Linfield University Athletics

Athlete 1949 - 1952

Four-year football letterwinner Al "Juice" Wills was respected by his teammates for his leadership, hard hits, unselfish play.

He was the first athlete to attend Linfield from the Territory of Hawaii. (The Territory became a state in 1959). He came to Linfield on the recommendation of Dustin "Dusty" Woods, an uncle who worked at Linfield and was familiar with its athletics program.

Wills started all four years as a tackle on both offense and defense, earning all-conference recognition three straight seasons. He was a lead blocker on the sweep for All-American and Linfield Hall of Fame inductee Ad Rutschman. Despite modest size, he earned a reputation as the best downfield blocker in the Northwest Conference. He was equally fierce on defense, and against Willamette his senior year, he collided with a blocker so hard that the force of the blow knocked down the ball carrier in his tracks.

Following graduation from Linfield in 1953, Wills spent two years with the U.S. Army in his hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. He was a starter on the Army's football team that competed in the University of Hawaii's Armed Forces Conference.

He returned to Linfield to work two seasons on the staff of Wildcats coach Paul Durham. Wills tutored All-Americans Vic Fox and Howard Morris, and was a member of the coaching staff of the 1956 team that began Linfield's fabled consecutive winning seasons streak.

A health and physical education major at Linfield, Wills began a teaching and coaching career in Oregon at Elgin High School. He later returned to the islands, where he served as teacher, coach and athletic director at St. Louis, Radford and Kalani high schools. In 1991, he was honored with the state award of merit from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. Six years later, he was singled out for an outstanding service award by the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association, and received the Oahu Interscholastic League award of merit.