Oct. 19, 2006

LYNDEN, Wash. -

Travis Sherer, Sports reporter, Lynden Tribune

Winning a national title is indeed a rare thing, but something else about this team made them special to so many more people.    Thirty years after the 1976 WWU Vikings' football team won the NAIA Championship, the team will be honored at the Wells Fargo Battle in Seattle for the Cascade Cup on Saturday at Qwest Field.

The Vikings demolished the Pacific Lutheren University Lutes 48-28 in the title game 30 years ago.

"To be able to beat our nemesis PLU the way we did in the championship felt really good," said `76 linebacker Jim Sterk, an Everson native, now the Washington State University athletic director.

That team had everything.

A freshman halfback named Pat Locker from Ferndale High School ran for 1,340 yards and 10 touchdowns. Quarterback Bob Mendelson that was adept at leading three fourth-quarter comebacks and receivers such as Hoyt Gier set school records in receptions.

All of these are great stories, but the players don't want to talk about those. They want to talk about the people they were off the field, not the players they were on the team.

"There's a core group of Whatcom County guys on that team that really dedicated themselves to improvement," Sterk said. "A good group of guys."

Sterk said that he, Jeff Potter, Tom Harmon, Locker, Scott Stokes, Rick Brudwick and Gier, along with a few others, made up a tightly knit group of players who remain close to this day.

"We used to all live in the same houses around town," he said. "And I still am in touch with many of them."

Because of Athletic Director duties, Sterk will not be attending the eventbecause of the hectic Pac-10 schedule.

"Jim and I still talk once a week," Stokes said. "I still keep in touch with a lot of them like Billy Evans and Rick Vanderyacht. I don't get to see any of them as much as I'd like to, but we still talk."

Stokes' birthday was the final regular-season game Western won to go to the championship. He said that was his fondest memory of the team.

"We forced them to punt in the fourth quarter and they shanked it," he said. "We came back to score and the bus ride home was really fun."

Having fun was the way that Stokes said `76 head coach Boyde Long liked to play.

"You just got the feeling that the coaches really cared for you," said Stokes, who is now a counselor at Marysville High School. "They helped you grow up."

He said that Long taught the team more than just winning.

"It was just a game to him, but there was a right way to play and a wrong way," he said. "Just like life."

At the time of the `76 season, Long was also WWU's Athletic Director.

"(Long) was doing everything back then from washing uniforms to running the team to being the AD," Sterk said. "He was one reason I went to Western."

Boyde worked for WWU 28 years as a football coach, wrestling coach, track and field coach, cross-country coach and athletic director. He was also the chairman for the NAIA from 1983 to 1987 and the president of the Evergreen Conference during the same time.

Appearing Saturday for coach Long, who died 13 years ago, will be his wife, Mary Long. Long said the `76 team made for her husband's favorite year coaching.

"Sometimes he would just come home laughing," she said. "Because they were so much fun to work with."

Long said there are a few players that she still keeps in close contact with.

"There are still some of those kids that I know I could turn to and they would help me," she said.

Sterk started a scholarship in Boyde's name at WWU, and Mary said that Pat Locker has always been a friend to her, to name a few.

Many of these same players have moved on to work with kids in some capacity.

"There were a lot of coaches and teachers to come out of that team," Sterk said. "That's a tribute to Western and the education program being so strong."

Western sports information director Paul Madison said that was a result of Boyd's coaching style.

"It's amazing to see how many of those players actually went on to work with kids," Madison said. "They've meant a lot to many people's lives and that's a testament to coach Long."

"As far as a coach, his forte was defense," Madison said. "He could take a look at a team and just dissect their scheme."

For the most part, the ceremony at Qwest Field for the `76 team won't be a reunion because they all keep in touch so well already.    When asked if he was coming on Saturday, Stokes laughed.    "What?" he said. "Are you kidding me?"