Even if you met Jim Linden only once, it’s doubtful you’d ever forget him.
“He was just larger than life. He was awesome,” said Justin Bailey, who was a student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School when Linden, a longtime coach and teacher, suffered a fatal heart attack in January 1993 at age 56.
The 6-foot-4 former football lineman grabbed attention with his size, but he also had a booming voice and an outgoing personality to match. “He was a huge presence,” Christy Scott, Linden’s daughter, said. Herald photo
It’s been almost exactly 13 years since Linden, a 1955 Everett High graduate, passed away. Now family, friends and many others touched by his charismatic personality will gather to honor the jovial man known alternately as “J.L.” and “Big Jim.” Marysville-Pilchuck’s main athletic facility will officially be named Jim Linden Field House tonight during a ceremony at the school. Visitors are invited to arrive at 6 p.m. and view Linden memorabilia; the dedication begins at 6:45 p.m. and will be followed by the Stanwood vs. M-P varsity wrestling meet.
Those who knew Linden, a defensive tackle who starred at the University of Oregon and was drafted by the NFL’s Detroit Lions, are excited to celebrate his life. “This is certainly well-deserved, a long time coming,” said David Carpentier, a retired M-P teacher and coach. “It’s something I know the (Linden family) is very proud of.”
“It feels wonderful to know that he did really have an impact on so many kids that came out of (Marysville),” Donna Linden, Jim’s wife, said.
Jim Linden, The Herald’s Man of the Year in 1957, began his football coaching career as an assistant under Robert “Pink” Erickson at Cascade before taking a job at Stanwood. In the late 1960s Linden began a long tenure in the Marysville School District. He coached football and wrestling and taught history, physical education and driver’s education.
Linden eventually became Marysville’s athletic director – a perfect job for him according to Scott, his daughter. Her father was an ultra-organized list maker, she said, who loved planning family reunions and had a knack for setting up sports schedules and directing tournaments.
As Linden approached a possible retirement, he continued to work because he treasured his job, Scott said. Linden died early one January morning in ‘93 when he suffered a heart attack during a school day on the Marysville-Pilchuck campus. His unexpected death jolted the community, especially his family and those at M-P. “It was an extreme shock to the faculty,” Carpentier said.
Despite his history as a top-notch athlete, Linden’s heart was fragile. Less than a year before he passed away he caught a virus that greatly reduced his heart capacity, Scott said. A doctor told Linden the virus, which wasn’t immediately diagnosed correctly, could affect his longevity. But no one imagined how swiftly the ailment would strike.
Carpentier, who worked for Linden when “Big Jim” was athletic director, helped ignite the effort to name M-P’s field house. Many of the school’s coaches informally dubbed a conference room “Linden Lounge” several years ago, but Carpentier and others decided Linden deserved more. So in March 2005, Carpentier proposed a dedication to the Marysville School District Board. In May ‘05 the board approved the proposal, thanks in part to support from the Marysville Education Association and the Marysville Coaches Association.
Current M-P students may not know much about Linden, but tonight’s ceremony will spotlight his enduring influence. “He sure had a reputation for being lovable and somebody who the kids really enjoyed having as a teacher,” said Carpentier, who along with Linden’s son, Mark Linden, is expected to speak at the ceremony.
Mark Dugger will be there. A ‘72 Marysville High graduate (Marysville and Pilchuck high schools merged during the ‘75-76 school year) who played football, Dugger remembers Jim Linden as upbeat and remarkably mobile: “I was always amazed by how fast he was. He could still really move.”
Linden had good speed for a lineman, but his pro career was brief. After playing for Oregon in the 1958 Rose Bowl, Linden was drafted by the Lions, but quickly became homesick and frustrated. (He was stuck behind first-round and 10th overall pick, Alex Karras, who at Iowa won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman.)
Dugger recalled one of Linden’s favorite sayings: “When in doubt, fire out,” which Linden used to prepare football players for a certain game scenario. There were many other catchy “Lindenisms,” including the locker room favorite, “A tisket, a tasket, put your towel in the basket.”
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