He may have never hit a home run or scored a game-winning basket for Cal State Fullerton, but few individuals made a greater contribution to the Titan Athletics brand than Mel Franks, CSUF's sports information director (SID) from 1980 to 2012.   

Per George Horton, Fullerton's 2004 national championship-winning baseball coach: "(Mel) is the epitome of what Titan athletics represents to me.  He was under-budgeted, under-staffed, and minimally equipped, but no one could ever tell because of his brilliance. 

"He had an incredible passion for the teams and took a tremendous amount of pride in his work.  He never complained, and was loved by all." 
 
Former Senior Associate Athletic Director, Steve DiTolla, added this about Franks:  "He was the best SID ever.  Mel was the consummate professional.  His knowledge of and contribution to Titan Athletics were legendary."

Franks was born in Chicago and became a lifelong Cubs fan.  Some might say that this may have prepared him to accept the disappointments and adversity he sometimes encountered with the limited budgets associated with Cal State Fullerton sports.  "That's us," former Titan football coach, Gene Murphy, used to say. 

Growing up in Orange County, Mel attended Kennedy High School in La Palma, graduating in 1966.  As a member of the Fighting Irish, Franks lettered in football, basketball, and tennis, earning the school's Athlete of the Year award. 

Enrolling at Cal State Fullerton, Mel hoped to join the promised-for Titan football team.  Unfortunately, the program was delayed until 1970.  Franks, however, did participate on the freshman basketball team in the days when the NCAA forbade freshmen from playing on the varsity.

The 6'2", slenderly-built Franks transferred to Cypress College, playing tight end on the football team, and was a starter on the basketball team. 

Mel's next stop was Arizona State University.  ASU was known for its well-rounded journalism program.  After assessing the athletic ability among his fellow Sun Devil student-athletes, Franks chose to "retire" from intercollegiate athletics. 

Graduating in 1970, he married his wife, Nancy, and worked for 2-1/2 years at Fullerton's Daily News Tribune newspaper.  "Great experience – and low pay," Franks concluded.  Covering high school and local college sports, the Angels, and Rose Bowl games would come in very handy later on. 

Accepting a job in 1973 with the then-California Angels, Mel described it as "Better, but not great pay."  Franks gained a further wealth of experience developing media guides and game day programs.  He was also responsible for in-game content on the old Big-A message board, which many of us remember from the days before full-color video displays. 

After the birth of his two children, Franks wanted to spend more time with them and dabbled in real estate, concluding: "I got knocked out of business by 16 percent prime interest" in the inflationary 1970's. 

"So, I needed a job and applied at CSF.  The good news:  I got the job, starting on August 15, 1980.  The bad news:  We had a home football game on Sept. 6 but no press box in the do-it-yourself on-campus stadium."  The famous, "erector-set" Titan football stadium was comprised of bleachers rented from Pasadena's Tournament of Roses parade, and constructed by the players themselves around the Titan track.  Mel had to build a press box from scratch, complete with media guides, chairs, and telephone lines. 

The unique "stadium" was only used for the 1980 season.  One must wonder how skilled our student-athletes were with socket wrenches and other building tools? 

Mel added:  "I quickly found that working around college athletes and coaches was more enjoyable than the 'business' side of pro sports.  Plus, the first football season included games at Honolulu, Las Vegas and Reno, (rather than) MLB cities like Cleveland and Detroit, etc.  And over the years, I got in a couple of dozen ski days outside of Logan on basketball game days at Utah State, "Franks mentioned.  "I had fun for 32 years," he concluded. 

When asked about some of his favorite "Titan Memories," Mel was effusive: "The national championships are obviously the starting points when looking back (Baseball – 1984, 1995, 2004; Softball – 1986).  They validated the 'us against the world' mentality that permeated the programs that were competing on shoestring budgets against perennial powers. 

"I often had trouble convincing out-of-town media that we really did trade out football training camp with Pacific Christian College, or that the baseball players got dressed in the parking lot, or that Coach Judi Garman's mother had to buy her own softball tickets, or that Coach Al Mistri's wife washed the soccer uniforms."  He added with tongue firmly in cheek: "I kept threatening to write a book about the low-budget travel snafus – however, it would have killed recruiting.   What's a charter plane?"

"If I had to pick one event, it would be the men's basketball win over UNLV in Titan Gym in 1983.  Overflow crowd and we issued more than 100 media credentials.  The new guy at KNBC (Fred Roggin) had to be content with a chair under the basket.  It's also been rewarding to see how far former Titans have gone -- Olympians, All-Stars, and MLB managers, etc."

Coach Horton shared a favorite memory of his:  "In Omaha, Mel, wearing a pair of red Puma spikes gifted to him by former California Angel, Bobby Bonds (Barry's father), would sometimes shag balls for us during batting practice, like a happy little kid!"  Horton wisecracked, "He was good, but not as good as he was at his job."   

Although Franks didn't mention it, the author also has a favorite memory:  In a 1989 home football game against New Mexico State, Titan running back Mike Pringle exited the contest with 352 rushing yards.  Later, it was discovered that Pringle had been 6 yards short of breaking the existing NCAA record.

This is from an L.A. Times story dated 11/7/89:  "But in a routine review of game statistics Sunday night, Mel Franks, Fullerton's sports information director, noticed a five-yard discrepancy between the play-by-play and the tabulation kept by official statistician Dean Lohuis.  Fullerton reviewed game films Monday and found a five-yard error.

'It's an embarrassing situation,' Franks said. 'But we'd rather be embarrassed than Mike Pringle not have his yards.

"The NCAA has been informed of the revision, and will list Pringle as co-holder of the record, said Jim Wright, NCAA assistant director of communications."

When asked if there was anyone he would like to acknowledge, the humble former SID listed:  "Don Johnson, my former basketball coach at Cypress College.  He played for John Wooden in the formative years at UCLA,  and he (Wooden) never picked out a 'best' former player because you only hurt the ones you omit. 

"I will list all of the permanent athletic directors I worked under for allowing me to run a casual shop – Mike Mullally, Lynn Eilefson, Gene Murphy, Ed Carroll, Bill Shumard, John Easterbrook, and Brian Quinn.  I was blessed also with some talented assistants who went on to become, among other things, a VP for Mattel Toys; PR director of the Anaheim Ducks; golf director for the city of Anaheim;  associate AD at Texas Tech; a streaming entrepreneur;  a couple of collegiate SIDs and sportswriters; real estate agent of the year in Colorado; vice-president of CSU San Bernardino;  Scott Boras aides; and a hospital administrator."

Franks did everything stats, press releases, media guides, and even radio play-by-play.  He was very deservedly inducted into the Titan Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017, along with CSUF luminaries, George Horton (Baseball); Kurt Suzuki (Baseball); Kathy Van Wyk (Softball); and Tiffany Boyd (Softball). 

Mel and his wife of 54 years, Nancy, live in Texas, awaiting the completion of an under-construction home in the Del Webb Sun City seniors development in Georgetown, north of Austin and Round Rock. 

The Franks' have two adult children: Jason (51) and Traci (47).  They have also been blessed with four grandchildren – Owen (21), Jenna (16), James (13), and Alissa (9).  Coach Horton wanted me to add, "The Horton's love his entire family." 

Mel still keeps up with Titan athletics.  Before moving to Texas, he and Nancy were frequent visitors to Goodwin Field.  "It's nice to see that the campus support of athletics has improved financially under AD Jim Donovan," Franks said.  "No more building our own press facilities," he added wryly.