June 21, 2006

Former UC Davis Sports Information Jim Doan passed away last week at the age of 66 and will be missed by his Aggie family and friends. Graveside services at Davis Cemetery (820 Pole Line Road) will be held on Monday, June 26 at 1 p.m. A Memorial Service will follow at Davis Community Church (402 C Street) at 2 p.m. Following is a column by Bob Dunning of the Davis Enterprise, published on June 20 in which he reminisces fondly about Jim Doan.

FAREWELL TO A FRIEND ... UC Davis lost a friend it can't replace when longtime sports information director Jim Doan died late last week in his Davis home at the age of 66 ... starting in 1963 after graduating from Fresno State, Doan served the campus for 30 years ... he was UCD's first fulltime SID, in charge of getting the word out to the press on the comings and goings of literally thousands of Aggie athletes over the years ... he was the best friend a sportswriter could have, for he knew an 8-to-5 workday schedule didn't generally suit the needs of journalists on deadline ... many was the time I'd call Jim at home at 2 in the morning to doublecheck how many yards Mike Moroski threw for in that dramatic fourth-quarter comeback or how many free throws Audwin Thomas made in that heartstopping win over Sac State ... Jim was such an Aggie loyalist that he always related the date of the birth of his son, Brian, to the largest margin of victory in UCD men's basketball history, a 122-71 shellacking of Nevada in Hickey Gym ... he was the master of minutiae, offering tasty tidbits no one else in his profession had thought of ... you'd be watching a game, taking notes and minding your own business and all of a sudden he'd offer, unsolicited, that "this is the first time an Aggie kicker under 5-foot-6 has successfully kicked a field goal of 40 yards or more in the first five minutes of the third quarter against Cal Poly, though three have tried and failed." ... we'd generally roll our eyes at such offerings - which we lovingly referred to as "Doan's Pills" - but more often than not, Jim's items would work their way into our finished product ... has was also big on punctuality ... I remember once showing up at a road football game with my friend and fellow sportswriter, Mick Heller, just 30 seconds before kickoff ... Jim raised an eyebrow as only Jim could, glanced at his watch and said "Nice of you guys to show up," to which Mick replied "Hey, we're early." ... and then, pointing at the 0-0 tie on the scoreboard, Heller added: "Did we miss something I'm not aware of?" ... long ago I'd take my two young children with me to Aggie football games at Toomey Field and, with Jim's permission, park them in the back of the press box with their toys and books and crayons while I covered the game ... since this was clearly Jim Doan's place and just as clearly the only place they ever saw him, in their young minds the press box became known as "Jim Doan's house." ... they thought he lived there, and in many ways, he did ... he lived on that campus with his heart for over 30 years, and even when the two parted ways, he never stopped caring about the many, many Aggie athletes and coaches who were his extended family ... in his last email to me just last week, he took great pride in pointing out that the current Aggie baseball team had beaten two participants - Oregon State and Fullerton - in this week's College World Series ... he was an Aggie to the end and all of us in the UC Davis family will miss him and the many contributions he made to our lives ...