game, and he apologized to his own team,” Bonn said. “It’s a situation he
regrets deeply.”
:::::
FOREST GROVE, Ore.
(UPI) -- A Pacific University player who came off the bench to make a tackle
during a game against Columbia Football Association-rival Linfield has been
suspended for the remainder of the season, athletic officials at the Forest
Grove school said Monday.
Joe Schmelzer was
suspended for coming off the bench to tackle Linfield's Tony Chiu after the
defensive back came up with an interception.
'No. 66 came off the
sidelines and hit me right in the chest,' Chiu said Saturday after the game,
won by Linfield, 34-22. 'I thought I was wide open and I was relaxed and
smiling. Then, no smile.'
Chiu made the
interception at about midfield and appeared headed for a touchdown when he was
brought down.
Linfield Coach Ad
Rutschman said it was first time in 22 years of coaching he was involved in a
game in which something like that happened.
Pacific Coach Bill
Griffin removed Schmelzer from the game and later apologized to Rutschman.
=THE REST OF THE STORY=
Rest of the story
from Linfielder/Linfield Athletics Hall of Famer Dennis Anderson.
At the time Anderson
was living in Hawaii, working at the Honolulu
Advertiser daily newspaper and writing a popular “Homegrown Report” column
in the newspaper. He saved up his vacation time, travel from Hawaii to
McMinnville and volunteered in the Linfield Athletic Department nine or 10
weeks a year for 10 years for Ad Rutschman, Linfield athletic director/coach.
Dennis said …
“What this story doesn't tell you is the officials didn't
see that Schmelzer had come off the bench and allowed the tackle. But they did
flag Linfield for clipping far behind the play. I was (video) taping from a
cherry picker behind the end zone.
“Wih
Ad's approval, Bryant (son, Linfield student/football player) drove my tape to
a Portland TV station. Two nights later, it appeared nationally on (ABC-TV,
NFL) Monday Night Football. Schmelzer was from Gunn High School in Palo Alto. I
phone-interviewed him the next week for ‘Homegrown Report’.”
::::
Chiu’s run draws big attention
By Dennis Anderson for the News-Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, Daily News Miner newspaper, Tue. Oct. 17,
1989
McMinnville, Ore.-A
funny thing happened to Tony Chiu on the way to what appeared to be his first
collegiate touchdown.
He never made it to
the end zone. Chiu, a former standout at Eielson High School, was breezing
along the sidelines on the way to pay dirt Saturday when a player from the
opponents’ bench darted onto the field and tackled him. And the player, Pacific
University’s Joe Schmelzer, got away with it.
Chiu, a junior
cornerback from Linfield College, had intercepted a pass and was sprinting past
the Pacific College bench with a convoy of blockers in front of him, apparently
on the way to a 57-yard touchdown.
He was looking toward
the center of the field at pursuing Pacific University (Oregon) players and his
blockers when Schmelzer, a starting linebacker, came off the bench and leveled
Chiu at the 30-yard line.
“I only had to beat
the quarterback and (defensive end Dan) Kielty was blocking him,” Chiu said. “I
had him beat. “I was feeling pretty good,” Chiu added. ‘‘I was looking forward
to scoring.”
The official trailing
the play, field judge Larry Seachris, had been knocked down and didn’t see what
happened. The other six officials on the field were either watching activity in
their two zones of responsibility or were screened off by the players pursuing
Chiu.
But most of the crowd
of 2,100 at Linfield for the Parents’ Weekend game saw it.
Some Linfield coaches
and players had to be restrained and the crowd set up a long chorus of boos as
the officials, after more than 10 minutes of discussion, let the tackle stand
and then penalized Linfield 15 yards for a push-block at the end of the play.
A videotape of the
incident was played on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” telecast. Sunday,
Schmelzer reflected on the play, which he had watched over and over Saturday
night and Sunday on Portland television newscasts.
“He was running by
me. All of the sudden I thought, ‘I can stop a TD, all I have to do is tackle
him, #44 Schmelzer said. “My brain didn’t work. I took a step onto the field
and hit him,” Schmelzer added. “It was a big mistake . . . really stupid, a
terrible thing to do. My emotions were so high. I wanted to win so bad.”
A committee of
Pacific players and coaches will decide on discipline for Schmelzer, he said.
It could be suspension for a game or longer. “What I did is not justifiable in
any way,” Schmelzer said. “I deserve some penalty.”
Chiu, his chest still
hurting Sunday, agreed. “I’d like to see him get what he deserves,” Chiu said.
“I'd like to see him get suspended for two or
(story starts on page 1 and continues on page 13)
three games. It was a
cheap shot.”
Chiu said the play
‘‘hurt me more mentally than physically.” I had been burned for a 60-yard
touchdown pass on their last play before that,” Chiu said. ‘‘It was good to get
it back, I was really happy. This (the tackle) brought me down ... I cried.”
Bob Bonn, athletic
director at Pacific University in Forest Grove, said on Monday that Schmelzer
would not return to the team this year.
Bonn said that
Schmelzer, a 20-year-old junior from Palo Alto, Calif., ‘‘feels terrible.” ‘‘He
was in tears after the game, and he apologized to his own team, Bonn said.
‘‘It’s a situation he regrets deeply.”
Schmelzer said he
tried to telephone Chiu in McMinnville Sunday to apologize, but Chiu was not in
his room.
‘‘I'm glad he wasn’t
hurt,” Schmelzer said. ‘‘I plan to write a letter of apology to the team and
specifically to him.” Chiu made another pass interception earlier in the game,
returning it 19 yards. He also made six tackles and broke up a pass, drawing praise
from veteran Linfield coach Ad Rutschman for ‘playing very well, except for two
plays (the touchdown and another long pass gain.)”
Linfield was leading
34-22 at the time of the incident and won by that score.
:::::::::::::
Pacific drops player who decked foe illegally
By John Nolen, Oregonian, Oct. 17, 1989
The Pacific
University player who last weekend stepped from the sidelines and decked a
Linfield player running for an apparent touchdown has been suspended from the
team.
Bob Bonn, athletic
director at the Forest Grove school, said Monday that Joe Schmelzer, a junior
linebacker, was suspended Monday for the remainder of the season.
Schmelzer, a starter
on the Boxers' defense, was watching from the sidelines as Linfield defensive
back Tony Chiu intercepted a Pacific pass at the Linfield 40-yard line and
raced past the Boxers' bench. Chiu was about 30 yards shy of a touchdown when
Schmelzer stepped onto the field, met Chiu head-on and leveled the onrushing
Wildcat with a blow to the chest.
Schmelzer, a
20-year-old junior from Palo Alto, Calif., was unavailable for comment. Bonn
said school personnel were attempting to shield Schmelzer from the media on
Monday because ``the kid is really in a bad situation. It's a lot of pressure
on a 20-year-old.
``He feels terrible.
He was in tears after the game, and he apologized to his own team. It's a
situation he regrets deeply.''
Bonn said the school
had to make a decision for some punishment, and that he had received the
recommendation for Schmelzer's dismissal from head coach Bill Griffin.
``I endorsed it 100
percent,'' Bonn said.
``This was not an
easy decision. It was a hard, hard decision, but we don't teach those kinds of
things here. We tried to do what was best. This is hard now for everyone, but
down the road it will be the best thing for Joe and our program.''
Griffin, who removed
Schmelzer from the game when the player admitted what he had done, Monday
called the situation ``unpleasant . . . sad . . . gut-wrenching.''
``It's a decision I
made,'' Griffin said. ``And it's gut-wrenching.''
Griffin refused
further comment, but during the weekend he said Schmelzer ``told me he didn't
do it on purpose.''
``I think it was a
reaction,'' Griffin said.
Linfield coach Ad
Rutschman was angry both with the incident and with his players' reaction.
When Schmelzer was
being escorted to the Boxers' dressing room by Pacific coaches in the final
minutes of the game, some Linfield players on the sideline moved toward
Schmelzer and began yelling and gesturing.
Even though the game
had not ended, Rutschman bolted from his usual spot in the Linfield coaches
area atop the Maxwell Field grandstand, raced down through the stands and onto
the field, and began grabbing and hollering at his players to leave the Pacific
player alone.
``I don't think
that's the way this game was meant to be played,'' Rutschman said later. ``I
want to win, but I want to win with class. I don't expect our kids to ever be
involved in this.''
After the play,
Schmelzer stepped off the field, removed his helmet and stood with some other
Pacific players. He then went onto the field with the rest of the defense,
until Griffin ordered him out of the game.
Griffin said he was
at first unaware that a player came off the sidelines to tackle Chiu. The
situation was complicated because none of the game officials noticed the
illegal tackle.
Spectators began
yelling at Griffin, however, and that set off a series of conferences between
Griffin, the officials and Linfield assistant coaches in an attempt to
determine what happened.
``My integrity as a
coach was being questioned and that upset me because I don't condone what
happened,'' Griffin said.
``Guys in the stands were questioning my lineage . .
. The verbiage was hard to take. No football game is important enough to have
all that.''
Rutschman said the
hit on Chiu frightened him.
``In that situation
you could be looking at a terrible injury because of a player running hard
getting hit by someone you don't see,'' Rutschman said.
Chiu had his breath
knocked out on the play, but was otherwise uninjured.
#
Same story, photo posted at BWC-Linfield and Linfield Alumni Facebook pages.
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