Three Cougars Earn WGCA All-American Scholar Honors
July 3d, 2018 / WSU Women's Golf
THREE COUGARS EARN WGCA ALL-AMERICAN SCHOLAR HONORS
Senior Alivia Brown earned her fourth-straight award.
From WSU Sports Info
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – For the second-straight season the
trio of Alivia Brown, Madison Odiorne, and Elodie Bridenne were named Women's
Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars, the organization
announced Tuesday.
A total of 1,011 women's collegiate golfers were recognized
with this prestigious honor. The criteria for selection to the All-American
Scholar Team are some of the most stringent in all of college athletics. The
minimum cumulative GPA is 3.50.
For Brown, the recognition by the WGCA marked the
fourth-straight season the senior earned the top academic honor. Brown
graduated in May with a degree in business management while posting a 3.60 GPA.
In addition to WGCA honors, Brown earned Second Team Pac-12 All-Academic honors
as a senior.
Alongside of Brown, Odiorne came up with her third-straight
WGCA award while Bridenne took home her second-consecutive award. Both also
earned Pac-12 All-Academic awards with Odiorne earning honorable mention status
and Bridenne second team honors.
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WSU Cougar Football opponents, RANKED
You’ll never guess who is the toughest
By PJ Kendall Coug Center.
First of July in year 2018
Good morning. Back in May, the Spokesman Review ranked the
teams on WSU’s schedule from worst to first, doing so by what the S-R’s Theo
Lawson termed “degree of difficulty” (I take this to mean which team WSU will
have the easiest time with, then progress to the Apple Cup). Seems like an
interesting topic, though the grades seem to diverge from the stated “degree of
difficulty” metric. This week, Athlon Sports did the same, but took an
opponent-centric approach.
I prefer Lawson’s method (minus the letter grades), but have
some disagreements, especially near the top. So today, let’s try and meld the
two as we slog our way through the bargain bin of content. As with the others,
we will start at the bottom and work toward the toughest team.
12. San Jose State - It says a lot about the state of SJSU’s
program that we all agree they are the easiest mark on the wall for this year’s
WSU team.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 99
11. Eastern Washington - Mike Leach’s Cougars haven’t
exactly played up to par against decent-to-good FCS teams. While EWU should be
good, they aren’t nearly the team they were in 2016, and thank God for that.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 85
10. Oregon State - Lawson actually pegs OSU as an easier
opponent than EWU. I guess? The difference here is that WSU has to go to
Corvallis, and while Leach and the Cougs have won two straight there, neither
was easy, and the 2016 game required a near-miraculous rally despite the fact
that OSU stunk.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 69
9. Colorado - 2016 seems like a decade ago when compared to
Colorado’s 2018 prospects. The Buffs lost their two best skill players, and
their best defender. While they return QB Steven Montez, the jury is out as to
whether that’s a good or bad thing.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 58
8. Cal - While Justin Wilcox and the Golden Bears took a lot
of people by surprise last season, they still only managed a 5-7 record. They
should be decent again this season, but how good can they really be with Ross
Bowers at quarterback?
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 53
7. Wyoming - Took a while to get to the final non-conference
opponent. This ranking isn’t a reflection of Wyoming’s quality as much as it
has to do with the game’s location and place in the schedule. Wyoming is
supposed to be pretty good, and will have a game under its belt already. While
the value of that is debatable, this will be a tough game for WSU.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 50
6. Utah - The Utes and perennially overrated coach Kyle
Whittingham will be WSU’s first home conference opponent in 2018. They return
both Tyler Huntley and running back Zack Moss. The Utes always seem to be solid
along the lines, and played a ton of young players in 2017. Maybe this is the
year Whittingham breaks through and gets his team to something better than the
Vegas Bowl.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 45
5. Arizona - It’s no secret that Arizona’s fortunes, like
most teams I guess, will revolve around quarterback play. However, when your QB
is Khalil Tate, that is magnified even more. How Kevin Sumlin employs Tate
remains to be seen, and you can almost always count on a leaky Wildcat defense.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 38
4. USC - Yeah, USC has always had and always will have a
decided talent advantage. And yeah, the Cougs are going on the road on a short
week. HOWEVAH, Mike Leach is unbeaten in LA as WSU’s head coach.
That’s...something?
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 26
3. Stanford - Relying a bit on WSU’s recent history in this
series, which is essentially meaningless in a week-to-week sport, Apple Cup
notwithstanding. Many pundits seem to be higher on the Cardinal than I am,
especially with the return of Bryce Love. But they still have a questionable
quarterback situation, and the defense hasn’t exactly been fearsome of late.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 25
2. Oregon - Lawson’s outlier was Arizona, which he had up at
number two. The Ducks are possibly mine, though Wyoming may also qualify. I
think Oregon is poised for a breakout season, mostly because they have the best
QB in the division. It also doesn’t hurt that Jim Leavitt is running the
defense. Aside - Hey Kansas State, I really hope you have Leavitt on the hook
to replace Bill Snyder. I want him away from the Pac-12.
Percentage chance of a WSU win: 22
1. Washington - BOHICA
Percentage chance of a WSU win: zero point zero 0.0
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Below slightly edited by News for CougGroup
STORIES THAT LIVE FOREVER
Editor's Note: The following story was originally published,
May 22, 2007.
Located at the center of the Washington State University
campus in Pullman is the WSU Veterans Memorial.
On the memorial are engraved the names of Washington State
students, faculty, and staff who served their country in violent conflicts that
took place far from the peace and tranquility of the Palouse. Each name
represents a life sacrificed either in World War I, World War II, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, or the Global War on Terrorism.
Behind each name is a story. All had an association with
Washington State Athletics in some manner.
Hero is a word that is often overused, especially in the
athletic arena. In the case of Ira "Chris" Rumburg, it is an
understatement. This is his extraordinary story.
The Epitome of Courage
By Jason Krump, WSU Athletics
Lieutenant Colonel Ira "Chris" Rumburg was not the
only graduate from Washington State College to fight, and die, in World War II.
His story is just one of the 238 stories that rest behind
the names on the WSU Veterans Memorial; one story behind the 405,399 names of
individuals from the military who died for the United States in World War II.
Innumerable lives were saved due to the sacrifice of those
405,399 individuals. An exact number of how many lives were saved by Lt. Col.
Rumburg is not known, but that is not relevant. What is relevant, and what is
known, is that Lt. Col. Rumburg saved countless lives, which ultimately
resulted in the loss of his own, on Christmas Eve 1944, in the frigid waters of
the English Channel.
How ironic then, that, in his most heroic hour, Lt. Col.
Rumburg's valiant deeds went untold for years due to the fact that the
circumstances leading to it were deemed a national embarrassment by the Allied
Forces.
It is an account that can be communicated an infinite number
of times, for the lessons learned from Ira C. Rumburg's life teach us what true
heroism is.
Days at Washington State
Rumburg arrived at the Washington State College campus in
1934, a local product from West Valley High School in Spokane.
Listed as 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, on the 1937 football roster,
Rumburg's traits, which were responsible for saving so many lives on that 1944
Christmas Eve, were in evidence at WSC.
Rumburg worked his way in to the starting center position,
and, even at this stage of his life, Rumburg's leadership skills became evident
both on and off the field. His teammates elected him captain of the team in his
senior season and Rumburg was also president of the student body.
Football not only provided a glimpse of Rumburg's leadership
but also his toughness. Injuries plagued Rumburg throughout his senior season,
but he would overcome them to see action on the field. For instance, prior to
the Cougars' game against Gonzaga, Rumburg's bruised back had kept him out of
practice the week of the game, but he still would start.
The 1937 Cougar football team. Rumburg is leaning against
the truck (second from left).
Rumburg's confidence matched his toughness. In the days
leading up to a showdown with UCLA, Rumburg was quoted in the school's
newspaper, The Daily Evergreen, as saying that the Bruin congregation was
"not so tough." WSC went on to defeat UCLA 3-0 later that week.
Try as he might to do otherwise, a leg injury suffered
against Oregon sidelined Rumburg for the season's final two games (Stanford and
Oregon State).
In the Nov. 22, 1937 edition of the Evergreen, a tribute by
writer Lloyd Salt ran in the editorial page along with a photo of Rumburg. In
the editorial, Salt wrote:
Chris Rumburg had his role cut short. An old shinbone injury
was aggravated and Chris was put out for the rest of the season. Along with
being the sparkplug and part time captain of the Cougar eleven, Chris is
president of the ASSCW (Associated Students of the State College of
Washington). All in all, he is an All-American to his teammates and those who
know him.
In addition to his football exploits, Rumburg also starred
as a heavyweight wrestler, earning three letters and capturing the Northern
Division title in that weight class during his time at WSC.
Chris Rumburg (seated at the head of the table) during an
ASSCW board meeting.
As busy as Rumburg was in athletic competition, he was just
as active when he stepped away from the athletic arena.
In January 1938, the original Butch (the school mascot was a
live cougar) died and Rumburg, as student body president, played an active role
in the acquiring of a new cougar to replace Butch.
"We'll get a cougar if we have to organize an
expedition ourselves," he said.
In this effort, Rumburg organized a sale of tags (at 10
cents each), bearing the likeness of the original Butch, to help fund a cage
for the new Butch to live in. The school found its replacements when Governor
Clarence Martin secured two cougar kittens.
In March, Rumburg had a role in the play "Accent of
Youth." The Evergreen described Rumburg's role of "Dickie" as a
dashing young movie hero.
More than six years later, Rumburg would once again play the
role of hero, this time in real life.
WSU Student Body President Chris Rumburg walks with student
body secretary Nancy Sampson.
World War II and the Leopoldville
"Words are inadequate in describing the courage and
bravery displayed by Colonel Rumburg." - Captain Howard C. Orr
"I have heard about a lot of acts of courage during the
war ... but none greater than this." - Captain Bob Campbell
"Knowing that one hundred or so would live for another
Christmas, his wit might well have prompted him to say, `I am a Santa Claus.'
Truly he was a man who exemplified that day in deeds in `Good will towards
men.' " - Chief of Staff John Keating
Christmas Eve 1944. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Rumburg was
assigned to the 1st Battalion, Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 264th
Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. Rumburg, along with 2,234 other men from the
division, boarded a transport ship, the Leopoldville (Leo-pold-ville), which
was to take them from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France.
Rumburg's military life came to this place, at this time,
after having its beginning at Washington State. He achieved the rank of cadet
lieutenant colonel and battalion commander in the Army ROTC program. The
transition from college life to the military occurred when Rumburg, on the same
day that he received his college degree, was commissioned a second lieutenant
in the Army.
Rumburg's initial duty was at the Hunter Liggett Military
Reservation in California, followed by command training in England. He returned
to the states as an infantry instructor, training soldiers in preparation for
the invasion of Europe.
It was a continent Rumburg would soon return to as well.
With the invasion of Europe occurring, D-Day, June 6, 1944,
the Allied Nations gained a foothold on the continent and over the summer were
making headway toward Germany as winter approached.
With the prospect of defeat making an unrelenting march
toward the country, Germany would make one final stand when it launched an
offensive attack on the Allied Forces, Dec. 16, 1944, which came to be known as
the "Battle of the Bulge."
This was the setting for Rumburg and the 66th Infantry as
they boarded the Leopoldville to serve as reinforcements for that epic battle.
The ship never reached its destination.
At 1755 hours, just five and a half miles from its
destination, the Leopoldville was hit by a torpedo from a German U-Boat that
slammed into the starboard side of the ship. The torpedo's impact was immediate
and catastrophic. Compartments below began to flood and stairways leading to
higher decks had been blown away. In just two and a half hours, the ship would
rest at the bottom of the English Channel.
These hours proved to be Rumburg's final, but they would
also be his finest.
In the numerous accounts documenting of what transpired
during the chaos of that Christmas Eve, one thing was consistent, and that was
the heroism displayed by Rumburg.
A portion of Captain Howard Orr's account states:
As we crawled out of the debris to an opening approximately
three feet in diameter, we met Lt. Col. Rumburg of the 264th Infantry who
inquired as to the situation below. During the hurried description, a voice was
heard coming from "E" Deck through a gaping hole in the debris to our
right. Almost simultaneously we called for ropes. At the same time, we flashed
our lights down into the churning water approximately four to eight feet below.
The level of the water changed as the water washed through the hole made by the
torpedo. We could hear the voice but were unable to pick him up with our
lights.
Before any decision could be spoken, Colonel Rumburg had
removed his coat and dropped through the debris in the water below and swam as
best he could to the soldier, pulling him from the debris. He dragged him to a
position below the opening. By this time ropes had been brought and were
lowered to the colonel. Before we could employ the use of the rope, water
washed him and the soldier up to within a foot of the opening, causing the
solider to strike his head against a ragged piece of bulkhead, knocking him
unconscious and out of the colonel's control.
Rumburg again tried to find him but was too numb to sustain
himself, let alone try to find anyone else. I should say that by this time
Rumburg had been in the water 15 minutes or more. A rope noose was lowered
about the colonel and after six or eight attempts, he was finally lifted from
the water; however, in order to accomplish his release we were forced to twist
and bend his body until he was almost unconscious. Also, the rope was small and
as we pulled, it would cut into his waist, cutting off circulation and making
breathing very difficult. When Colonel Rumburg was finally lifted from the
hold, he was passed up the line and then taken to the infirmary.
Words are inadequate in describing the courage and bravery
displayed by Colonel Rumburg.
Second Lieutenant Rowdney Boudwin gave a similar account:
Colonel Rumburg, who had arrived shortly after the
explosion, heard a man plead for help from the deck below...the colonel ordered
that a rope be tied about his waist so that he could go in through the rushing
incoming water to pick up the man and bring him to a hole torn in the floor so
that he could be pulled out. The colonel lowered himself through the jagged
edges of the steel floor and made his way to the man. After a few moments, the
colonel shouted to be pulled back. When the colonel reached the opening, he
tried to (push) the man up and through the hole but the water rushing in and up
smashed the man's head against the floor and knocked him unconscious. When this
happened, the man became dead weight, too heavy for the colonel to hold and the
man was washed from the colonel's arms.
In a letter to Chris' wife, Naomi, dated January 27, 1945,
Chief-of-Staff John Keating said of Lt. Col. Rumburg:
He worked for more than two and one half hours extricating
trapped men from wreckage and leading others to safety they could not find for
themselves. Every ounce of his enormous strength, which had become a legend
among us, was expended in those trying hours. Those who were there tell of
seeing him several times carrying two men at one time to safety. He initially
suffered a hand wound and during his repeated acts of bravery, he received a
blow to his head. This, his loss of blood, together with exhaustion, weakened
him to the point where he could no longer help himself.
The hand wound Keating refers to was actually the loss of
two of Rumburg's fingers, according to a letter from Captain Bob Campbell to
WSC Athletic Director J. Fred `Doc' Bohler dated August 9, 1945.
"Words are inadequate in describing the courage and
bravery displayed by Colonel Rumburg."
Captain Howard C. Orr
Campbell joined Rumburg's division after the Leopoldville
disaster. His letter to Bohler is a description repeating the account of
Rumburg's heroism from an officer who was at the scene.
A portion of the letter states:
Not long after he let himself down in the hold, a timber
fell across his hand, cutting off two fingers. Chris refused first aid and went
right on lifting men to the top deck. After he had all the men out that were
still alive, he climbed to the top deck himself. One of his men was about to
enter the water without his `Mae West.' So Chris took his off and gave it to
him. Chris then jumped in the water and swam around getting his men to the
rafts and seeing that they stayed calm. He found one fellow that was having
trouble getting to the raft. So he helped him to the raft and helped shove him
on. Then after using up all the great strength that God gave him, his hand
slipped form the side of the raft and sank from sight. I have heard about a lot
of acts of courage during this war, Doc, but none greater than this.
Rumburg's body was never found. In the end, he was one of
763 American soldiers who perished. It was the worst tragedy as a result of an
enemy submarine attack to an American Infantry Division.
Rumburg's deeds occurred during an incident that
Leopoldville biographer Allan Andrade described as an "embarrassment to
all of the governments concerned."
image 21
Lieutenant Colonel Ira "Chris" Rumburg
image 22 image 23
The disaster was magnified by a combination of errors that
increased the scope of the tragedy.
"It was Murphy's Law, whatever can go wrong, goes
wrong," said Andrade, who authored the 1997 book S.S. Leopoldville
Disaster: December 24, 1944 and whose research findings on the tragedy can be
found on the History Channel website. "This is what was happening that
night. All of these things put together contributed to the tremendous loss of
life."
Some of "these things" include, as Andrade writes:
"There was no air cover for the Leopoldville despite the high threat of
German submarine attack. With the Leopoldville stricken, it was ordered that
the ship's anchor be dropped to prevent the possibility of it drifting into a
minefield. While this solved that possibility, the dropped anchor prevented any
chance of the ship being towed to safety. The fact that it was Christmas Eve
did not help either, as serviceman at the base in Cherbourg, who could have
assisted in the rescue effort, were taking the night off to observe the
holiday. This combination, along with the heavy seas and its freezing
temperatures, were just a few of the many things that sealed the soldiers'
fates."
"The whole thing was an embarrassment to all of the
governments concerned," Andrade said.
Andrade writes that because of wartime censorship and to
cover-up the mistakes made by the various governments and officials involved,
the disaster was not reported to the news media. Survivors were told by the
British and American governments to keep quiet.
"In 1946 Congress wanted to have an investigation and
the British stonewalled and denied access to records for 50 years," said
Andrade, who writes that relatives of the victims received notices that their
loved ones were Missing in Action even though the U.S. War Department knew them
all to have perished.
The March 7, 1945 edition of the Spokane Chronicle published
a story titled, "Lt. Col. Rumburg Reported Lost." The paper reported
that Rumburg was lost according to word received from the war department and is
officially listed as missing in action.
The article went on to say that Lt. Col. Rumburg played a
hero's role in the tragic sinking that is borne out in letters from fellow
officers. One, from Gen. Herman F. Kramer, said "The memory of his deeds
will remain long in the minds of scores of men he succeeded in saving from a
similar fate."
Another passage from a letter by Col. James Hamilton said:
"All reports substantiate that his actions resulted in the saving the
lives of many men in the division."
It was Keating, in his letter to Naomi, who was specific in
the number of men's lives Rumburg was responsible for saving.
"Had he chosen he might have directed the work of
rescue from a point of comparative safety but he chose to act in the way he
knew was best," Keating wrote in his letter to Naomi. "You can be
sure that his life was not a useless sacrifice. In fact, as a result of his
bravery the lives of at least one hundred soldiers were spared."
Rumburg was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his
heroism, and his name is inscribed on the Leopoldville Disaster Monument at Ft.
Benning, Columbus, Georgia.
"To his men and the lives of other men in the Division
he is now a monumental inspiration and he will continue to live in the hearts
and minds of each on of us. I doubt there ever will be a gathering of men in
the Division where reverence will not be paid to him," Keating wrote.
"Show me a hero and I'll show you a tragedy"
The Jan. 5, 1967 edition of the Spokesman-Review contained
an article titled "Memorial Scholarship Begun for Hero Chris
Rumburg."
An editor's note at the top of the story stated that Robert
Neilson, former WSU wrestling coach, was named chairman of a statewide
committee to establish the "Chris Rumburg Memorial Fund." The fund
was designed to award wrestling scholarships and to finance travel for WSU
wrestlers.
The majority of the space, however, was devoted to an
article written by John McCallum, an acquaintance of Rumburg.
Near the end of his piece, McCallum said "F. Scott
Fitzgerald once wrote: `Show me a hero - and I'll show you a tragedy.' The
tragedy in the life of Chris Rumburg is that he died too soon."
The fund officially came to be, June 26, 1974, when a
release from the WSU Athletic News Service announced the establishment of the
"Chris Rumburg Memorial Fund." When wrestling ended at WSU in 1986,
so, in essence, did the fund. Today, the fund has no balance and is considered
closed.
However, as fitting as it is for Rumburg to have an
endowment established in his honor, Rumburg's life does not need a fund in
order to validate his heroism.
It may be impossible to absolutely quantify the positive
significance of Rumburg's life. Perhaps it can be measured each time the Cougar
football team steps foot on the field, or when the WSU student leadership
gathers for its weekly meetings, or when the ROTC conducts its morning training
sessions.
Or maybe it is realized from the contributions made by the
100 souls, and their future generations, which he saved on that Christmas Eve
in 1944.
