From modest beginnings and never with
abundant resources, the Cal State Fullerton Titans have achieved
successes that are the envy of many older and larger institutions
across the country.
"Titan Pride" has been the rallying cry for 12 national team
championships in seven different sports, hundreds of individual
All-Americans, dozens of eventual professional athletes, numerous
national coach of the year award winners, Olympic basketball
players, a Miss America candidate and the subject matter of a Walt
Disney film.
The tenor was set by the first intercollegiate team - men's
basketball. In only his second season, the late Coach Alex Omalev
advanced the Titans five rounds into the NAIA playoffs in 1961-62.
Sixteen seasons later, the nation watched another "Cinderella"
Titan Five advance to within one victory of the "Final Four" as
Bobby Dye's 1977-78 team won the Pacific Coast Athletic Association
postseason tournament and then beat nationally ranked New Mexico
and USF to gain the finals of the NCAA Western Regional. The Titans
returned to the NCAA Tournament 30 years later by winning the Big
West Conference Tournament in Anaheim in 2008.
The basketball tradition began even stronger on the women's side.
Recent Naismith and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Billie
Moore coached the Titans to the national championship in 1970 and
star forward Nancy Dunkle was one of her players on the women's
1976 silver-medal winning Olympic team. The most recent Titan
All-American was center Genia Miller-Rycraw in 1991 and she led the
Titans to two NCAA appearances (1989 and 1991).
The Titans earned gold in 1984 when point guard Leon Wood directed
the men's Olympic team to victory in Los Angeles. The first-round
draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers went on to a 6-year National
Basketball Association career and is now a veteran NBA referee,
only the second former NBA player to make that career switch.
Future NBA performers Richard Morton, Henry Turner, Cedric
Ceballos and Bruce Bowen (a starter for the three-time NBA champion
Spurs) were some of the stars of the 1980s and 1990s, when the
Titans made NIT appearances on both the men's and women's sides.
Ceballos gained notoriety for winning the NBA Slam-Dunk contest one
year while the women can point with pride to Autumn Hollyfield, the
nation's top 3-point field goal shooter in 1993-94, and Koko
Lahanas, the nation's scoring leader in 1994-95. Rycraw still holds
NCAA records and came back from a career in Japan to earn a spot
with the Los Angeles Sparks before returning to Fullerton as an
assistant coach. Bowen was joined in the NBA by former Titans Pape
Sow, who played three seasons with the Toronto Raptors, and Bobby
Brown, who played with four NBA teams.
Gymnastics has brought Fullerton considerable fame. Former men's
Coach Dick Wolfe won three college division NCAA titles (1971, 1972
and 1974) and had subsequent teams in the Top Ten at the Division I
level while winning 10 PCAA titles in a row. His 1987 squad was
ranked No. 1 in the nation. Coach Lynn Rogers began the women's
program in 1976 and the Titans have finished sixth or better in the
nation 12 times and won the national title in 1979. One-armed Carol
Johnston was an All-American and star of the Disney film, "Lefty,"
while Tami Elliott (1984-86) won 10 All-American awards before
becoming Miss Virginia and competing in the Miss America
pageant.
Baseball exploded onto the national scene behind former Coach
Augie Garrido by breaking the USC monopoly in the NCAA western
regionals in Fullerton's first Div. I season in 1975. The Titans
have gone on to win four national championships and establish a
remarkable winning tradition over four decades. The Titans captured
their first NCAA title in 1979 behind Tim Wallach, who would go on
to play 17 major league seasons. They won again in 1984 behind
College World Series MVP John Fishel, in 1995 behind national
player of the year Mark Kotsay and again in 2004 behind
All-American pitcher Jason Windsor, who won two games and saved a
third in Omaha to cap a two-year, 8-0 post-season record. Coach
George Horton won national coach of the year honors in both 2003
and 2004. In 2011, the Titans made their 20th CONSECUTIVE NCAA
Tournament appearance. In June, infielder Blake Davis became the
50th former Titan to play in a major league game when he debuted
with the Baltimore Orioles.
Women also have sparkled on Fullerton diamonds. Hall of Fame Coach
Judi Garman founded the softball program in 1980 and won more games
(913) than any previous coach. The Titans have made eight trips to
the College World Series and 27 regional appearances. They brought
home an NCAA Championship in 1986 and boast three national players
of the year in pitchers Kathy Van Wyk, Susan LeFebvre and Connie
Clark.
The now-defunct football program made great strides in Division
I-A after its humble Div. II beginnings in 1970. Coach Gene Murphy
guided the Titans to two conference championships and four
runner-up finishes between 1983 and 1989. Titan products included
Super Bowl rookies Bobby Kemp (Cincinnati in 1982) and Mark Collins
(New York Giants in 1987). Titans have had remarkable success in
the Canadian Football League. Quarterback Damon Allen, who was
still active in his 40s, is the all-time leading passer and Mike
Pringle became the career rushing leader during the 2004 season.
And Allen Pitts was the CFL's all-time leading receiver before
Darren Flutie passed him in the 2003 season. Pitts and Pringle were
later inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame and Allen is a lock when
he becomes eligible.
With the loss of football, the men's soccer program filled the
void in Titan Stadium. A women's squad was launched in 1993 and it
coincided with a memorable men's season that saw the Titans climb
as high as No. 3 in the national rankings. They were led by
All-American forward Eddie Soto and competed at the NCAA Final
Four, placing third. There have been three subsequent trips to the
playoffs and a No. 2 national ranking in 1996. On the international
level, former Titan Brian Dunseth captained the U.S. Olympic team
in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and several former Titans are playing
in the MLS.
The women's squad has won consecutive Big West Conference titles
and in 2005 advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" of the NCAA Tournament
after winning the Big West post-season tournament and two NCAA
playoffs matches vs. UNLV and USC. No other Big West program had
ever advanced beyond the second round.
There have been national titles in men's cross country (1971) and
women's fencing (1974) and individual standouts such as golfer
Martha Wilkerson, runner Mark Covert and wrestler Laszlo Molnar,
who finished second in the nation in 1994 at 167 pounds. Heather
Killeen became the Titans' first Div. I cross country All-American
in 1994, won three events at the 1995 Big West Conference track
championships and was one of 10 finalists for 1995 NCAA Woman of
the Year Award. Brandon Campbell was the Big West track and field
male athlete of the year in 2001 after starring in the high jump,
long jump and quarter mile. He also was a starter on the basketball
team. Sprinter Ciara Short one-upped Campbell by earning BWC Female
Athlete of the Year honors twice, in 2010 and 2011, and also placed
in the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships. Teammate Lauren
Williams became only the second BWC athlete to win the same event
four times when she again captured the 100 meter hurdles in
2011.
Several current and recent Titans have garnered international
attention including appearances in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Catcher Jenny Topping played for the gold medal-winning U.S.
softball team while outfielder Lindsey Bashor was on the Greek
team. Competing for Mexico were pole vaulter Giovanni Lanaro and
soccer player Marlene Sandoval.
Nickname and Mascot...
What exactly is a Titan?
"Why do you have an elephant for your mascot?"
Those are two of the first questions that arise when a Cal State
Fullerton athletic team makes its inaugural visit to an area. While
the relatively young institution carved out of the Orange County
citrus groves may be too new for many traditions, there are some
recognized legends.
"It was the students' decision in a vote," explained Dr. Ernest
Becker, founding Dean of Students, of the nickname "Titans." "More
than a hundred names were suggested, and the Student Council took
on the job of narrowing the list down to a few for the purposes of
an election. The vote was close, with Titans narrowly prevailing
over Aardvarks and Rebels."
It was a unique student body, all upper division students until
1963. There were 453 of them, mostly female, in 1959, the first
year of classes at what was then known as Orange County State
College.
"Even when it was decided that `Titans' would be the nickname,
there was confusion as to what it represented," said Becker. "I was
thinking of a large mythological figure from Greek history, not
unlike Tommy Trojan, but with perhaps straighter, more modern
lines. In the same vein, the original dormitories were named Othrys
Hall. There were others, however, who related the name to the Titan
missile then in prominence."
Nothing official was done but then along came the "First
Intercollegiate Elephant Race in Human History."
What began as a practical joke attracted elephants from
universities around the nation and even Oxford from England. A
crowd estimated at more than 10,000 people turned out on "Dumbo
Downs" as the hastily graded field became known that spring
afternoon in 1962.
To publicize the event, a circus-like elephant called Tuffy the
Titan was used and it began appearing on sweaters and notebook
covers around the campus. With no other mascot, the elephant was
unofficially adopted. Several revisions of the caricature have been
made to create a more tenacious Tuffy, or Titus as he also was
called in an attempt to make him Greek. The costume that brings the
mascot to life also has changed. Tuffy even attracted a female
Tiffy in 1992.
The origin of the school colors also bears discussion. The
students voted for royal blue and white, but the athletic equipment
manager at the time thought orange was appropriate on uniforms for
a school known as Orange County State College. The unofficial color
was "adopted" and finally was formally acknowledged by the
Athletics Council in 1987. A change to a navy blue was initiated in
1992 with a de-emphasis of the orange.