Pride of the Valley: Athletics unites and engages alumni and fans like nothing else can

By Eddie Hughes (’05)

Illustration by Todd Graves (’03)

Brandon Eachus remembers exactly when he started going to Fresno State football games. It was 1993 and the Bulldogs were coming off an unforgettable season capped by a dominant Freedom Bowl win over USC in Anaheim.

Eachus’ grandparents, Ken and Kay Scheidt, were avid Red Wavers who attended football and basketball games. That season, they took Brandon and his brother Randy with them to a football game. An older man sitting next to the Scheidts gave the boys his extra tickets so they could sit next to their grandparents week after week, Brandon recalls.

“We went to every single game. My grandparents never bought extra tickets because the man continued to give tickets to them,” Brandon says.

The Eachus brothers enjoyed it so much that eventually their grandmother started buying them a family four-pack of season tickets each year for Christmas. Eachus remembers sitting a few rows behind the Carr family in the early 2000s when David Carr was the starting quarterback.

When the boys turned 16 years old, they organized a tailgating group for family and friends – and it has become a family tradition through generations.

Now, every fall gameday, Brandon Eachus and his wife, Nicole, pull into their picnic tailgating spot in the Red Lot with their sleek black trailer meticulously stocked with food and drink. The Eachus family – who are part of Fresno State’s Meyers Champions Circle that recognizes major philanthropic giving – set up an inflatable white castle bounce house for the children, including their own – Ellery, Goldie and Easton. Though Kay Scheidt has since passed away, Ken still attends every tailgate, as do Eachus’ parents, his sister and plenty of other family and friends.

“My parents go to every single game with me now,” Eachus says. “They come to every tailgate. My grandpa still goes–he walks from his house over to the tailgate. It’s a new tradition now for my kids.”

Such is the power of Fresno State athletics. As the porchlight of the university, Bulldogs sporting events are oftentimes the first touchpoint connecting Central Valley youth to Fresno State. It’s a way to engage people of all ages and make them feel like they’re part of the university. There is potential that every fan who grows up rooting for the Bulldogs and wearing the gear will also explore the university’s academic offerings for themselves or their loved ones.

There is perhaps nothing else in the Valley that unites people quite like Fresno State athletics. Fresno State football is the only event in the region that can attract more than 40,000 people from all backgrounds six times per year and rally them behind one common cause – regardless of race, religion or socio-economic status.

“You know what a melting pot we are ethnically and politically. We’re also in a position where, when you look at sports loyalty, Fresno State is the single commonality that goes all the way from Modesto to Bakersfield and it might make inroads in Sacramento,” says longtime Valley broadcaster Tony D’addato. “You tell me what else other than Fresno State athletics unites the Valley like that.”

Think about the rising tide that was the Red Wave after the 1983 NIT men’s basketball championship at Madison Square Garden. Remember the 1998 parade when Fresno State softball won the school’s first Division I team national championship? How about baseball’s “Underdogs to Wonderdogs” 2008 College World Series win that captured hearts all over the country? And there’s the football program that’s won 10 or more games in four of the past five seasons (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020), and just beat Boise State in the Mountain West championship in dominating fashion.

Moments like those – and so many others – brought pride to a Valley that all too often fights an inferiority complex. It’s those moments when the Red Wave swells and the people of the Valley can puff out their chests knowing they settled it on the field.

Jackson Moore says some of his fondest memories growing up were going to Bulldogs games with his family. Moore’s grandfather, Al Janzen, was president of the Bulldog Foundation in the early 1990s when Moore was born, and he regularly attended games with his parents as a young child, including during that 1992 Freedom Bowl season.

Now, as publisher of BarkBoard.com, Moore regularly reports on Fresno State athletics news and oversees an active fan message board full of recruiting scoops, fan banter and opinions on just about everything related to the Bulldogs.

“I view Fresno State and especially Fresno State football, as the one thing the community can really rally around that also gets national attention,” Moore says.

Without Fresno State sports, “I think about all the memories with my family that wouldn’t take place going forward or with the next generation.”

From the pride it instills in the community, to the superstar athletes like Aaron Judge, Davante Adams, Paul George and Derek Carr, to the alumni who go pro in something other than sports, Fresno State athletics is woven into the tapestry of what makes our region special.

Can you imagine the Valley without the Bulldogs? What a void it would be.

– Eddie Hughes is the senior editor for Fresno State Magazine.

Can you imagine the Valley without Fresno State?

Neither can we. And that’s why, with continued support from alumni and the community, Fresno State is committed to bringing pride to the Valley, competing at a national level and creating championship experiences for about 400 student-athletes who represent the university in competition each year.

At a glance

39,067 average football fans per game, highest attendance in the Mountain West

4.3 million combined TV viewers for Fresno State’s past two football games, including 2.3 million viewers for the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl and nearly 2 million viewers for the Mountain West championship

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Fresno State was one of just five universities to appear in both the college football AP top 25 poll and the Washington Monthly top 40 national universities ranking, alongside Michigan, Washington, Notre Dame and UCLA