MCMINNVILLE, Ore. -- Paul Durham, the football coach who led
Linfield College to the first of its 51 consecutive winning
seasons, died recently in Hawaii. He was 93.
Durham coached Linfield for 20 seasons, compiling a 122-51-10
record. His 1956 squad started the streak of winning seasons that
continues to this day, a record for all college football divisions.
In Durham's final 12 years in McMinnville, the Wildcats went
90-16-6, won six Northwest Conference championships and reached the
national championship game of the NAIA twice.
You have to have good people," he said at a luncheon in his
honor at Linfield in 2005. "A lot of them have done wonderful
things after college. I claim a lot of them as my sons."
Durham worked as the sports editor for the News-Register
newspaper for several years while coaching the Wildcats. During
summers, he ran the McMinnville city recreation program. Well-known
for his singing ability, Durham also taught music early in his
career as a coach at Yamhill High School.
Durham became the athletic director at the University of Hawaii
in 1968. He held that job until he stepped down in 1975 for health
reasons.
He died Friday at his home in Honolulu.
Durham was a star athlete at Linfield in the 1930s, competing in
football, basketball and track and field.
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Information from: News-Register, http://www.newsregister.com