B.F. Sisk; Central Valley Ex-Congressman

Former U.S. Rep. B.F. Sisk, a tire salesman who went on to become a longtime political powerbroker in Washington, has died at the age of 84.

Sisk, who died Wednesday, represented a portion of the Central Valley from 1955 to 1979.

The moderate Democrat worked with six presidents and four House speakers during his tenure, but always said that his original election to the 12th District seat was a “political accident.”

In 1954, when he was general manager for General Tire and Rubber Co., Sisk was invited to meet with a Fresno lawyer and a labor newspaper editor. He thought he was going to make a tire sale, but they persuaded him to run for Congress.

During his tenure, Sisk served on the powerful House Rules Committee and the House Administration Committee.

Sisk’s most notable Central Valley contribution is the San Luis Unit of the Central Valley Project. The project includes the vast San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos and 115 miles of irrigation canals. At more than 2 million acre-feet, the San Luis is the world’s largest reservoir not fed by a natural stream.

Sisk also served on a committee that was created after the Soviet Union sent Sputnik into orbit in 1957. The committee created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a move that climaxed with the United States landing Apollo 11 on the moon in 1969.

After his retirement from Congress, Sisk returned to Fresno, where he was active in sports projects, particularly as founder of Fresno’s California Bowl football effort.

Born Bernice Frederick Sisk in rural Texas, the congressman worked at a service station and a cotton gin before moving to Fresno to take agricultural jobs in 1937. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, he volunteered at age 31 for officer candidate school and worked as a flight dispatcher.

Sisk is survived by his second wife, Virgie Mitchell, two sisters, two daughters, two stepdaughters, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.