Feb. 27, 2017
Link to film of 1976 NAIA District 1 Championship Game - Nov. 20, 1976
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -
Carver Memories -- Nov. 20, 1976
Vikings play first post-season football contest, beat PLU 48-28
In 1976, Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University) made the first of eight post-season appearances in football.
The Vikings, who finished 7-3, earned a berth in the first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) District 1 Championship contest. There, on Nov. 20, they prevailed 48-28 on the road over long-time nemesis Pacific Lutheran.
It was a season that featured many twists and turns. Just eight points separated the Vikings from a perfect record, two of their three losses being by one point as well as back-to-back, and the other by six. They had to come from behind in each of their last three regular-season games to reach the district title contest, and four of their seven wins were by seven or fewer points.
An explosive offense carried Western, which set school records for points scored (284), yards rushing (1,999), yards passing (1,842) and total yards (3,841).
Mendelson opts to stay
Directing the Vikings' attack was 5-foot-9, 160-pound quarterback Bill Mendelson, who was in his sixth year at the school. He had completed his bachelor's degree in physical education and history the previous spring, but did not apply for graduation so that he would be eligible to play that fall.
Mendelson had arrived at Western in 1971, being a non-playing member on one of the school's greatest teams that finished 7-3, won the Evergreen Conference title outright for the first time in program history and came close to reaching the national playoffs.
That was followed by a four-year stretch in which Western won just nine times, two of those by forfeit, in 34 games (9-24-1).
Mendelson missed all of the 1972 season (2-7) with an injury. In 1973 (1-7), he saw brief action and made his first start, before seeing the majority of playing time in 1974 (2-6-1) and in 1975 (4-4-0) when the Vikings won three of their last four games.
"I came here when we were champions and played through the lean years," Mendelson said in a school newspaper article in September, 1976. "The only reason that I came back was that I felt we could play in a post-season game."
Mendelson, whose hometown was Amityville, New York, came to Western from Nile C. Kinnick High School near Yokohama, Japan, where his father was stationed at a U.S. Naval Base.
As a high school junior, he was moved from flankerback to quarterback by his coach Roy Clumpner. Ironically, Clumpner was later hired as a professor in physical education by Western and was in his second year as a football assistant coach for the Vikings in 1976.
Mendelson was an all-league pick as a senior. Following graduation, his father was transferred from Japan to the Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle where he and his son inquired about Western.
When Mendelson came to Western, he struggled with a major difference in equipment.
"I had been used to a leather football in high school," he explained. "You could pick it up and throw it any way you wanted and it would spiral. Here, a rubber ball was used and I couldn't adjust to it. My passing just got worse and worse."
In his three seasons of competition at Western prior to 1976, Mendelson threw 37 interceptions and just nine touchdown passes, while completing 155-of-336 attempts for 2,067 yards.
"It got so bad that I would come to turnout late because I was afraid to throw to the receivers prior to practice," he said.
Then a teammate gave him a book entitled "Psycho Cybernetics," which dealt with the power of positive thinking. Mendelson began spending time each day and night visualizing himself dropping back and throwing perfect passes downfield.
That mental exercise, plus countless hours of practice, prepared Mendelson for the 1976 campaign.
Despite taking most of the snaps over the previous three seasons, the mustachioed Mendelson was still battling for the signal-calling job when practice began that September. Also in contention were Terrill Morgan, a senior in his second season after transferring from Los Angeles Junior College, and Pat Schuette (Everson/Nooksack Valley), a junior who had transferred from Eastern Washington following a year at Grays Harbor CC.
Morgan started the pre-season alumni game and played poorly during the first half. Mendelson replaced him in the second half and performed well. That earned Mendelson the starting nod in the Vikings' opener and he remained there for the rest of the season.
Schuette ended up as the No.2 signal caller and played seven different positions for Western during the season.
"It's amazing how power of belief can carry one forward in life," said Mendelson. "I didn't believe I wasn't very talented until a few years later while watching a few old game films. I was very blessed and still don't know why God allowed me to succeed when the guys playing behind me were so much more physically skilled ...
"I just didn't believe that I was small. It never came up and no one ever told me. I remember watching (Western guard) Bob Nicol on the basketball team and saying to my wife, `Look how little he is,' and she responded, `He's bigger than you.' I said, `No way,' but then I looked at the program and saw that she was right."
Mendelson provides intangibles for talented Vikings
Though not having a great throwing arm, what the 23-year-old Mendelson did possess was a keen competitive spirit, a high football IQ and leadership skills. Head coach Boyde Long, who was named 1976 district Coach of the Year, trusted Mendelson's judgment enough to let him call his own plays with rare exceptions.
And Mendelson knew how to get the best effort from his teammates. An example was that every Friday night before a home game, he would invite all the offensive linemen over to his "football" house and feed them an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner. It was no surprise that the next day his uniform stayed clean.
In 1976, Mendelson was fortunate to have extremely talented players at the receiver and running back positions.
His three key targets were sophomore split end Hoyt Gier (Ferndale), who made 47 catches for 743 yards, both school records, and six touchdowns; junior flankerback Jeff Potter (Deming/Mount Baker), who caught 33 passes for 695 yards and a school-best eight touchdowns; and junior tight end Terry Veltkamp (Lynden/Lynden Christian), who finished with 17 grabs for 242 yards and two touchdowns.
Hoyt Gier
"He (Mendelson) probably got more out of his talent than anyone I've known," said Gier in a 2006 Everett Herald column by Larry Henry. "He didn't have a great arm, but he understood the game."
Gier recalled how in the district championship game, he ran a good route, got open and did everything but make the catch. "The only pass that I dropped that year," he said.
Gier went back to the huddle and Mendelson called the same play again. "The second time, I caught it," said Gier. "That was a good illustration of the kind of leader he was."
Senior running back Rick Vanderyacht (Lynden/Lynden Christian) and junior fullback Jim Sterk (Nooksack/Nooksack Valley) were expected to get most of the carries on rushing plays, but that changed when Vanderyacht suffered a severe ankle sprain during practice and freshman Pat Locker (Ferndale) ran for 187 yards in the season opener.
It was the start of a brilliant career for the red-headed Locker, who had eight 100-yard rushing efforts and another for 96, to finish the season with a school-record 1,340 yards, which ranked 10th nationally. He also scored 10 touchdowns, one short of the Western mark.
Locker, who ended the regular season with a school-record 225 yards on the ground against Southern Oregon, received Associated Press and NAIA All-America honorable mention and first-team Little All-Northwest honors.
Western also had a talented offensive line. It included 1975 honorable mention NAIA All-America senior center Andy Harlin (Seattle/Ingraham), guards Bill Evans (Marysville/Pilchuck) and Scott Stokes (Sumas/Nooksack), both juniors; and tackles Rick Brudwick (Ferndale), a sophomore, and Glenn Martin (Bellingham/Sehome), a junior.
Mendelson, who was voted the team's Most Valuable Player, ranked 13th nationally in total offense (197.6 avg. per game) and was a second-team Little All-Northwest selection. He set six season school records in 1976, among them those for most passing yards (1,773), completions (114), touchdown passes (16), and total yards (1,976).
"It was really a great conglomeration of guys with all kinds of different personalities," said Mendelson. "There couldn't have been a better mix of chemistry. Everybody was on the same page and we cared about each other."
1976 in Review
The Vikings opened the season with a 28-22 loss at home to Lewis and Clark (Ore.), which was unveiling a new run-and-shoot offense. They stayed in the game despite fumbling the ball away five times against a team that finished 7-2 and averaged 445.1 total yards per game.
After enduring a 10-hour, 676-mile bus ride to Butte, Mont., Western evened its record with a 26-12 win over Montana Tech. As soon as the night game ended, the Vikings were back on the road to Bellingham.
Returning home for three games, Western recovered a fumble inside its 20-yard line late in the game to edge British Columbia, 26-24, and toppled Oregon Tech, 42-21, despite having Locker for less than half the game because of a muscle cramp. A failed two-point conversion with 1:16 remaining proved the difference in a 28-27 loss to NAIA Division I No.9-ranked Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon). Three Viking turnovers all led to OCE touchdowns.
Following that heartbreaking loss, the Vikings traveled to Cheney and came out flat as they were upset, 21-20, by Eastern Washington.
Needing to close out its season with three wins to earn a berth in the proposed district title game, Western did just that. All of them were come-from-behind efforts, all in the final two minutes of play.
That stretch began with the Vikings winning 21-15 over arch-rival Central Washington in their final home game of the campaign after trailing 15-14 with 3:03 to play. They next won 24-21 at Eastern Oregon despite the Mountaineers holding a lead with just under five minutes to go after Western had led 16-0 early in the third quarter. And, in the regular-season finale, the Vikings scored a touchdown and two-point conversion with 28 seconds remaining in a 28-21 victory at Southern Oregon.
The Play
On that game-winning drive, Western was at the 12-yard line facing a fourth down and 1-yard to go situation. Mendelson called a play that he had seen in a high school game earlier in the year.
With his linemen never really getting into their stances, Mendelson went in motion on the second of three voice commands, hoping that he might pull the defense offside. If that didn't work, he'd call a timeout. The Southern Oregon defense bit and the Vikings got the first down and went on to score.
"I was fortunate that Coach Long allowed me to try that play," said Mendelson.
Recap of win over PLU
In a shootout that featured 16 turnovers and 1,039 total yards, Western triumphed 48-28. Eight of the game's 10 touchdowns were 20 yards or more. The Vikings forced nine turnovers, intercepting six passes and recovering three fumbles, while turning the ball over seven times (four lost fumbles and three passes intercepted). Pacific Lutheran finished with 526 total yards and Western had 513. Four of the Vikings' six touchdowns came on plays that covered 40 or more yards.
Western took a 6-0 lead on field goals by junior placekicker Matt Gochnour (Mukilteo/Mariner) following interceptions by sophomore Mike Locker (Ferndale), Pat's older brother, and junior safety Mick Rehn (Seattle/Roosevelt).
Trailing 10-6 in the second quarter, Mendelson connected with Gier for a 40-yard touchdown and freshman linebacker Mike Marsden (Beaverton, OR/Aloha) returned an interception 58 yards for a score. That, along with a two-point conversion, gave Western a 20-10 advantage and it led 20-16 at halftime.
With just 15 seconds gone in the second half, the Vikings upped their lead to 27-16 as Mendelson found Potter on Western's first play from scrimmage for a 75-yard touchdown.
Jeff Potter
Ahead by just five points, 27-22, Mendelson scored on a keeper after a pass interference penalty put the ball on the PLU 1-yard line, and Rehn's second interception led to a 14-yard scoring play from Mendelson to Gier.
Pat Locker, who ran for 158 yards, completed Western's scoring with a 45-yard halfback option pass to Potter that worked to perfection.
Mendelson completed 13-of-29 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns. Potter made five catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns, and Gier had six grabs for 86 yards and two scores.
The bus carrying Western's team returned to campus that evening while a pre-season men's basketball game was being played at Carver Gym. When the squad entered the gym, the game immediately came to a halt and a lengthy standing ovation followed.
Defense
Keying a Viking defense that intercepted a school-record 22 passes and recovered 18 fumbles were senior linebacker Bob Taylor (Ferndale), who had a school-record 148 tackles, Marsden with 114 stops and senior outside linebacker Chuck Houser (Olympia) with 107. Houser also had a school-record six fumble recoveries and three pass interceptions.
Other standouts were senior end Emil Whitman (Tacoma/Stadium), senior tackle Rick Hall (Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace), a transfer from University of New Mexico, sophomore tackle Steve Breeden (Everett/Cascade), junior halfback Tom Harmon (Spokane/West Valley) and Rehn.
Freshman Dan Hannafious (Seattle/Ingraham) made his first start at safety versus Central in Western's seventh game and tied a school record by making three pass interceptions. He and Rehn each finished with five pass thefts.
Another record for Mendelson
During his four-year collegiate career at Western, Mendelson ran for 477 yards, the most by a Viking quarterback until Scott Mitchell bettered the mark, 24 years later, in 2000.
"Being a scout team quarterback in 1971 and going against the first-team defense every day in practice, I learned a very valuable lesson," said Mendelson. "How to scramble. I got killed every week."
Whatcom County dominated
Twelve starters on that 1976 team, eight on offense, were from high schools in Bellingham and Whatcom County, and nearly one-third (19) of the 63-member team held that distinction.
Many of the local players lived together in off-campus housing. This made for an extremely tight-knit group, many of whom remain close to this day.
"There was a core group of Whatcom County guys on that team that really dedicated themselves to improvement," said Sterk in a Lynden Tribune story celebrating the team's 30th anniversary. "A great group of guys ... I am still in touch with many of them."
Head Coach Boyde Long
Coach Long, who was a 1993 inductee into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame, died of a heart attack on Sept. 30, 1993. His wife, Mary, said the 1976 team made for her husband's favorite year of coaching.
"Sometimes he would just come home laughing," she said, "because they were so much fun to work with."
Nile C. Kinnick connection
Mendelson was not the only football player to come to Western via Nile C. Kinnick High School in Japan. Another was 6-foot-3, 235-pound tackle Jack Dolan, who earned all-conference honors as a freshman and sophomore in 1966 and 1967. He left school the next year, but returned to start for the Vikings in 1972 and 1973.
At the time, Kinnick had approximately 500 students, the population made up of kids whose parents were in all branches of the U.S. military as well as Chinese and Korean children.
One of Mendelson's classmates at Kinnick was Mark Hamill, who went on to become an actor with his best-known role being Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series.
Post-Season appearances
Western made eight post-season appearances during its 98 years of competing in football. They came in 1976, 1977, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2008.
Where are they now
During his last two years at Western, Bill Mendelson was a student teacher and then a teacher's aide at Sehome High School in Bellingham. After graduation, Mendelson went to North Thurston High School (Lacey, Wash.) where he taught and coached for 39 years. At South Puget Sound CC, he coached women's basketball for six years and men's basketball for two seasons. He currently is in his 14th year as the men's basketball coach at Pierce CC, while also being a real estate investor and a small business owner.
Hoyt Gier is a Managing Director and head of the Western Region-North for Citi Private Bank in San Francisco. He was previously Regional Market Manager for the Pacific Northwest where he managed the Seattle office. Gier was inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993 for his achievements as a student-athlete and has been an extraordinary ambassador for the Vikings ever since. Recently, he was named the 2016 recipient of the Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award. After receiving a bachelor's degree in business administration from Western, Gier earned his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, with an emphasis on investment management. Gier is a former president of the WWU Foundation Board of Directors and chaired the planning committee for the university's successful $60 million fundraising campaign. He and his family are funding endowments to provide scholarships in support of the university's cross country and women's basketball student-athletes. As a football wide receiver for the Vikings, he caught at least one pass in all 37 games played, setting school records for receptions in a game (11) and career (148), and yards receiving in a game (187) and career (2,321). During his career he earned honorable mention NAIA All-American (1978), NAIA District 1 All-Star (1977, 1978) and All-Evergreen Conference (1977, 1978) honors.
Pat Locker
Pat Locker is in his 22nd year as an award-winning real estate professional in Whatcom County. He was named WWU's Football Player of the Century for 1900-99 and became the first player in Northwest collegiate history and one of just 37 in all divisions of collegiate football to run for 4,000 career yards, finishing with 4,049 over four seasons (1976-79). In 1979, Locker was named Offensive Player of the Year for the state of Washington, first-team Kodak College Division I All-American, second-team NAIA Division I All-American, and honorable mention United Press International All-Coast. He set 12 school records, was the WWU Athlete of the Year in both 1976 and 1979, and was twice named Whatcom County Sports Personality of the Year. Locker was a four-time Little All-Northwest, NAIA District 1 all-star and all-Evergreen Conference selection. A 1989 inductee into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame, his jersey No.24 was retired. Locker also was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame.
Jim Sterk, who played linebacker and fullback in 1976, moved to middle linebacker as a senior in 1977 and set a school record with 164 tackles on a team that also reached the district title game. He is completing his first year as director of athletics at the University of Missouri after six years in that role at San Diego State, where he was one of four winners of the National Association of College Directors of Athletics' Under Armour AD of the Year in the Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2015-16 season, 10 years at Washington State and five at Portland State. Sterk earned his bachelor's degree at Western in 1980 and received his master's degree from Ohio University in 1986. He was inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010.
Boyde Long served 28 years as a faculty member in WWU's department of physical education, health and recreation. Named to the school's Athletics Hall of Fame just a month before his death (Sept. 30, 1993), he was the head football coach at Western for 13 seasons (1970-82) after four years as a top assistant, and director of athletics for 16 years (1972-87). Long served as chairman of the NAIA District 1 and as president of the Evergreen Conference from 1983 to 1987. He guided the Viking football team to an Evco championship in 1971 and a district title in 1976. Long earned district Coach of the Year honors in 1971 and 1976 and was the Evco Coach of the Year in 1971. At Western, Long also was the head coach in wrestling for five seasons (1966-70), track and field for three (1967-69) and cross country for two (1966-67). Prior to coming to Western, he taught and coached three years (1963-66) at Western Oregon (then Oregon College). An all-state end in football and a state heavyweight wrestling champion at Highland High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Long earned all-Skyline Conference honors in football at the University of New Mexico. He received his bachelor's degree there in 1960 and master's degree in 1961.
Roy Clumpner retired from WWU in 2005 after 30 years of service and is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation. He is a recognized expert on skill development through progressions. Clumpner taught methods to physical education teachers and presented numerous workshops and lectures on developing progressions. He also has taught physical education and coached sports at the junior high, high school, and college levels. Clumpner earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse in 1965, a master's degree at San Jose State in 1972 and a doctorate degree at University of Alberta (Edmonton -- Canada) in 1976. He coached football and basketball at Nile C. Kinnick High School near Yokohama, Japan, for two years being the league's Coach of the Year in both sports.
By Paul Madison who served 48 years as sports information director at WWU from 1966 to 2015
