School, City Officials Praise Efforts Behind the Titan Sports Complex : Ground breaking: Fullerton City Councilman Dick Ackerman is thanked for backing the facility.

Heaps of credit and praise were bestowed upon several individuals Friday at Cal State Fullerton during a ground-breaking ceremony for the Titan Sports Complex, which is scheduled for construction beginning this fall.

But Fullerton football Coach Gene Murphy thought it was appropriate to single out one person, Fullerton City Councilman Dick Ackerman, as the driving force behind the project.

“Thanks to Dick Ackerman and the City of Fullerton, this thing is a reality,” said Murphy, who was first promised an on-campus stadium in 1983. “There has been other support, but if not for Dick’s continual tenacity, this ground-breaking ceremony would have never happened.”

Ackerman, who has served two separate terms as Fullerton’s mayor, was involved in the project when it was first discussed in the late 1970s. He developed the plan by which the school would use revenue from an on-campus hotel to help pay for the facility.

He has been on the sports complex building committee for the past decade and has endured numerous setbacks that have delayed the project and several price increases that have forced school officials to scale back plans for the project.

“But he never got tired of it,” said Buck Johns, an Orange County developer and long-time Titan football booster. “He had the kind of vision to see it through. He’s the man of the hour.”

The complex, which is expected to completed for the 1992 football season, will include a 10,000-seat, multipurpose stadium that will be used for football and soccer, a 1,500-seat baseball stadium, two softball fields, a track, tennis courts and a practice field.

Taylor Woodrow Construction California Ltd.’s low-bid of $7.9 million to build the project was approved Tuesday by the Fullerton City Council. Final approval of the contract is expected in September when the Cal State University board of trustees votes on the selection, and construction is expected to begin shortly thereafter.

“This is a big moment--we’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Fullerton athletic director Ed Carroll said. “I can’t articulate what this means to our athletic program. We’ve accomplished so much with so little in terms of facilities, but this will have a positive impact on all of our programs.”

Among those in attendance at Friday’s ceremony were state senator Edward Royce (R-Anaheim), school president Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb, and Neale Stoner, who was athletic director at Fullerton from 1972-79 and is now executive director of the California Raisin Bowl.

“It’s hard to believe we started this project back when I was here and Don Shields was school president,” Stoner said. “I’m surprised it took this long, but it’s a great shot in the arm for the school and the city. This is desperately needed.”