Don Durdan - Football

Don Durdan remains one of Oregon State’s most versatile and inspiring athletes, having played football, basketball and baseball despite usually being the shortest player on his team.

Born in 1920, Durdan grew up in Eureka, Calif., and was a member of the Eureka High “Wonder Team” that did not allow a point during the 1935 season. He reached Oregon State in 1938 as a 5-foot-9, 175-pound halfback and played for the varsity in 1939-41, an era that included a win in the Pineapple Bowl and Rose Bowl.

In the ’42 Rose Bowl, Durdan ran for 54 yards and a touchdown and played enough other roles such as punter to be named the game’s Most Valuable Player, retroactively since the award didn’t exist at the time of the game.

Durdan played for the basketball team under coach Slat Gill from 1940-43, and was voted All-American in 1943. The 1941-42 team won the Pacific Coast Conference Northern Division title despite missing Durdan for several weeks due to the Rose Bowl. He also played for the baseball team under Ralph Coleman in 1941 and ’42. Durdan served in the Navy during World War II.

In 1946, Durdan signed with the San Francisco 49ers of the All-American Football Conference and played as a halfback, punter and defensive back. He then returned to Oregon to play for the Portland Indians of the expansion Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League. He played one game for the 49ers in 1947 before returning to Oregon to play for the Indians for a second season before the league collapsed.

Following his two stints as a professional, he ran a funeral home in Corvallis until passing away in 1971.

Durdan was inducted to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988.