Hall of Fame
Dr. Anthony Evans
His vision and leadership was major
factor in growth of university, creation of athletics
On Sept. 17, 1984, three months after it achieved university status, Cal State San Bernardino and its president, Dr. Anthony Evans, were notified that that the university had been accepted as a member of NCAA Division 3 and authorized the school to compete in eight sports – four each for men and women.
Five days later, on Sept. 22, 1984, the university won the first intercollegiate game ever played on the university campus – a 4-3 men’s soccer victory over University of Redlands.
It was one proud moment for Dr. Evans whose vision and initiative led to the feasibility study headed by history professor emeritus Ward McAfee to lay the groundwork for starting an intercollegiate sports program and a student fee initiative that provided funding.
When he arrived at Cal State in 1982, Dr. Evans said he found a need to “add more vitality in the area of student life, to strengthen its town-gown ties and to achieve a more balanced reputation to enhance its appeal to prospective new students.”
He said, “I had no answer for why Cal State San Bernardino should continue to be the only one of the CSU campuses at that time without an intercollegiate program and the only one without a physical education major for its students.” At one of his early campus convocations he urged faculty and staff to make Cal State a campus with “more spirit, more élan, more character….”
The athletic program that started with 88 student-athletes in eight sports in 1984-85. Tonight the athletics department is celebrating 25 years of intercollegiate athletics with 11 sports teams and over 200 student-athletes. Through the years, some of those teams have won 16 conference titles, nine NCAA regional titles and advanced to three NCAA Final Fours.
One team, men’s golf, has made it to the national championship tournament 13 times and finished third twice.
During his tenure 15 major buildings were added to the campus representing 700,000 square feet of assigned space and valued at $150 million, a 113-percent increase in the university’s physical plant. One of the most prominent of those major buildings was the Coussoulis Arena and Health & Physical Education complex that opened in the fall of 1995.
In an interview for the department’s 20th anniversary in 2003-04, Dr. Evans noted that “I believe athletics has helped to strengthen student life, has facilitated improved community relations and has made the university more appealing. It is important that it has not detracted from academic programs, which will always be the heart and soul of the university.”
Former vice president for university relations, Judith Rymer, once said of Dr. Evans, “His vision and forward-looking leadership have helped the university come of age.”
For his vision and accomplishment as a builder of great things at Cal State San Bernardino as well as for his tremendous support of intercollegiate athletics as the university’s second president, Coyote Athletics is pleased to honor Dr. Anthony Evans as a founding member of the Coyote Athletics Hall of Fame – Class of 2009.
