The football teams from Linfield in 1982, ‘84’ 86 and 2004 will forever be remembered for bringing national championships to the small McMinnville college, each with unbeaten records.

The Wildcats won the first three titles under coach Ad Rutschman, a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, and the fourth under Jay Locey.

Linfield was a solid program through the 1970s, but hadn’t experienced more than one playoff win in a season until 1982, when it finished 12-0 and won the NAIA national title with a 33-15 win over Missouri’s William Jewell College. The Wildcats were a strong defensive unit, giving up more than 16 points in a game just three times, to support an offense led by future NFL executive Randy Mueller at quarterback.

After a 6-2-1 season, the Wildcats again went 12-0 with a solid defense that allowed more than 14 points just three times and posted three shutouts. Linfield beat Northwestern, Iowa, 33-22 in the final.

Following an 8-2 season, the Wildcats again went 12-0 and beat Baker, Kan., 17-0 in the championship game. Led by quarterback David Lindley – who quarterbacked the 1984 team, Linfield scored 41 or more points seven times.

During the title run, Linfield won 35 consecutive home games, including the three championship games.

In 2004, the Wildcats averaged 50 points and 510 total yards per game for the season and finished 13-0 with a 28-21 win over the University of Mary Hardin Baker in Salem, Va. Linfield broke a 21-all tie with 5:51 left in the game with a 10-yard pass from Brett Elliott to Riley Jenkins, the play having been set-up when a punt went bad for Mary Hardin Baker. The championship game was the Wildcats’ first in NCAA Div. III, the school having moved from NAIA over the summer.

The championship teams were inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

1982 Linfield Roster
Jason Barber, Steve Belt, Joel Bertsch, Kent Bostick, Steve Boyea, Walter Burns, Dan Crowell, Bill Dale, Robert T. Davis, Brad Durham, David Ellis, George Fairhart, Jim Feldkamp, Mark Freeman, Mike Freeman, Brad Gilbertson, Dino Gipaya, Jim Goveia, John Grimm, Todd Grogan, Jose Guevara, Floyd Halvorsen, Andy Hansen, Scott Harman, David Henley, Howard Hines, Greg Hodgkinson, Steve Hoge, Terry Holmes, Doug Jansen, Steve Kraus, Brian Long, Lance Lopes, Steve Lopes, Dave Lorenz, James Lyons, Kelly Marval, Mike McAllister, Bryan McKenzie, Anthony McQuary, Rich Molberg, Harry Lono Moleta, Jr., Randy Mueller, Tim Nacrelli, Jim Newell, Gordon Pang, Mike Proctor, Rod Rayburn, Randy Reason, Glenn Richardson, Scott Ritt, Robert Russell, Scott Sattler, Brian Shimmin, Mark Siegner, Gordon Smith, Jerd Soares, Joe Soong, Gary Swanson, Kyle Tarpenning, Matt Wetherell, Jim Winston. Head Coach – Ad Rutschman

1984 Linfield Roster
Noah Adams, Larry, Akana, Jason Barber, Steve Belt, Jeff Bowman, Bob Brawner, Joe Brim, Curtis Brown, Rob Calhoun, Charles Carveiro, Matt Cate, Steve Chase, Greg Culbert, Bill Dale, Robert Davis, Robert Dean, Kress Drew, David Ellis, Mark Elzie, David Erickson, Jim Foster, Todd Fox, Jim Goveia, John Gray, Tim Grayson, Jose Guevara, Floyd Halvorsen, Jeff Hanson, Randy Heath, Doug Hire, Greg Hodgkinson, Steve Hoge, Terry Holmes, Doug Jansen, Kenneth Keller, Brian Kent, Kyle Kobow, Raul Lara, James Lee, Damon Liles, Dave Lindley, Lance Lopes, Keith Machida, Kelly Marval, Rich Molberg, Gene Moran, Kelly Morgan, Russ Morris, Tim Nacrelli, David Obrist, Ron Popiel, Randy Reason, David Reed, Randy Richardson, Ernie Rose, Robert Russell, Scott Sattler, Lee Schmitt, Mike Sigman, Brad Snodgrass, Scott Stapleton, Todd Thaning, Joe Tyrell, Roger Weeks, Victor Winnek, Troy Wolf, Head Coach – Ad Rutschman

1986 Linfield Roster
Noah Adams, Daniel Ahuna, Bryant Anderson, Paul Asher, Miller Atagi, Joe Boler, Russ Bolin, Clarence Bradley, Joe Brim, Gordon Brinser, John Bull, Rob Bullis, Dave Burdett, David Carlson, Matt Cate, Tim Collard, Kelly Coste, Doug Dean, Kress Drew, Joe Dupuis, Mark Elzie, David Erickson, Mark Ewing, Rob Fountain, Sean Germon, Greg Gilliford, Rob Hagen, John Hallagin, Tim Halvorsen, Steve Handy, Randy Hare, Randy Heath, Doug Hire, James Hiu, Sean Hogue, Ken Ingram, Colin Johnstone, Mike Jones, Ross Kauihou, Kenneth Keller, Chris Kelly, Richard Kelly, Brian Kent, Duke Kingsbury, Jon Kobayashi, James Lee, Damon Liles, Dave Lindley, Michael Loney, Rodney Losier, Todd MacClanathan, Bud Magera, Bryon Marmion, Paki Morgado, Brian Mullan, Stuart Nibeck, Kurt Oertel, Aundre Pace, Mike Palmer, Terry Prestianni, Peter Ranta, Scott Reeser, Steve Reimann, Brad Robbins, Bruce Scanlon, Mike Shadbolt, Chris Siegner, Mark Siegner, Jeff Snell, Brad Snodgrass, Steve Sugg, Anthony Taplin, Mark Terrel, Gary Thorson, Joe Tyrell, Joe Wade, Darren Watts, John Weeks, Andy Westerberg, David Weston, Paul Weymiller, Troy Wolf, Head Coach – Ad Rutschman

2004 Linfield Roster
Robert Acevedo, Daren Ackerman, Sunder Aldridge, Casey Allen, Kaipo Amina, Johnny Anderson, Josh Armstrong, Nate Arnold, Tyson, Banker, Andrew Bean, Dimitri Beauliere, Tim Benzel, Kelley Bertrand, Taylor Bethell, Chris Boock, Rodd Booth, Michael Borden, Jordan Boustead, Brock Britt, Rob Brown, Jake Buzzetta, Ryan Caffall, Brandon Carpenter, Kyle Carpenter, Dan Carter, George Carter, Brock Cote, Ian Crosby, Peter Cruickschank, Jeff Denney Dwight Donaldson, Brett Elliott, Zac Elliott, Puni Ellis, Eric Fischer, Stan Fisher, Zach Fleming, Drew Fogg, Chad Foglesong, Thomas Ford, Kevin Foreman, Andy Galpin, Jesse Gibson, Kyle Gibson, Zack Goldberg, Michael Greenbreg, O.J. Gulley, Brandon Hazenberg, Nelson Helland, Brody Hess, Eric Hillison, James Holan, Eric Holtgraves, Sean Horning, Ryan Ishizu, Riley Jenkins, Grant Jones, Jimmy Joyce, Tyler Kaluza, Kevin Kauweloa, Drew Kehoe, John Kemper, Rob Kerns, Michael Ketler, Jacob Kleffner, Danny Kleiber, Mordechai Kotler, Natty Krauss, Jeff Kutter, Carl Lam, Reece Lamson, Clint Languemi, Scott Lasswell, Brad Lau, Tyler Legary, Chet Lemon, Matt Lowe, Jake Lucey, Joe Mannix, Travis Masters, Stefan Matheny, Martin Mays, Mitch McClelland, Matt McCullough, Rob McCullough, Brad McKechnie, Brian Mehl, D.J. Meier, Chris Miles, Gus Morrisson, Reid Muller, Lance Nelson, Andrew O’Neal, Scott Olsen, Brandon Olson, Josh Ort, Chris Parrette, Chris Pelow, Louie Penn, Bryan Pereboom, Brandon Petersen, Jacob Peterson, Sean Radford, Drew Ragan, Mike Richardson, Colby Riddle, Derek Robinson, Cameron Rogers, Phil Rombach, Joe Romero, Ed Rosario, Kiki Sagoian, Trevor Scharer, Zachary Schumpert, Joe Seifert, Colby Shaffer, Ryan Smith, Ty Smith, Eric Snow, Nik Soo, Ty Stanley, Matt Steffens, Keone Tawata, Chris Thorpe, Brandon Tom, Tim Vaughan, Joey Vieceli, Josh Vierra, Matt Wakeford-Evans, Garrett Wales, Travis Warneke, Kyle Warner, Tyler Weaver, James Wilson, Kris Wood, Andrew Woods, Phil Zahn, Alex Zerzan, Head Coach – Jay Locey