Mike Levens, an All-Northwest Conference standout at two positions, capped his senior season by becoming only the third football player to win Whitman’s Niles Trophy (leadership, inspiration) for a third time.
As a senior running back, he bounced back from an early injury to finish fourth in the NWC in rushing, running for 141 yards in his final game. He led the conference and NAIA District I in scoring and was named to the Little All-Northwest First Team.
Levens had his best offensive season as a junior, when he led the conference in both rushing (99 yards per game) and scoring (10 touchdowns), and when the Missionaries romped to a share of the NWC title with records of 4-2 and 6-3 overall. He scored four times in the first half of a 60-7 thrashing of Willamette, finishing that game with 171 yards on 22 carries while scoring five TDs (matching the NWC single-game record). He topped 100 yards in three other games, one of which was a 151-yard outburst against College of Idaho. He earned first-team honors from the NWC, NAIA District I, and Little All-Northwest teams.
As a sophomore, Levens earned NAIA District I First-Team honors as a linebacker. He was named NWC Defensive Back of the Week in early October that season after making an astounding 31 tackles and assisting on 16 others in a single game.
After Whitman, Levens was one of the last players cut from the Dallas Cowboys training camp. He joined the Walla Walla Community College football coaching staff in 1973 and served as its head coach from 1988 through 1997.
