One for the record

The telephone often rings this time of year. It’s only natural.

Washington State is playing at Oregon on Saturday and back in 1984 Cougars running back Rueben Mayes sliced and diced the Ducks defense for an NCAA-record 357 yards.

But this call wasn’t to Mayes to get his annual recollection of that memorable performance.

Instead the call was placed to Lewiston, to let left tackle Jamie White reminisce about the offensive line’s effort of that amazing afternoon.

“I remember it was a fun game,” White said, after recovering from the initial shock that someone would want to talk to him about that. “It seemed like every time Rueben carried the ball he got 10, 12 yards. There was a lot of camaraderie. It’s fun to excel. As a lineman, you get a lot of your satisfaction out of that.”

Mayes carried the ball 39 times. And it’s not as if the Cougars were playing for a record. Every yard was needed to pull out a 50-41 victory.

It’s hard to think there could be better days than that, when everything goes right.

“I don’t remember all the details,” White said. “I definitely remember getting a great surge and it was pretty fun blocking people. When things go well you tend to enjoy that. We had a great game and I was working well with (guard) Dan Lynch. We had a lot of combination blocks.”

Far more important than the raw numbers was the win.

“You play college football to get wins,” White said. “You put in a lot of work for it and that is the reward. It was fun to do it on the road, in front of a lot of people who didn’t want you to be successful.

“What I remember is kind of feeling elated. I took a lot of satisfaction in being part of that. When you’re on the offensive line you’re your own group. We enjoyed it together.”

The rest of the line included guard Kirk Samuelson and tackle Mike Dreyer on the right side, center Curt Ladiness and tight end Vince Leighton. Mark Rypien was the quarterback.

It would also be a mistake to think that game was the pinnacle for White, or any of the offensive linemen for that matter.

“I don’t know if it was the best football game I played,” said White, who was an oft-injured tight end before moving to left tackle three games into the season when Mike Schuster injured a knee. “Back then we were trying to get wins. I don’t know if it was the highlight but it was certainly a good memory. I’m glad to be part of it. I’m glad he had (the record) for a long time; he’s a first-class person.”

Mayes’ record was tied by Cal State Fullerton’s Mike Pringle, coincidentally a WSU transfer, in 1989 and was broken in 1997 when Astron Whatley of Kent State had 373 yards against Eastern Michigan. LaDainian Tomlinson of Texas Tech upped the mark to 406 against UTEP in 1999.

By then White, who grew up in Lapwai, had long been settled in Lewiston, working for many years at Lewis-Clark State College, including a stretch as assistant athletic director.

Now he runs his own sports marketing company, a lot of it targeted at helping schools and organizations raise money. He is also part of the management at Bryden Canyon Golf Club.

“I’m not a very good golfer,” he said. “I enjoy the business of sports.”

He has been married to Holley for 12 years and they have three children, Halle, 10, Hayden, 8, and James, 2 ½.

At 275 pounds he’s only 15 above his playing weight – “I’m not in great shape but somewhere in the ball park” – which would still make him undersized by today’s standards. He doesn’t have a lot of contact with his old teammates but he does make it to as many Cougars athletic events as his schedule allows.

“Once a Cougar always a Cougar,” he said. “I don’t think that will ever change.”