Trunkloads of Memories From Fullerton’s Pachyderm Parade

Cal State Fullerton’s 2000 calendar recalls one of the highlights of the school’s history: the first (and, as far as I know, last) Intercollegiate Elephant Race, held May 11, 1962.

The event began as a joke, an outgrowth of the formation of a mythical elephant racing club at the school, then known as Orange County State College.

But when tongue-in-cheek invitations were sent out for a race, they were answered. Fourteen elephants from such institutions as Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge showed up, as did thousands of spectators and nearly 100 reporters. Controversy immediately flared over the entry of the Northrop Institute of Technology, which looked suspiciously like a giant turtle. Jack Smith, The Times’ correspondent, wrote that the turtle rumor was later “confirmed by Orange County State’s professor of zoology.”

Another credentials clash concerned Santa Ana College’s entry, Rudy, which was actually two students in an elephant costume. “The subterfuge was discovered,” Smith wrote, “when the zoologist tried to take its temperature.”

AND THEY’RE OFF! The elephant race itself was marred by just one near accident: Long Beach State College’s four-ton entry, Kinney II, rumbled 50 yards past the finish line, scattering spectators. Rider James Kitt, who hung on all the way, explained: “I dug my feet in his side and held on to his ears.” Kinney was awarded first prize.

As reporters prepared dispatches that would be sent around the world linking the college’s name to the pachyderm parade, an Orange County State English professor asked, “Put in a plug for us, will you? Say we teach Chaucer here.”

ELEPHANTS? NO. TURTLES? NO. . . . In a weekly newspaper, Brian Shafritz of Goleta spotted a raccoon quiz for readers that had been infiltrated by other critters (see accompanying).

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com