ALL-STAR ATTAWAYS

Featured / April 4, 2014
By Zach Powers ’10
Resolute Writer

Did you know that:

  • In the early 1910s, Theander Harstad and Anton Brottem followed their exemplary years on the PLU baseball team with careers in Major League Baseball?
  • In 1940, the PLU men’s basketball team defeated the University of Washington?
  • In 1988, Professor Colleen Hacker was the first woman to head-coach a national-champion women’s soccer team?
  • In 1995-96, a school-record 27 Lutes were named first-team All-Americans?
  • Or that in 2000 the PLU football team was featured in Sports Illustrated?
Athletics at PLU has sustained an elite status throughout every era of its 115-year history. Competing at both the NAIA Division II and NCAA Division III levels (since 1996), PLU teams have won 11 national championships and claimed regional or conference championships every decade, dating back to men’s basketball’s unofficial regional championship in 1905-06.

The program enjoys a present just as rich as its past. In the 2014-15 school year, the baseball, volleyball and women’s swim teams were crowned Northwest Athletic Conference champions. And PLU has won the Northwest Conference All-Sports Trophy 15 times in its 30-year history.

PLU’s First Gymnasium
It was built in 1912 on the site where the University Center now stands.



At PLU, athletics always have been about far more than final scores, times and results. Legendary coaches such as Frosty Westering and Clifford Olson have challenged student-athletes to work just as hard as they do in athletics in the classroom, in their communities and in pursuit of their best selves.

1900s & 1910s:

The Trailblazers

Basketball was the first team sport for men and women at Pacific Lutheran Academy, followed shortly after by baseball and softball. In 1901, the men’s basketball team played its inaugural game against the Tacoma YMCA’s Skookum Club. By the end of the 1900s, PLA was vibrant with sports spirit, and many additional sports were added throughout the 1910s.

(Photo: PLU Archives)The first men’s basketball team in 1901.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)The 1907 women's basketball team.+Enlarge Photo


1920s & 1930s:

Laying the Foundation

Athletics continued to build momentum as legendary coach Clifford Olson led the men’s basketball and football teams into eras of rarefied form; the Parkland Golf Association gifted its course to the college; and, in 1926, women’s basketball star Polly Langlow scored 270 points in 12 games, setting the national scoring record for women.

(Photo: PLU Archives)The football team played its first game in 1926, though “The Gladiators” would not earn their first college win until 1931.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)The 1924 baseball team.+Enlarge Photo


1940s & 1950s:

Winning Through Wartime

Men’s sports teams maintained much smaller rosters during WWII. Even so, the basketball program maintained its elite level for the better part of the 1940s and ’50s, finishing as the national runner-up in 1959 and in third place in ‘57. That same year, the football team put together a run that resulted in three consecutive WINCO (Washington Intercollegiate Conference) championships. Individual highlights included football’s Marv Tommervik’s selection as the first All-American in school history in 1940 and three-time All-American John Fromm’s three national javelin championships.

(Photo: PLU Archives)Chuck Curtis drives to the basket during a game in the 1958-59 season.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)Clifford Olson coached both the baseball and men's basketball teams in the '30s and '40s.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A member of the 1949 men's track and field team competes in the high jump.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A member of the 1941 women's archery team.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A member of the 1947 men's basketball team taking a shot.+Enlarge Photo


1960s & 1970s:

Expanding and Modernizing

In 1973, expansion and financing of PLU women’s athletics were given an enormous boost by an anonymous gift of $420,000 in the form of two trusts. Soon, PLU would house 22 men’s and women’s varsity sports—more than any other NAIA school in the Northwest (at the time). In 1974, PLU welcomed its first four African-American basketball players to campus. Two of them, Jeff Byrd and Tony Hicks, led the team in scoring both years they played. Some of the most successful teams of this period were the men’s and women’s swimming teams and men’s tennis team, which all enjoyed sustained periods of success that would continue throughout the 1980s. And in 1972, a charismatic football coach from the Midwest named Forrest “Frosty” Westering was hired by PLU.

(Photo: PLU Archives)Jim Hadland (#11) led the Lutes to their first conference championship in 1969.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)The women's crew team carries a boat from the boat house to the lake in 1972-73.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A member of the basketball team vies for a rebound in 1979.+Enlarge Photo


(Photo: PLU Archives)A member of the golf team putting in 1968.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)Men's tennis players Dale Trumpeter and Mike Linnabury won a conference championship in the doubles division in 1970.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A football player lifts a cheerleader in celebration after a game in 1977-78.+Enlarge Photo


1980s & 1990s:

The Era of Dominance

Headlined by national championships in football (1980, ’87, ’93, ’99) volleyball (’88, ’92), women’s soccer (’88, ’89, ’91), softball (’88, ’92) and women’s cross-country (1988), the 1980s and 1990s were the most successful sporting decades in PLU history. Lute tennis, swimming, track, golf and men’s soccer programs also enjoyed extended periods of excellence. Six school years of this era featured 20 Lutes named first-team All-Americans (’85, ’86, ’90, ’91, ’95, ’96). In 1996, PLU earned the NAIA Sears Directors’ Cup, which recognizes the nation’s top overall athletic program.

Perhaps the most extraordinary individual athletic achievements in school history where those of Diane Johnson ’82, Valerie Hilden ’88 and Sonya Brandt ’89. Hilden was named an All-American eight times: four times each in cross-country and track. Johnson won four All-American honors in three sports: cross-country, Nordic skiing and track, and Brandt was the first four-time All-American in the history of NAIA women’s soccer.

(Photo: PLU Archives)A PLU quarterback prepares to snap the ball in 1980.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)After coaching the PLU women's soccer team to three national championships, Professor Colleen Hacker was hired as an Assistant Coach of the U.S Women's National team.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A football cheerleader in 1980.+Enlarge Photo


(Photo: PLU Archives)A men's track-team member clears the pole.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A Lute swimmer rises to take a breath in 1996.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A cross-country runner in 1998.+Enlarge Photo


2000s-The Present:

Continuing the Legacy

PLU Athletics continues to thrive. In the spring of 2015, the baseball team won the Northwest Conference championship and then two national tournament games before being eliminated. In 2012, the women’s softball team won its third national championship. PLU’s volleyball team has enjoyed its most successful period, winning seven conference championships since 2000. PLU Athletics continues to strive toward equity and inclusiveness: In 2014, the university was honored as the first recipient of the Diversity Spotlight award for LGBTQ inclusion efforts by student-athletes.

(Photo: PLU Archives)Members of the softball team celebrate winning the National Championship in 2012.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)Glenelle Nitta makes an infield throw in 2012.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)Daniel Herr makes a leaping catch in 2012.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)A member of the 2003 women's tennis team.+Enlarge Photo


(Photo: PLU Archives)A member of the 2007 golf team chips onto the green.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)2012 baseball infielder Brock Gates slides safely into home plate.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)2014 women's soccer forward Machaela Graddy eludes a defender.+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)Ariana Judson and Amy Wooten team up for a block in 2014.+Enlarge Photo


PAST SPORTS

In PLU’s 115 years of athletics, many sports have come and gone. Here are three that are remembered fondly.

Captain Ball

(Photo: PLU Archives)The 1938 women's captain ball team.+Enlarge Photo

Field Hockey

(Photo: PLU Archives)Members of the women's field hockey team on Foss Field in 1972.+Enlarge Photo

Wrestling

(Photo: PLU Archives)A Lute wrestler (bottom) flips his opponent during a match in 1981.+Enlarge Photo


ALL IN THE FAMILY

Legendary PLU football coach Forrest “Frosty” Westering, who led the Lutes from 1972-2003, was named NAIA Division II Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1993 and NCAA Division III Coach of the Year and led his teams to four national championships. He was Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005 and remains one of only 11 college football coaches who have won at least 300 games. While no PLU team under his guidance ever suffered a losing record, his rich legacy also includes his sportsmanship-at-its best EMAL (“Every Man A Lute”) coaching philosophy, which is carried on by his son, Scott, who has served as PLU’s head football coach since 2004 and has continued the Westering tradition of sportsmanship, camaraderie and winning football.

(Photo: PLU Archives)Frosty Westering, 1980+Enlarge Photo
(Photo: PLU Archives)Scott Westering, 2014+Enlarge Photo





Zach Powers '10
Zach Powers '10
Zach Powers '10 worked as PLU's media and content manager until April 2017. He holds a Master of Public Administration from The Evergreen State College and previously served as the director of marketing and communications for The Grand Cinema and Tacoma Film Festival, as a political campaign manager and consultant, as an aide in the Washington State Senate and as a freelance writer.




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