Hall of Fame
The man who helped start it all as Cal State L.A.’s first athletic director, Ferron Losee held the top spot for 13 years from 1949-1963 while founding the intercollegiate athletics program and starting a football team at a time when other colleges were dropping the sport.
Under his guidance, Cal State L.A. was proclaimed, “The West’s Newest Athletic Power,” while winning national attention in football, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, baseball and basketball.
Losee was the president of the California Collegiate Athletic Association three times and he was a five-year member of the NCAA Public Relations Committee.
After a plane crash in 1960 decimated the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football team, Losee spearheaded the Mercy Bowl Football Game on Thanksgiving Day in 1961. The game raised $170,000 to help the survivors. Cal Poly officials dedicated their annual Poly Royale to Losee, making him an honorary lifetime member of the student body.
Losee also served as associate Dean of Students at Cal State L.A. and later as president of Dixie College in St. George, Utah.
