David Fuller ’53, J.D. ’56, writes: “I have to thank my older Brother, Everett (Bud) E. Fuller ’45 for sponsoring me as a Sigma Phi Pledge, thus enabling me to enjoy seven years as a Cal fraternity member from 1949 to 1956, and provide a very exciting and fulfilling college experience. Cal at that time was already a premier University, and Berkeley was a great place to live. WWII had ended several years before, but the Cal student body was still filled with many returning veterans anxious to complete their studies, marry, buy a home and start a family. Opportunity was everywhere. The population was poised to work together to rebuild and progress in a peaceful yet vibrant society. There were no riots, looting or similar destructive demonstrations and behavior to speak of. We grew up, played and studied with people of all races with no apparent hate or discrimination. The police and others in authority were respected, and society’s laws, rules and norms were mainly followed. Those who broke the law were for the most part dealt with fairly and held accountable for their crimes. People had differing views but settled them peacefully within the framework of our democracy.
The football team under coach Pappy Waldorf played in several consecutive Rose Bowl games with the help of all American fullback Jackie Jensen. Three of my fraternity brothers were first string starters on the team, offensive tackles Glenn Gulvan and Don Curran, and All American and future 49er linebacker Matt Hazeltine. On the Friday nights before the Stanford game each year there was a huge parade right through downtown Berkeley followed by a big rally at the Greek Theater. The fraternity membership had a wide and diverse spectrum of varied interests, including athletics, student affairs, as well as serious study. There were many social and coed activities, all of which made interaction with fellow members and many sororities an interesting and informative experience. I served one semester as President during my senior year and lived in a special room reserved for that office that came with a big balcony overlooking Piedmont Ave. where you could wave and interact with everyone that passed by below.
I recall several fraternity activities that might be of interest to both current students and those attending Cal over the years since the early 1950s. The first involves a business carried on by a series of members of the my fraternity. It was a “Sandwich Man” route handed down from one member to another over several years whereby night time snacks such as sandwiches, fruit, ice cream and milk were brought into the sororities and fraternities for sale. It provided a pretty good income to pay for any incidental expenses a student might need to cover. In the Spring 2015 issue of the fraternity’s quarterly publication called the “Sig Bear,” an article was published written by the then Sandwich Man describing how he came to buy the business for $50 and listed the members who had owned it before him. He also described the 1930 Model A Ford Coupe and sales equipment with a storage locker over the garage that came with the deal. My older brother, Bud Fuller, while attending Cal acquired the business, including the Model A, and ran it until he graduated the Spring before I arrived at Cal and joined the fraternity. He gave me the business and the car to help me meet my own financial needs, and I went out every night during my first semester as the Sandwich Man. Unfortunately, I also undertook to be the house dishwasher to pay for my room and board and used the sandwich route money to pay other expenses. To my dismay at the end of the first semester I found that the results of my failure to do much studying put me on probation, prompting me to immediately give up the dishwashing job, close the sandwich route, live at my home in Berkeley and pay attention to my studies. That summer I got a job as a playground director at a local grade school working every afternoon, all day Saturday and full time all summer. I held this job for the rest of my undergraduate years at Cal with its steady income and reasonable hours. I kept the Model A for many years before giving it to one of my younger brothers, and have saved a photo of the five Fuller brothers sitting around the open trunk with my brother Bud in the center and myself the last person sitting to his right. I had just reached the ripe old age of 93 when this was written, and was the last survivor of the seven children making up my Fuller family.
A second activity was an engagement custom that I am not sure is still followed as much as it was during my days at Cal. When a fraternity member became engaged, he would announce it and pass cigars for all to enjoy at the Monday Night dinner table where all members were required to attend in coat and tie. After dinner the entire membership would walk to the future bride’s sorority, in this case the Delta Gamma house, and serenade the engaged couple followed by refreshments. No liquor was served, as all alcoholic beverages were banned within one mile of campus including the inside of fraternities and sororities. At our serenade JoAnne Morris, my pinned Sig sister and future wife for seventy years, and I were joined by the fraternity house german shepherd, Sig. I saved a copy of a photograph of the event with us holding the dog that later appeared in a newspaper article announcing our engagement.
The third activity involved the formal dinner dances that each sorority and fraternity held twice a year at a bay area hotel, country or yacht club, where all the men wore tuxes and the women beautiful formal dresses. Live music of the swing era with a generous amount of Glenn Miller and Les Brown pieces were usually performed at these dances, which were preceded by a number of individual private cocktail parties to warm things up with a few alcoholic beverages. I bought a tux for the first and only time of my life to use during my college years to attend these formal events as well the fraternity initiations which required the members to attend wearing tuxes. I even found a photo taken prior to one of these events to illustrate the clothes worn at the time.
I was fortunate to be able to stay three more years at Cal attending Law School, and during that time my wife, now JoAnne Fuller, and I were able to continue to enjoy the fellowship with my fraternity members at many social events. Many of my fraternity brothers became lifelong friends with whom I still maintain contact, and although Pappy Waldorf no longer coaches the Cal Football team, I continue to be a lifelong season ticket holder and attend as many games as I can traveling from my home in Chico, California.”
