One Hundred Years of Art
All around campus are statues and artwork ranging from abstract bronzes to stone carvings to golden bears. There are about two dozen permanent works of outdoor art on the campus itself, in addition to pieces displayed in the Berkeley Art Museum’s sculpture garden.
The very first statue brought to the campus arrived about a century ago and has one of the most interesting histories. Called "The Football Players," it stands on a stone pedestal between Strawberry Creek and the Valley Life Sciences Building. It has been there since May 12, 1900, when it was unveiled in front of an enthusiastic crowd of students, faculty, and alumni.
"The Football Players" was created in the mid-1890s by Douglas Tilden, a prominent artist with many connections to Berkeley. Tilden was deaf and, as a child, came to live at the California School for the Deaf, which used to be located on the grounds where the Clark Kerr Campus stands today.
After graduating from the Deaf School, Tilden was admitted to Berkeley. If he had attended, he would have been one of the first disabled students at Cal. Instead, Tilden decided to study in Paris, the center of the art world at the time. There he began to work in bronze, and created several works of sculpture that won awards, including "The Football Players."
Some art historians regard Tilden as the first sculptor from the western United States—then seen as a frontier and not quite civilized region—to gain an international reputation. A number of his statues are still in prominent locations, including the "Mechanics Monument" on Market Street in San Francisco, which depicts several workers operating a huge metal press in a factory.
Tilden attracted various art patrons. One of them, San Francisco Mayor James Duvall Phelan, purchased "The Football Players." Phelan had a flair for dramatic gestures and decided to use the statue to gain some publicity. In 1898 he offered it to the first school, Cal or Stanford, to win two consecutive Big Games in football.
That may not seem like a big deal today, but in 1898 the Big Game had only been played since 1892—and Cal still had yet to win even one game! Stanford had won four times, and the teams had tied three times. This was a source of embarrassment for Cal, which was the bigger and older school.
In 1898 however—perhaps with the incentive of the football statue trophy—things finally came together for the Golden Bears. With a new coach, Garrett Cochran (who was paid the then-substantial sum of $1,500 for his services), Cal posted a record of 8-0-2, including a 22–0 win over Stanford. Cal fans rejoiced, and were even more ecstatic in 1899 when Cal went 7-1-1, including a 30–0 win over Stanford. Cal had convincingly won the trophy with a combined score of 52–0 over two years , and the statue was brought to the campus in triumph.
The pedestal of the statue carries the names of the
players on the two winning Cal teams. There are so few names because in
those days there were not separate offensive or defensive squads—each
player competed for the entire game, switching to play different positions
when the ball changed hands.
Perhaps because the statue was created in Europe, the two players it depicts are dressed in clothes that don’t look much like American football uniforms. Even the bronze ball one is holding is something of a hybrid between an American football, a rugby ball, and perhaps even a soccer or kick ball.
In recent decades "The Football Players" statue has started to take on a new dimension of significance. Because of its depiction of two young men sharing a tender moment, many now see it as an informal gay monument for the campus. Some historians also feel there are reasons to believe Tilden might have been gay or bisexual. Tilden eventually came back to Berkeley to live and work in a studio on Channing Way, where he died after a long artistic career. By then his popularity had waned, but he had left an enduring monument on the campus.
"The Football Players" statue set the tone for fine art on the campus grounds and was followed in later years by an array of other artworks. In early 2000 this collection turned 100 years old. It now includes works by not only the famous Alexander Calder, creator of the mobile, but his father, A. Stirling Calder, who created the bronze "Last Dryad" sculpture in Faculty Glade. Other notable sculptures are the head of Abraham Lincoln on the south side of Sather Tower, sculpted by Gutzon Borglum who created Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and the two marble "Dog Lions" south of Durant Hall, brought from China and given to the campus in 1934.
— Steve Finacom , Analyst
University History Project
Major milestones in Cal
history: Over a century ago...
The years 1899 and 1900 were a momentous time in the history of the University
of California. Here are some of the events from a century ago that established
major campus traditions and institutions.
April 15, 1899
Cal students capture the "Stanford Axe" following a baseball
game in San Francisco and, after a chase through the streets, bring it
back to Berkeley by ferry. Eventually the Axe becomes the trophy of the
Big Game and an enduring symbol of college rivalry. (See the Student
history section)
October 3, 1899
Benjamin Ide Wheeler arrives on campus and speaks to the assembled students,
telling them, "It does a man good to love noble things, to attach
his life to noble allegiances...it is good to be loyal to the University,
which stands in life for the purest things and the cleanest, loftiest
ideals. Cheer for her; it will do your lungs good. Love her; it will do
your heart and life good."
The next day Wheeler is inaugurated as UC President. During his 20-year
tenure the campus becomes a unified community, enrollment grows by more
than 300%, many new buildings are constructed and new academic departments
created, and the University of California rises from near anonymity to
become the biggest and one of the best in the country.
Thanksgiving Day, 1899
Cal beats Stanford 30-0 in the Big Game, marking its second consecutive
Big Game victory and finishing with a two season record of 15-1-3 under
Coach Garrett Cochran. This is Cal's first football dynasty and the win
brings the Golden Bears "The Football Players" statue as a victory
trophy and the first permanent work of art on the Berkeley campus grounds.
December 3, 1899
The Phoebe Hearst International Architectural Competition concludes. The
three-year competition, financed by one of UC's major benefactors and
first woman Regent, attracted worldwide attention and interest and produced
a comprehensive physical plan for the Berkeley campus with a grand vision
of new buildings and facilities. With the hiring of architect John Galen
Howard, the new campus began to take shape in the early 20th century,
resulting in most of the major buildings we know today, from Doe Library
to Hearst Mining and Sather Tower to Sather Gate. It wasn't long before
people were calling Berkeley "the Athens of the West," a new
center of higher learning on the shores of the Pacific. Look for detailed
information on the Hearst plan at the University History Project website
(sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory).
May 12, 1900
Phoebe Hearst wields a shovel to symbolically break ground for the construction
of University House, the first building in the Phoebe Hearst Architectural
Plan for the campus.
1900
UC Summer Session classes are held for the first time.