Doug McArthur ’53, the late and beloved university athletic director, was a marketing genius who could make magical moments for Logger fans. There are many examples, but one was special for me — when I was a faculty member in 1969.
McArthur needed to find a venue for a football game against the Hawai`i Rainbow Warriors since the then-perennially boggy field at Baker Stadium seemed unsuitable for such a high profile game. He settled on Cheney Stadium — a baseball facility that could hold up to 10,000 people, twice as many as what was possible at Baker. While the stadium was not designed for football and McArthur was told a football field simply couldn’t fit, he discovered a way to make it work. He was also able to convince the NCAA to designate the game as an official recognition of college football’s Centennial
Year. Since Hawai`i had narrowly defeated the Loggers in Honolulu the prior year, there was anticipatory excitement for the rematch in Tacoma on football’s 100th anniversary. The special game led me to invite my dad, Clarence Baarsma, to join me — and he was excited to do so. Our relationship had been strained over the years because of his alcoholism, and I felt it was an opportunity for us to make amends.
The Loggers were the underdogs, but quarterback Bob Botley ’71 led the team 76 yards in four plays to score on the team’s first possession. Dad and I stood and cheered and hugged. With the team leading 20–17 at the half, we truly believed an upset was at hand. Alas, Botley was injured in the third quarter, and the team lost 30–20. But as we left the stadium, we agreed that it was one heck of a game. I said: “Thanks for joining me, Dad, it was special.” He agreed, and we hugged again. Two years later, my dad, who worked at the Tacoma smelter for more than 30 years, died of cancer at the age of 58.
