Sacramento State was once a bed of political action and attracted some of larger than life figures. In 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. preached on the campus, and in 1968 Jimi Hendrix performed live.

Long-time History Professor George Craft Jr. and University Publications Director Geri Welch took on the challenge of writing the history of Sac State, titled “The First Forty Years: 1947-1987,” which was published in 1987.

The book can be found in the library and is the major resource for Sac State’s history. The updated edition will be out in 2007 and will include the last twenty years of the university’s history.

Craft said his best sources were professors he interviewed who watched the events unfold. Craft feels much more affectionate for these “good old days” because the campus was more intimate and like a big family. According to Craft, the most memorable events were between 1967 and 1970, when faculty and administration were battling over campus issues with young liberal professors siding with the students.

Since opening in 1947, the campus has been impacted by both legends and myths. One such legend is that of Mark “The Wing” Williams, who pitched a rock 497 feet across the American River. If in doubt, check out the placard displayed right beyond the stairs leading up to the levee that marks the very spot where the feat was achieved.

Like much of America, the campus was the site for many political protests in the 1960s. The football team once had to protect the library card catalogs from being emptied onto the floor by students from the Democratic Society. It is also apparent that some things at Sac State do not change, such as parking. When the campus first moved to its current J Street location in 1953, students had to park in a sea of mud in order to get to class. Another consistent factor for the university is the large percentages of women who attend Sac State compared to other universities.

Sac State’s history also consists of controversial topics. Charles M. Goethe, who donated the Julia Morgan House and Gardens to the University, is a notorious sponsor and advocate of Eugenics, which is the science of selective reproduction.

Eldridge Cleaver, a known radical and leader of a Black Panther Militant group, spoke to tens of thousands of people at Hornet Stadium in 1968. In 1971 William Shockley, a professor of engineering from Stanford University, came to Sac State to discuss “his views on the links between intelligence and genetic differences between blacks and whites.”

The event inspired students to wear Nazi and Ku Klux Klan attire, and within the first five minutes the microphone had been seized and numerous professors attending the meeting had been punched and shoved.

Unsolved historical issues remain that include the ghost of Shasta Hall, which supposedly disrupts play openings. And no one has yet to see the hidden room in Kadema Hall that once housed a three-foot hornets nest.

Sac State, like any university, dealt with controversial issues of its time. Unlike some universities, however, serious injuries or campus vandalism has never been a part of this schools tradition or image.

Thomas Barron can be reached at [email protected]