MCMINNVILLE, Ore. — Scan the Linfield College football record books and one name seems to appear over and over again: Gary McGarvie.
The two-time All-American and three-time Northwest Conference all-star also appears a couple of times in the Wildcats track and field record books.
Spark up YouTube and search “Gary McGarvie Linfield Legend,” for visual evidence of the impact McGarvie made at Linfield before graduating in 1993.
You’ll see McGarvie bolting through holes, making sharp cuts and leaving diving defenders in his wake.
McGarvie, who attended Crescent High School, will be enshrined in the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Able to pile up yards in multiple ways as both a running back and kick returner, McGarvie still owns the single-season and career all-purpose yard records at Linfield, and by impressive margins.
In total, he ranks among Linfield’s all-time top 10 in 29 single-game, single-season and career statistical categories.
McGarvie totaled 1,252 all-purpose yards (333 rushing, 124 receiving and 795 on returns) during his first two years, helping the Wildcats to a 13-5 record.
In 1991, McGarvie led Linfield to a share of the Columbia Football Association Mt. Hood League title, and the Wildcats reached the second round of the NAIA playoffs.
The junior finished as the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer, totaling five touchdowns, including three on 624 rushing yards. With a career-best 393 yards gained on kick returns, he was honored as a second-team NAIA All-American.
As a senior, McGarvie led the Wildcats to an outright conference title and all the way to the national championship game.
He rushed for an incredible 1,322 yards, averaging nearly 102 yards rushing per game, and scored 14 touchdowns.
He also caught 14 passes for 184 yards and returned 13 kicks for another 360 yards.
Combined with his rushing touchdowns he scored 18 times, second most on the team.
At year’s end, McGarvie was recognized as a first-team All-American by Football Gazette, and was an honorable mention selection on the NAIA All-America Team.
McGarvie still ranks in the top five in the Linfield football record books for 16 different statistical categories, including a program-best 28.15 yards per kick return.
His four consecutive 100-yard rushing games in a single season is another school record.
The football standout’s speed translated in a big way to the track.
He was a two-year letter winner for the Linfield track and field team, a conference champion in the 200-meter dash and helped break a 16-year program record in the 4×100-meter relay.
As a junior in 1992, he won the open 200 and was runner-up in three additional events — the open 400 plus two relays — to help Linfield win its first league championship in 12 years.
To this day, McGarvie still ranks first in school history the 4×100 relay (41.32 seconds), is sixth in the 400 meters (48.35), and stands tied for seventh in the 200 meters (21.91).
McGarvie had a similar impact on the record books at Crescent.
He was a three-time state champion in the 200 and 400.
In 1989, he set a 1B state record in the 400 with a time of 49.4 seconds. That mark stood for 16 years.
McGarvie holds school records in the 100 (11.04), 200 (22.4), 400 (49.4), 4×400 (3:33) and the long jump (20-07.75).
He also was one of the best 8-man football players the North Olympic Peninsula has seen.
He intercepted 12 passes in 1987, which ranks fourth all-time in class 1B.
That same year, he scored eight touchdowns in one game, which is the fourth-most in 1B history (McGarvie is tied with his brother Todd, but that mark isn’t a school record, as Dylen Heaward scored 10 touchdowns in a game in 2009).
Perhaps his crowning achievement came in the 1986 1B semifinals against Bridgeport/Mansfield, when McGarvie scored six touchdowns and rushed for 367 yards in the Loggers’ 46-44 win.
His sixth touchdown came on pass on fourth-and-nine from the Bridgeport 10-yard line with 1:51 left in the game that gave Crescent the lead.
He was a member of two 1B state runner-up teams at Crescent.
Upon graduating from Linfield with a degree in mathematics, McGarvie began a career as a commercial roofer.
However, he never lost his love for football, so a career change was in order. He earned a teaching certificate from Concordia University and a master’s degree in teaching and administrative certification from Washington State University-Vancouver.
He later assumed duties of the football program at Fort Vancouver, taking what was once a 0-9 team to the playoffs two consecutive seasons.
McGarvie is currently the dean of students at Union High School, where he also helps coach the Titans football team.
View the YouTube highlight video of McGarvie’s Linfield football career at www.tinyurl.com/pdnMcGarvie.
