Around the Fountain
‘Bulldog Born, Bulldog Bred’
Jim Sweeney (top photo) was posthumously inducted into the Fresno State football Ring of Honor at the Bulldogs’ sold-out home opener on Sept. 9. His name was placed atop the press box alongside the nine former players whose jerseys were previously retired, including his son Kevin Sweeney who addressed the crowd at halftime. Jim Sweeney compiled a record of 143-75-3 in two stints as the Bulldogs coach, from 1976-77 and 1980-96. He led the Bulldogs to eight conference championships and was known for his motivational tactics, including coining the phrase, “Bulldog born, Bulldog bred, I’ll be a Bulldog ’til the day I’m dead.”
‘Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere’
Pat Hill became the second former Bulldogs football coach inducted into the Ring of Honor on Oct. 27 at a sold-out Valley Children’s Stadium. Hill succeeded Jim Sweeney and coached Fresno State for 15 years. With a record of 112-80, Hill elevated Fresno State’s brand with his hard-nosed, blue-collar identity, coining phrases like “anyone, anytime, anywhere” in regard to his philosophy of scheduling and beating some of the biggest-name football programs in the country. Hill led the Bulldogs as high as a No. 8 national ranking in 2001 and regularly had the team competing for top 25 status.
Victor E. Bobblehead
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled three officially licensed, limited-edition bobbleheads featuring Fresno State’s live mascot. The bobbleheads feature the university’s current live mascot, Victor E. Bulldog IV, the recently retired live mascot Victor E. Bulldog III, and a dual bobblehead featuring costumed mascot TimeOut with Victor E. Bulldog III. The bobbleheads, which are individually numbered to 2,023, are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s online store, just in time for the holidays.
M.K. Gandhi Center: Inner Peace and Sarvodaya
The recently established M.K. Gandhi Center: Inner Peace and Sarvodaya opened its physical space on Oct. 18 on the third floor of the Fresno State Library. The Gandhi Center will offer a space for students to come together and discuss Gandhian principles, including human dignity, social justice and equity, as well as explore creative ways for developing inner peace and a culture of sarvodaya — “uplift of all.”
Reintroduced into wild
Fresno State — in partnership with the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, the Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — reintroduced 10 blunt-nosed leopard lizards to the Panoche Plateau on May 17. “This is a great moment for the recovery of the blunt-nosed leopard lizard. In just three years, we went from a dire situation with this population of lizards to a day that gives me hope that the species will thrive in the Panoche Hills,” says Michael Fris, field supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office.
Poetry Foundation Fellowship
Fresno writer Roda Avelar, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Fresno State in 2020, won a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. Among the largest awards offered to young poets in the United States, the $27,000 prize is intended to support exceptional U.S. poets between 21 and 31 years of age. As an undergraduate, Avelar worked as an editorial assistant for the university’s national literary magazine, The Normal School.
