Ernest A. Becker (1914 – January 5, 1998) was an American

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was a founding dean, first

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

, and important influence at the beginning of Orange County State College, which became

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

. According to the ''Orange County Register'', Becker Becker started out at Orange County State College as the founding dean of students in 1959 when he first came to the school. He was an emeritus philosophy professor. Becker was a major factor in choosing the school's athletic team nickname, the Titans.

Educational degrees

*1936 Graduate of

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

, BA received in history and philosophy *

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

graduate degree received in divinity *

doctoral degree received in higher education

Military service

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

naval chaplain

Collegiate tennis player

*During the mid-1930s Becker was a member of the Amherst College men's tennis team and is a "Mammoths Letterman" from competing on the team.

Titans men's tennis coach

He was instrumental in starting and coaching the early years of Orange County State College (known now as Cal State Fullerton Titans Tennis) varsity men's tennis team at the school in the early 1960s. Becker was well respected by his players on the team from team captain Mitchel Saadi '64, Dennis Silver '63, Ken Smith Jr., Ernie Lopez '64, Jim Blondin '63, Tony Keeling, Ben Wade '63 and George Rentfro '62 who all also looked at him as a father figure and mentor. In Becker's younger days he was quite a practice player and tennis enthusiast hitting tennis balls with the legendary tennis professional

Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional b ...

according to his players on the team at Fullerton he loved talking about tennis.

Pachyderm race

According to Jack Hale, later an insurance agent in Anaheim, he and Becker brainstormed the idea of hosting an intercollegiate elephant race as a way of relating elephants to the college team nickname "Titans" - a nickname which Becker had promoted and which had been chosen by a student vote in 1959. As a result of the 1962 races, an elephant was chosen as the mascot or symbol of the Titans. Hale had lived in Africa and Becker had done postgraduate work in India. Early plans to race the Coast Guard failed, but eventually on May 11, 1962, a total of 15 elephants raced, with "Sunita" of the Harvard Crimson winning. The event was televised live and was one of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

' Top 10 stories of 1962, and it put the Orange County school into national level awareness. Various accounts of the idea for the elephant race exist, but most involve Becker near the center. Harvard's

The Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

coverage in 1962 includes mention that "Orange State, a new school in the California state college system, is scheduled to grow to more than 25,000 students within 15 years," and that "the school has large tracts of unimproved land which, according to Becker, 'make ideal elephant pastures.'" Pachyderm association with Fullerton may also have related to the growing and packaging of

Elephant oranges The Valencia orange is a sweet orange cultivar named after the famed oranges in València, Spain. It was first hybridized by pioneer American agronomist and land developer William Wolfskill in the mid-19th century on his farm in Santa Ana, so ...

, a local, huge variety of the Valencia orange, see

Elephant Packing House The Elephant Packing House was built in 1924, in Fullerton, Orange County, Southern California. Valencia oranges were packed here, from the abundant orchards that then dominated the county and gave it its name. William Wolfskill had developed and ...

, a listed historic site in Fullerton.

Tragedy

Becker was repeatedly in the news also relating to trials and followups to a family tragedy; Becker's son Stephen was among seven killed in a shooting spree on the Fullerton campus. Becker occasionally commented about the convicted killer, when contacted by media at times of appeal hearings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Ernest 1914 births 1998 deaths American tennis coaches Amherst Mammoths men's tennis players Cal State Fullerton Titans athletic directors Cal State Fullerton Titans men's tennis coaches University of Southern California alumni