He may have never struck a home run or marked a winning basket for Cal State Fullerton, but few people have made a greater contribution to the Titan Athletics brand than Mel FranksDirector of Sports Information at CSUF (SID) from 1980 to 2012.
According to George Horton, the Winning Baseball Coach of the Fullerton Championship of Fullerton: “(MEL) is the quintessence of what Titan Athletics represents for me. He was sub -bugger, under – -agle and minimally equipped, but nobody could never say because of his brilliance.
“He had an incredible passion for the teams and was extremely proud of his work. He never complained and was adored by all. “”
Former Senior Associate Sports Director, Steve ditollaAdded this about the Franks: “He was the best SID of all time. Mel was the professional accomplished. His knowledge and contribution to Titan’s athletics were legendary.”
Franks was born in Chicago and became a cubs fan for life. Some might say that this may have prepared him to accept the disappointments and the adversity that he sometimes encountered with the limited budgets associated with Cal State Fullerton Sports. “It’s us,” said the former Titan football coach, Gene Murphy.
Having grown up in the county of Orange, Mel attended Kennedy High School at La Palma, graduated in 1966. As a member of Fighting Irish, Franks in football, basketball and tennis letters, winning the athlete for the school year.
Registering for Cal State Fullerton, Mel hoped to join the promised football team for Titan. Unfortunately, the program was delayed until 1970. Franks, however, participated in the first-year basketball team at the time when the NCAA prohibited first-year students from playing on the university.
The Franks of 6’2 “”, transferred to the Cypress College, playing a tight side in the football team and were a starter in the basketball team.
Mel’s next stop was the Arizona State University. The ASU was known for its well -balanced journalism program. After evaluating the sporting capacity among his student-athletes of Sun Devil, Franks chose to “withdraw” from intercollegial athletics.
A graduate in 1970, he married his wife, Nancy, and worked for 2-1 / 2 years in the Daily News Tribune newspaper in Fullerton. “A great experience – and a low salary,” concluded Franks. Covering the sports of the school and local colleges, the angels and the Rose Bowl matches would be very useful later.
Accepting a job in 1973 with the angels of California of the time, Mel described it as “best, but not a good salary”. Franks has acquired another multitude of experience in development of media guides and programs of the day of play. He was also responsible for the content at stake on the old Babillard Big-A, many of us remember the days preceding the color video displays.
After the birth of his two children, Franks wanted to spend more time with them and shaking in real estate, concluding: “I was knocked out with 16% of main interest” in the 1970s inflationists.
“So, I needed a job and I applied to the CSF. The good news: I obtained the position, from August 15, 1980. The bad news: we had a home football match on September 6 but no press in the Stade on the campus.” The famous football stadium Titan “Erector-Set” was made up of bleachers rented in the parade of the Pasadena roses, and built by the players themselves around the Titan track. Mel had to build a press box from zero, with multimedia guides, chairs and telephone lines.
The unique “stadium” was only used for the 1980 season. We have to ask yourself how our students athletes were qualified with socket keys and other construction tools?
Mel added: “I quickly discovered that working around athletes and university coaches was more pleasant than the” business “side of professional sports. More, the first football season included matches in Honolulu, Las Vegas and Reno, (rather than) MLB cities like Cleveland and Detroit, etc. and over the years, I have been in a few days of basketball ski. 32 years old, “he concluded.
When they asked him for some of his favorite “Titan memories”, Mel was efficient: “The national championships are obviously the starting points during research behind (Baseball – 1984, 1995, 2004; Softball – 1986). They validated the “US against La Mondia” mentality which permeated programs that competed in Shoestring budgets against the perennial powers.
“I have often had trouble convincing the media outside the city that we really exchanged a football training camp with the Pacific Christian College, or that the baseball players dressed in the parking lot, or that the mother of the Judi Garman coach had to buy her own softball tickets, or that the woman of coach Al Misstri washed the football uniforms.” He added with the tongue firmly in the cheek: “I continued to threaten to write a book on the SNAFUS of travel at a low budget – however, it would have killed recruitment. What is a charter plane?”
“If I had to choose an event, it would be the male basketball victory against the UNLV in Titan Gym in 1983. Forgrot and we have published more than 100 media identification information. The new KNBC guy (Fred Roggin) had to be contained with a chair under the basket.
Coach Horton shared his favorite memory: “To Omaha, Mel, carrying a pair of red puma tips offered by the former Angel of California, Bobby Bonds (Barry’s father), sometimes made balls for us during the practice of the striker, like a happy little child!” Horton made a jump, “he was good, but not as good as in his work.”
Although Franks did not mention it, the author also has a favorite memory: in a 1989 home football match against the state of the New Mexico, the ball carrier Titan Mike Pringle left the competition with 352 yards on the ground. Later, it was discovered that Pringle was 6 meters of breakdown from the existing NCAA record.
This is of a history of the Times dated 11/7/89: “But in a routine review of game statistics on Sunday evening, Mel FranksFullerton’s sports information director noticed a difference in five yards between play per game and the tab kept by the official statistician Dean Lohuis. Fullerton reviewed the game films on Monday and found a five yards error.
“It’s an embarrassing situation,” said Franks. “But we prefer to be embarrassed that Mike Pringle does not have his lessons.
“The NCAA has been informed of the revision and will list Pringle as a co-holder of the file, said Jim Wright, Deputy Director of NCAA Communications.”
When he was asked if there was someone he would like to recognize, the humble former Sid listed: “Don Johnson, my former basketball coach at Cypress College. He played for John Wooden in the years of UCLA training, and he (Wooden) has never chosen a player ‘player because you only get the ones that you omit.
“I will list all the permanent sports directors under which I worked for allowing me to direct an occasional shop – Mike Mullally, Lynn Eileson, Gene Murphy, Ed Carroll, Bill Shumard, John Easterbrook and Brian Quinn. I was also blessed with talented assistants who become, among other things, a vice-president of Mattel To Toys; Publication Director of the Aaheim Ducks; Anaheim; Ad-Adros Adrieurs Texas;
Franks did everything that made statistics, press releases, media guides and even a radio game. It was very deserved at the Titan Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017, with CSUS lighting, George Horton (Baseball); Kurt Suzuki (baseball); Kathy Van Wyk (softball); and Tiffany Boyd (softball).
Mel and his 54 -year -old wife Nancy live in Texas, awaiting the completion of a house under construction in the development of Del Webb City seniors in Georgetown, north of Austin and Round Rock.
The Franks have two adult children: Jason (51) and Traci (47). They were also blessed with four grandchildren – Owen (21), Jenna (16), James (13) and Alissa (9). Coach Horton wanted me to add: “Horton’s love all his family.”
Mel still follows Titan Athletics. Before moving to Texas, he and Nancy were frequent visitors to Goodwin Field. “It is nice to see that the support of the campus at athletics has improved financially under the announcement Jim Donovan“Said Franks.” No more construction of our own press facilities, “he added with irony.