`Luting' In China: Pacific Lutheran Team Wins Games, Goodwill In 3- Week Football Trip

Pigskin diplomacy works.

At least it seemed to work for members of the Pacific Lutheran University football team who returned from a three-week, three-game tour of China yesterday with vivid memories. According to Frosty Westering, PLU's philosophic head coach, there are a lot of Chinese who won't forget utes, either.

"I think we brought American sport to them not as a big glad competition," Westering said.

They obviously generated some enthusiasm because there was a Chinese version of "the wave" at the game in Beijing.

PLU, of the Tacoma suburb of Parkland, and Evangel College of Springfield, Mo., were believed to be the first American football teams to play in China. As guests of the Chinese government, they played in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, with the Lutes winning all three games.

But the victories weren't foremost in the minds of the PLU players yesterday after they were greeted by a crowd of about 200 - parents and classmates, friends and girlfriends - at Sea-Tac Airport.

Peter Gradwohl, a defensive back from Mountlake Terrace, talked about the Chinese culture and the nation's lack of development "since the gate opened" in the 1970s.

"It's like ever since 1977 they've been trying to catch up," Gradwohl said. "And I don't think they're going to do it."

Defensive end Ed Jolly of Seattle said he will remember "the food, the people and the long bus rides in 90-degree heat and humidity" along with sights that included the Great Wall and temples.

Gradwohl and Jolly talked of their surprise when a "wave" broke out during the first game in Beijing. They learned later that a group of Marines stationed in Beijing who were at the game were the perpetrators.

Food? Some pounds might have been shed, but, generally, the Lutes didn't go hungry even when dealing with menus that included snake, eel, dog and cat.

"Sometimes it's better not to know and just eat," said Westering, who described the game of "Russian roulette" that accompanied some of the meals.

"We would put the chopstick on the Lazy Susan and spin it," Westering said. "When the Lazy Susan stopped spinning, whoever the chopstick was pointing at had to be the first to eat the first course."

Not long after settling in at their Beijing hotel following an eight-hour plane ride, the Lutes were told to get ready for practice. The uniform was to include helmet, shoulder pads - and tennis shoes.

"I wanted a place for our team to work out," Westering said. "A field 45 minutes away was suggested. I wanted something closer."

The answer: Tiananmen Square, site of the deadly government assault on reform-minded students two years ago.

"We had no idea where we were going," Gradwohl said. "All Frosty said is we're going to practice. We were walking through downtown Beijing. In our helmets and shoulder pads. And tennis shoes. We went into a pedestrian tunnel and when we came out we were in Tiananmen Square."

The Lutes worked out for about 30 minutes in a corner of the square, then moved up into the middle of it and began mingling with the Chinese people who had been watching.

"They got a little edgy," Westering said of the policemen who moved in and dispersed the crowd.

That was perhaps the most overt sign of political influence encountered by the Lutes. There would be others at the games.

Several soldiers were seen patrolling sections of the grandstand in Beijing. Elsewhere, crowds were smaller than expected; perhaps, reasoned the visitors, because government officials did not want them to be larger.

But politics was not an overriding issue throughout the three weeks.

"The food was interesting. So were the sights," Westering said. "But best of all it was our guys being so unselfish of themselves. That was what I was so proud of."

Pigskin diplomacy.