In MemoriumNotable People
Table of Contents
William Ellsworth ¹46 was the long-time advisor to the Rally
Committee and the other spirit groups (and announcer for the Cal
Band) until his death from cancer in 1973. He was affectionately
known as the ³Fossil² and was the personification
of ³Cal Spirit.² Indeed his enthusiasm for Cal was not
greater, during the days of student unrest in the ¹60s,
as it had been during his days as a student here twenty years
earlier. But, it was more than just enthusiasm for Bill.
When speaking of Bill Ellsworth, it is easy to sum it all up by
saying, ³He loved the University.²
All of this Cal spirit in one individual might have been
un-BEAR-able if it were not for another of Bill¹s
traitshis craziness. He would allow students to color
his red hair blue each ³Blue Monday² (the Monday of
Big Game Week), after once coloring it himself. Bill could also
come up with the worst puns, make the strangest faces, and tell
the most awful jokes. It was this sense of humor, coupled with
his spirit and dedication that made Bill Ellsworth a unique
individual.
When Bill Ellsworth died, the Rally Committee chose to honor
and remember him by naming an award after him. The William
Ellsworth Memorial Award is presented each year to the Rally
Committee member who has made the greatest contribution to the
Rally Committee and the University of California, as best
exemplifying the qualities that Bill Ellsworth represented.
Brad King ¹77 was the chairman of UC Rally Committee
from 1976 to 1977, during which he lead with an enthusiasm
that rivaled Bill Ellsworth¹s. He had a strong love of
the University of California, its lore and traditions. In his
years of service to the Committee, Brad reintroduced many
traditions such as Labor Day, and Midnight Singing. Several
times throughout the year, he would hold picnics up at the Big C.
Brad also had a gift for convincing people to do things that
they normally wouldn¹t. For example, he would ³bribe²
his younger sister Bonnie (who went on to become the Card Stunt Director in 1984 and is now working for the California Alumni Association)
to help tack cards on Saturday mornings by offering donuts to her.
Brad would also stage pranks. The most visible was the hanging of
a very large banner above the Yuerba Buena Island tunnel in the
middle of the Bay Bridge. The banner was hand painted and
read ³Go Bears! Beat Stanford!²
Following his graduation, Brad continued to serve the Rally Committee
by helping to raise money for Rally Committee and taking care of
the Axe. In 1979 Brad spearheaded the drive to refurbish the Axe
and its plaque.
In 1983 Brad King died in a rafting accident. In his honor,
the Rally Committee created the Brad King Memorial Award.
The award is given to individuals who have gone far above the
call of duty for helping the Committee. At the same time,
Brad¹s wife Pat established the Brad King Fund.
The fund exists to make minor improvements to the campus.
Money from the Brad King Fund has been used to rebuild the
Big ³C² and refurbish the Axe case.
Joe Roth was the starting quarterback for the Golden Bears
in 1975 and 1976. As a junior in 1975, he led Cal to an 8-1
record and Pac-8 Co-Championship. The team finished the season
with an 8-3 record (Joe started in the 3rd game of the season
after the Bears began the season 0-2). With Chuck Muncie at
running back and Wesley Walker at wide receiver, the Golden Bears
claimed the nation's total offense title, averaging over 450 yards
per game. Joe was the outstanding young quarterback in command of
that team, and his future at Cal and in the NFL seemed extremely
bright. Instead, however, he died a tragic death at the age
of 22, shortly after the end of the 1976 season, after a long,
horrible bout with malignant melanoma. Through it all, Joe
showed remarkable strength, courage, optimism, and compassion
as he never stopped fighting to live.
In 1977, at the Cal-U$C game, Joe Roth was remembered and
honored as his number 12 was retiredthe first number ever
to be retired and currently the only football jersey ever retired
at Cal. In addition there was a moment of silence before the game
for all cancer victims in addition to Joe Roth (though of course he
was the focal point). Up until the mid-1980s, the home game against
either U$C or UCLA was designated as the Joe Roth Memorial Game.
To find out more about Joe Roth, read the book,
Joe: His Fight For Life, written by his mother Lena Roth.
Robert Sibley (1903) was the Chairman of the California Rally
Committee in 1902 through 1903 and a prominent student leader.
After graduating, he continued to loyally serve the University
which he lovedas a professor, distinguished engineer and
an executive of the California Alumni Association. Over the years,
he and his wife Carol would invite University students into their
northside home for fun, food, discussions, or singing. It was said
that any time students visited the Sibley home, they would leave
having learned something old, interesting, humorous, or inspiring
about the University; for one of Bob Sibley¹s other loves
was that of telling stories about traditions, lore, and historical
events. Upon retiring from the Alumni Association, Robert Sibley
fulfilled the wish of those who had heard him relate his stories
and anecdotes by writing them down and publishing them in a book
entitled California Pilgrimage.
Andrew Latham Smith was one of the greatest head coaches in the
history of college football. He arrived in 1916 after having
coached for three years at Purdue in Indiana. Over his ten year
tenure as the head coach of the Golden Bears, his teams amassed a
record of 74-16-7, never once having a losing season, with a winning
percentage of .799the most victories by any Cal coach in
history and the best winning percentage by a Cal coach in the
modern era. His greatest accomplishment though was from 1920 to 1924,
where his teams never lost a game.
The 1920 ³Wonder Team² gave up a total of 14 points in nine
games while scoring 510 points and is considered one of the greatest
teams ever in college football. The perfect season concluded with
a 28-0 crushing defeat of favorite Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
The success of his teams caused the ASUC to build Memorial Stadium,
earning it the nickname ³The House that Andy Built².
Tragically, Andy Smith¹s life was cut short when on
January 9, 1926, he died of pneumonia at the age of 43.
Fittingly, his funeral was held at the gates of Memorial Stadium
and in accordance with his wishes, his ashes were scattered over
the football field on which his teams had dominated. Andy Smith is
now remembered with a dedicated bench on east sideline of the
Memorial Stadium football field. Engraved on the bench are two of
Andy Smith¹s great sayings:
We do not want men who will lie down bravely to die, but men who will fight valiantly to live.
and
Winning is not everything; it is far better to play the game squarely and lose than to win at the sacrifice of an ideal.
Lynn ³Pappy² Waldorf was the head coach of the football
team from 1947 until 1956 and is the second greatest football coach
in Cal history. Over his ten years as head coach, his teams amassed
a record of 67-32-4 with a winning percentage of .670. In his first
year after arriving from Northwestern, he turned a team that had
previously gone 2-9 into a 9-1 monster. The next three years¹
teams each earned conference championships and played in the Rose Bowl.
Still, in Rally Comm¹s eyes, Pappy¹s most impressive
statistic was his team earning the Axe in 1947, and his 1948-54
teams keeping the Axe in BerkeleyThe eight year long stretch
of possession is the longest in the history of the Axe as a football
trophy. Pappy¹s boys finished 7-1-2 against the Indians.
Benjamin Ide Wheeler was President of the University for twenty years
from 1899 In his first year as president, he introduced student
self-government to the campus. As a result, the ASUC is the oldest
continuously student-run government in the nation. On the day before
he became President, he gave one of the most quoted speeches in
University of California history. The speech ended with:
This University shall be a glorious old mother around whose hearth
you shall lover to sit down. Love her. It does a man good to love
noble things, to attach his life to noble allegiances. It is a good
thing to love the Church. It is a good thing to love the State.
It is a good thing to love the Home. It is good to be loyal to
one¹s father and mother, and after the same sort,
it is good to be loyal to the University of California,
which stands in life for the finest things and loftiest,
highest ideals. To the University of California then,
love herit will do your hearts good,
cheer for herit will do your lungs good.
Copyright Notice
The text of this document was written by Andrew Gross and Sean Patrick Rouse.
Copyright 1996 Sean Patrick Rouse and Andrew Gross.
Permission is granted to link to this document from web pages.
However, you are forbidden from copying or redistributing this work in any form without the express written consent of both authors.
Send comments to Sean Patrick Rouse <yoda@csua.berkeley.edu>.