My Story...

INTRODUCTION TO COLLEGE

As I walked up College Avenue and approached the Fresno State campus to begin my initial classes there in the fall of 1932, I was handed a business card that read, "Louie's Place, Don't let your spirits get Low." Address and phone numbers were listed. I had been hailed by a bootlegger. (Unlawful dealer in alcoholic liquor.)

The 18th Amendment (Prohibition) was still in force and would not be repealed until Dec. 5, 1933. A 17 year old boy from the small town of Dinuba, I had much to learn about my new role as a collegian.

DR. FRANK W. THOMAS, COLLEGE PRESIDENT

A more effective, likable college president than Dr. Frank W. Thomas can scarcely be imagined. In drafting his traditional remarks for the 1932 Campus yearbook, he summed up wonderfully his total professional outlook: "A college is a place both for learning and living."

That second area, that of living, was pretty generally lived to the limit by that depression generation of Fresno Staters, a large percentage of which was earning its own living as well as attending classes. In my case, during my junior and senior years, I worked 40 hours a week as an usher at the Fox State Theater downtown. That amounted to $14.00 income a week at 35¢ per hour which allowed me to eat at full-scale restaurants as well as at the Coney Island Restaurant across the street from the State Theater where hot dogs with all the accompaniments sold for 5¢.

FACULTY LUMINARIES

My generation at Fresno State profited from a number of faculty luminaries. It was a source of pride to his Fresno State students that year after year Political Science Professor Hubert Phillips was invited by the eminent Commonwealth Club of San Francisco to address it on national Issues.

Professor George Huntting of the English Department, who wore cuff links and a stylishly folded handkerchief in the breast pocket of his jacket, had become a legend a dozen years before my time for his dramatic classroom lectures. I can still recall, 75 years afterward, the depth of the expression with which he recited these lines:

"Poesy's unfailing river,
Which through Albion
Winds forever,
Lashing with melodious wave,
Many a sacred poet's grave."

One time a fraternity brother and I went up to San Francisco on a lark. We ran into Professor Huntting on the street. He was teaching summer session at San Francisco State and staying at the Bohemian Club. He very cordially invited us into the club lounge.

Another professor I thought special was Professor William Shaw, who was known for his knowledge of the life history of the San Joaquin Valley Field Mouse. He utilized his lecture hours in calling on his students to recite from memory from Hegner's College Zoology the Latin roots of zoological nomenclature. That useful vocabulary stayed with me. (I still have my copy of Hegner too.)

I had history courses from Professor Kenneth Potter both at regular and Sierra summer sessions. The governor appointed him to the Public Utilities Commission based in San Francisco where he remained until retirement.

COLLEGE LIBRARY

When I entered Fresno State in 1932, the college library did not have a building of its own. The library was in the large room on the second floor of the college's main building above the principal entry. The room's walls were lined with shelves of books and its floor was crowded with study tables.

An impressive new library building of Romanesque design to match the other campus buildings was then under construction across the street. Its 50- x 100-foot reading room on its west was filled with study tables for 288 students. On the east end of the reading room was an open shelf collection of periodicals, which quickly caught my attention when the building opened in 1933.

On Wednesday afternoons I would go over to the periodicals and enjoy several hours of random reading, which became a highlight of my week. The old library room became a place for noon dances. Fresno City College inherited the splendid library building and continues to use it in 2009 but with the periodicals now in a room to the east of the lobby.

I did not see the library facilities of Fresno State after the college moved to its new site until June 5, 2009, when I toured Fresno State’s magnificent new library and then witnessed the beginning of yet another stunning Fresno State library development.

TRACK AND FIELD

Seventy years ago, Track and Field was a very big sport in California and the U.S. Fresno State was a prominent participant in that sport by virtue of favorable weather, many great athletes and coaches, and the annual West Coast Relays at Fresno's Blackstone Stadium (later renamed Ratcliffe Stadium) beginning in 1926, where many world records have been broken.

In 1932, for example, 600 track and field athletes competed at the West Coast Relays in the three divisions of university and college, junior college, and high school. The University of Southern California won the intercollegiate championship, as usual, with Stanford and Fresno State in 2nd and 3rd place, also as usual, ahead of Cal and UCLA.

Fresno State students during my years watched many classmates as track and field champions: for example, Walter Marty, world record holder in the high jump at 6 feet 8 inches; Floyd Wilson, 24 feet in the broad jump; Cornelius Warmerdam, approaching 14 feet in the pole vault, and after graduating from college, reaching 15 feet. Warmerdam dates from the time of the heavy, semi-rigid bamboo vaulting pole. With his speed and spring of foot, strength of shoulder, and mastery of form, one wonders how much higher he might have gone with a modem metal pole that so much more effectively catapults the vaulter into the air. The modern pole radically changed the character of pole vaulting.

Elroy Robinson was Fresno State's greatest middle-distance runner. In a dual meet with USC in 1934 in which the USC half-miler was favored to win, Robinson won by 10 yards in 1:54.7 minutes. In the West Coast Relays of 1937, Robinson broke the world record in 1,000 yards in 2:09.7 minutes. One of the 440-yard runners on the track team told me that when Robinson worked out he couldn't keep up with him even for a short distance.

THE OLD HACK RACE

The staff of the Collegian, the student newspaper, managed one of the most successful student promotions of my time, known as the Old Hack Race. Thirty or 40 campus organizations entered an old car for each running. By the time of the 5th race in 1937, 10,000 spectators were on hand and the National Broadcasting Company, and the four major newsreel companies had joined in the publicity. After parading the Old Hacks downtown, the drivers went to a vacant, very rough field west of Fresno High School to size up the race course which had been made more difficult by the addition of a 30-foot irrigation ditch to cross.

This year only 11 of the 36 contesting cars reached the finish line and, several participants were injured. The risk of more serious injuries wisely led to the demise of the Old Hack Race.

DIRTY CORDS

As is well known, fads and styles can suddenly emerge and spread as if by magic and apparently for no good reason. Such was demonstrated by the men of Fresno State in the mid-1930's in the attention, even affection, they gave the wearing of dirty corduroy trousers.

The Campus yearbooks of those years vividly show the hold of that style. It was all-purpose, encompassing work, sports, and even formal occasions. Dirty cords could become so encrusted they could literally stand alone.

SIERRA SUMMER SCHOOL

The six-week-long Sierra Summer School, situated at Huntington Lake, at an elevation of 7,000 feet, was one of the greatest experiences Fresno State offered students during the pre-WWII years. I attended the summer session of 1936, the 21st held, which enrolled 250 students.

Herewith listed are some of my experiences there:

• Camping at the Bear Creek Campground of the Sierra National Forest
• Attending classes under a canopy, conducted by regular FSC faculty, with a few visiting faculty
• Attending productions of the Drama Department
• Attending musical presentations
• Attending campus dances on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings
• Hiking mountain trails on Saturdays
• Attending vesper services on Sundays
• Attending commencement exercises at which 15 students, including myself, received B.A. degrees
• After the commencement, delivering a speech as campaign manager of a mock national political convention
• Lounging with classmates before a fire in the great granite fireplace at the nearby Lakeshore lodge
• Getting acquainted with the girl who later became my wife

The Sierra Summer School closed during WWII and did not reopen because much larger facilities were now required.