LINFIELD PLAYERS DRAFTED BY NFL/NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

LINFIELD PLAYERS DRAFTED BY NFL/NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

(Year, Round, Chronological number of player picked in entire draft that year)

1954 NFL Draft 28 337 Detroit Lions Ad Rutschman* OB
1962 AFL Draft 22 171 Dallas Texans Jim Bernhardt OT
1969 NFL Draft 13 319 New Orleans Saints Joe Robillard DB
1969 NFL Draft 17 419 Philadelphia Eagles Bob Haack OT
1970 NFL Draft 6 152 Atlanta Falcons Randy Marshall DE
1972 NFL Draft 10 251 Los Angeles Rams Jim Massey DB


*Identified in the draft as "Dolph Rutschman"

Linfield College 1956 football coaching staff

This photo, probably from early September 1956, is from the McMinnville News-Register. It shows the 1956 Linfield College football coaching staff. Wearing #12 is head coach Paul Durham. Assistant coaches were former Linfield football players. 


A story in the Oregonian says the assistants were Marty Bergan, “backfield specialist;” Al Wills, “line tutor;” and Dewey Dye, “defensive coach.” That’s Marty on the far left. On the right, next to Durham, is Al. Next to Al is Dewey. 


Al Wills is the first student-athlete from Hawaii to attend Linfield.  Like Durham, he’s in the Linfield Athletics Hall of fame: 
https://golinfieldwildcats.com/hof.aspx?hof=67


Read about Marty Bergan here:

https://golinfieldwildcats.com/news/2019/11/21/former-womens-golf-coach-marty-bergan-passes-away.aspx


Read about Dewey Dye here:

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2002/06/wildcat-dewey-dye-1928-2002.html

DENNIS ANDERSON #31 LINFIELD FOOTBALL 1954

A member of Linfield College Class of 1958, is hometown was Menlo Park, Calif., and he graduated in 1954 from Menlo-Atherton High School, Atherton, Calif.

Linfield Hall of Famer DENNIS ANDERSON, Class of 1958. 

His research discovered Linfield's nationally famous "The Streak" of Wildcat football. Read about his discovery. What follows (link) includes text from a story about Dennis and “The Streak” from the Los Angeles Times:

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2016/11/dennis-anderson-linfield-athletics-hall_55.html

As a Linfield football player he wore #31. See photo. Read Dennis' Hall of Fame bio:

https://golinfieldwildcats.com/hof.aspx?hof=165

The photo you see here is cropped from a photo of Dennis in a classic football receiver pose. Read on. 


Teammates with Dennis on the 1954 Wildcat football team included future Linfield Hall of Famers #47 Vic Fox (Class of 1958) ) and #43 Howard Morris (Class of 1958). 


Vic, Howard, and Hall of Famer #32 Ad Rutschman (Class of 1954) are the only former Linfield football players to have their uniform numbers retired.


Dennis said, “Other than his crunching hits and toughness in games, my most vivid memory of Vic Fox was on my first day of Linfield football. Picture this: 


--“It is a warm evening in late August 1954. I had arrived the previous day -- my first time on the Linfield campus.


(His hometown was Menlo Park, Calif., and he graduated in 1954 from Menlo-Atherton High School, Atherton, Calif.)


--“After issuing equipment, our first activity was individual football player photos at Maxwell Field.


“Paul Durham was the photographer -- head coach, athletic director, News-Register sports editor and columnist, and Linfield sports information photographer.


“I think Coach Durham asked me what position I played. I was not recruited and had received one ‘Welcome to the Team’ letter with summer conditioning instructions from him because I had indicated my intention to play football on my application.


“Coach/Photographer Durham put me in the classic pose used for all tall pass receivers in those days, standing with my arms raised as high as I could and a football on fingertips of my right hand. 


“Coach Durham lay on his back on the grass to take the photo -- emphasizing my height; I was 6-feet-4, but barely 180 pounds.

“Vic Fox was lying on his side, chewing on a blade of grass, surveying the activity.


“He looked at me and drawled, ‘The bigger they come, the harder they fall.’


“Intimidation achieved.”

...................

LINFIELD GRAD MIKE BARROW, FORMER WILDCAT FOOTBALL PLAYER, DIES JUNE 23, 1969, SERVING WITH U.S. ARMY IN VIETNAM

LINFIELD GRAD MIKE BARROW, FORMER WILDCAT FOOTBALL PLAYER, DIES JUNE 23, 1969, SERVING WITH U.S. ARMY IN VIETNAM

(From Prineville, Ore. His folks moved to Portland after he graduated from Crook County High School, Prineville.)

Capital Journal daily evening newspaper, Salem, 28 June 1969

LINFIELD: SHOESTRING NATIONAL BASEBALL CHAMPION (Oregonian editorial June 15, 1971)

SHOESTRING CHAMPION


Editorial The Oregonian, Portland -Tuesday, June 15, 1971, page 22


The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) baseball title won by Linfield College is – by any guideline – a true state of Oregon championship.


Every member of the Linfield team which traveled to Phoenix for the tournament, with the exception of star pitcher Vince Doherty, lists an Oregon city as his hometown. And Doherty, who is from Moscow, Idaho, played high school baseball in Reedsport.


The Linfield coach, Ad Rutschman, is strictly an Oregon product, also. He participated in sports in Hillsboro and at Linfield and then coached Hillsboro High School to both state football and baseball championships before returning to the McMinnville institution three years ago.


The Wildcats’ title – their second in seven years – is a tribute to the Linfield athletic program headed by Roy Helser. The Wildcat sports facilities are among the barest in the Northwest and rumors have the Linfield intercollegiate program headed for financial troubles. Excellent coaching and an alumni pipeline form the high schools have kept Linfield strong, however.

In an era when college sports, with big budgets and expensive recruiting, are under fire from all quarters, it is a pleasure to see a national championship won by Oregon kids playing on an athletic shoestring.

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



Wildcatville comments: 

--This Oregonian editorial from 1971 is/was posted in 2019. There’s about 48 years between those years. Some things never change.

--When this editorial ran, June 15, 1971, J. Richard Nokes, was Oregonian managing editor. In 1936, he graduated from Linfield as did Paul Durham, former Linfield athletic director and football coach. Also a member of the same class was Roy Helser, who led Linfield to its first national sports team title in any sport in 1966. (Linfield won the 1966 NAIA World Series.) However, Helser, because he left school to play pro baseball, didn’t graduate from Linfield until 1941. Helser, whom Ad Rutschman succeeded as Linfield baseball coach, was Linfield athletic director in 1971.

:::

JASON CARL SCHINDELAR

=VIDEO CLIP clip by Wildcatville on 11/10/2018 at Pacific @ Linfield football game, the final game ever in which the Linfield Football Water Crew worked. John Schindelar, Water Crew leader, introduces his son, Jason Schindelar, Water Crew member.=

JASON CARL SCHINDELAR

1971-2019

Jason Carl Schindelar was born on May 28^th, 1971, at the US Army base at Augsburg, Germany, to John and Joan Schindelar. The family settled in McMinnville in 1975. Jason attended school in McMinnville and graduated from Mac High in the class of 1990. He enjoyed pottery and played football as well as track & field.

Jason was known for his sense of humor and infectious, gregarious laugh. He was a social butterfly and people loved to be around him. He maintained many close friendships that continued from childhood throughout his life.

He had his first date with the love of his life, Amanda on July 29th, 2011, at 9pm. The two became best friends and fell deeply in love. Jason became stepfather to her 3 young children and helped raise them into the fine young people they are today. Jason and Amanda were wed October 27, 2019, in McMinnville in a beautiful celebration, surrounded by family and friends.

Jason was a dedicated fan of college football, always rooting for Linfield and Ohio State. He loved being on the sidelines at football games, and served on the Linfield football team's Water Crew for over 25 years.

He was a person with a real passion for life. He loved punk rock music, and was an avid concert goer. He was an adventurous eater with a taste for fine foods, but always had a weakness for a good 'ol Costco dog. He was the grill-master of the family, with smoked meats being his specialty. The entire family will miss his Korean steak in particular.

Jason loved the outdoors. Summers were spent camping, spending the day at local top-secret swimming holes, and rockhounding on the Willamette River with family and friends.

He earned his Associates Degree in welding and metal fabrication from Chemeketa Community College in 2014. He found his true calling as a caregiver for physically and developmentally disabled adults. His compassion, kind heart, and ability to care so well for others made caregiving a natural fit, and he was dedicated to enriching the lives of his clients.

Jason is survived by his wife, Amanda; his sons, Max and Frank; his daughter, Althea; his parents, John and Joan; his brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Adrienne; his nephews, Blake and Micah; and his Uncle Randy and Aunt Tammy.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, December 21, 2019, at 1 p.m. at the L. Lewis Pavilion at the Yamhill County Fairgrounds in McMinnville. All members of the community are welcome to attend.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to the Linfield Athletic Department Top Cat Club to support football and soccer programs.

During World War II, Mary Kazuyo Wakai was one of two Linfield students forced to leave the college

Linfield Digest/Letters 

Linfield Magazine Fall 2019
https://www.linfield.edu/magazine/issue/fall-2019

Thank you for “Forced to leave” (Spring 2019), the story of Linfield Japanese-American student Mitsue (Endow) Salador ’45, a U.S. citizen born in Oregon. 

After World War II started in 1941, Oregonian Japanese-Americans, including Salador, and Japanese nationals were incarcerated in the Portland Assembly Center, a detention camp that had been a livestock exposition facility. Salador and another Linfield student, Mary Kazuyo Wakai ’43, (photo), were incarcerated at the camp. 

Wakai, a brother and parents moved from Japan, where all were born, to Hawaii in 1921. Five other brothers – all named for U.S. presidents – were Hawaii born. Her parents founded the United Church of Christ in Kapa’a, Kauai, in Hawaii, where her father was the first pastor.

Her father died in 1936 and the Wakai family moved to  Honolulu, where she graduated from McKinley High School in 1937. She was a University of Hawaii economics and business major before transferring to Linfield, where she was a member of Delta Rho Delta service group. 

Due to the war, Salador and Wakai were forced to leave  Linfield. Both transferred to William Jewell College (WJC) in Liberty, Missouri. Before becoming a WJC student, Wakai was imprisoned in Minidoka Internment Camp, Hunt, Idaho, where she was a Girl Scout leader and recreation staff member in charge of music. At WJC she was a sociology major and a Glee Club/Chapel Choir member. Leaving the college, she was a Chicago regional government secretary. In 1962, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen. She returned to WJC, graduating in 1965. 

Wakai was a welfare caseworker in Liberty with the state of Missouri Dept. of Public Health & Welfare. Later, she moved back to Honolulu, where she died in 1975. When named Hawaii’s “Mother of the Year” in 1960, Wakai’s mother proudly noted her daughter’s government job and sons’ occupations: minister, two dentists, physician, research scientist and bank supervisor. Some brothers were in mainland internment camps before serving in the U.S. Army during the war.

I appreciate Mitsue (Endow) Salador and a member of the Wakai family for reviewing this letter. 

– Tim Marsh ’70

Rest in Peace JASON SCHINDELAR, Linfield Football Water Crew member (12/15/2019)

Email from: John Schindelar
Date: Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 6:44 AM

Our son Jason passed away this AM. ...

No need to call.

John and Joan

December 14th Randy Marshall birthday

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.”

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

Another version of story …

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.”

:::::

You asked for it, here’s yet another version of story.

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.

“With 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.

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

Oh, here’s another story

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.