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Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Gary T. Rogers Gary T. Rogers: Oral Histories on the Management of Intercollegiate Athletics at UC Berkeley: 1960 - 2014 Interviews conducted by John Cummins in 2011 Copyright © 2017 by The Regents of the University of California ii Since 1954 the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Gary T. Rogers dated May 11, 2011. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Gary T. Rogers “Gary T. Rogers: Oral Histories on the Management of Intercollegiate Athletics at UC Berkeley: 1960 – 2014” conducted by John Cummins in 2011, Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2017. iii Table of Contents—T. GARY ROGERS Interview 1: May 11, 2011 Audio File 1 1 Family background and early athletic experiences — Freshman year at Cal — Joining the crew team — Rowing — Teamwork and trust, in business and in the boat — Competition — Life lessons — Rogers’ college experience: balancing academics, crew, and other extracurricular activities — Rogers’ decision to attend Harvard Business School — Rogers’ All-University Athletic Award at Cal — “There’s no such thing as can’t; there’s only won’t.” — Moving to Cambridge, starting a family, meeting financial challenges — Jim Lemmon’s aphorisms— An attempt at putting together an Olympic trials crew team — Enticing Steve Gladstone with an offer of a new Cal boathouse — The California Rowing Club and the T. Gary Rogers Rowing Center — The Cal Crew Forever Fund — Changes in collegiate athletics — Demographics at the Harvard Business School — Funding athletics at public or private universities — Cal’s decision-making about priorities — Revenues for education in California — Bear Backers and Cal Sports — Cal’s relationship to donors — Investment performance of UC’s endowment — Fighting the effort to turn crew into a club sport — Funding for intercollegiate athletics — Title IX — Chancellor’s decision about cutting athletics — Sandy Barbour — Rogers’ donations to Cal crew — Mismanagement of Cal Crew Forever’s donation through insurance policies — John Wilton — Cutting sports and then restoring them — Perspective on alumni relations at Cal and at Harvard Interview 2: August 5, 2011 Audio File 2 33 Steve Gladstone becomes Athletic Director after a search — Gladstone’s and Rogers’ meeting about the AD position — Department infrastructure —— Mark Stephens — The hiring of Jeff Tedford — The AD’s team — Gladstone’s decision to leave, and an unfulfilled promise to Mark Stephens — Chancellor Robert Birgeneau steps in — A new hiring committee — Steve Gladstone’s return to coaching crew — Harry Parker, Gladstone’s mentor — Tim McLaren, Mike Teti — Musical chairs in the world of crew — Olympic crew — Things fall apart— A failed fundraising effort — Gladstone’s hasty departure from the California Rowing Club —The beginnings of women’s crew at Cal and Rogers’ changing views about it — Rogers’ involvement on the High Performance Center’s subcommittee of the Olympic Committee — Title IX and discrepancies in funding of men’s and women’s crew teams — Mike Teti and the Cal program — Bernhard Stomporowski and the Cal Rowing Club — The fate of ten athletes Gladstone recruited before leaving Cal — Rogers’ role as a donor at many levels of crew — Bruce Snyder’s departure, salary issues, donors and university administration— Changes in donor involvement as state support for education iv declines — Rogers and fundraising for Cal Crew Forever — The donor base for crew and other sports — Rogers’ $15 million donation to Cal crew — Sandy Barbour, Floti Mellis, and a strange response to a generous offer — Speculation about the impact of Title IX — Comparison of donor relations at UCB and Harvard Business School — Rogers’ interest in the quality of writing among MBAs — Partnerships and management of university endowments — Paul Wachter — The Swensen model of investment management — Faculty reductions at Berkeley — Poaching Cal faculty — Money — The 80/20 rule — “A chancellor is not a CEO.” — Views on the new Cal stadium — Managing seismic risk — Cost-benefit analysis — Spieker Plaza (never built) — More about the rate of return on Berkeley’s endowment — Foundations and the Regents — Cal’s poor business practices — Comparisons to the practices of other elite universities — Intercollegiate athletics — At Cal, “Athletic fundraising has been a joke.” — Craig Morton, Scott Biddy — The “pathetic” state of alumni fundraising at Berkeley — An outdated fundraising model — Steve Burch and Safeway, George Halvorson and Kaiser — Their expert advice not taken — Economic doldrums and confidence — Liberals and conservatives — The reunion of former chancellors — Financing excellence at Berkeley through tuition increases or other sources of revenue — The university as a place for new ideas — Politics, education, and economics — Optimism and persistence [End of Interview] 1 Interview 1: May 11, 2011 Begin Audio File 1 01-00:00:01 Cummins: Okay, this is May 11, 2011. This is the first interview with Gary Rogers, who is currently doing an oral history with Vic Geraci on Dreyer’s Ice Cream. Principally, Gary was the founding owner of Dreyer’s, and all of that information is there, so these interviews will be dedicated to athletics, primarily. Thank you very much for agreeing to do this. So, why don’t you begin by talking just about your own youth, your own interest in athletics and where it led you, and why it was important. 01-00:00:56 Rogers: Well, it’s really a story of serendipity. I largely grew up in Marin County, as the son of a mid-level engineer at the Pacific Telephone Company and a very traditional wife. I was the first of three boys, and I would characterize my high school days as being pretty geeky. I did go out for football; my father had been a football player and I was a third-string guard. Maybe in my entire football career of three years I saw thirty seconds of action. [laughing] I was the kid they put in when the game was either clearly won or clearly lost, for the last three plays, because I worked hard—but I wasn’t any good. And because my mother had been a tennis coach and a tennis aficionado in her youth at the high school level, I also tried out for the tennis team. And there again, I wasn’t any good. So when I came to Cal I was following in my father’s footsteps. [He] had been an engineer at Cal. I was a typical freshman, I guess, scared of the academic load and all the stories that they told then, and probably still now, where you get together in that big room your first day at Cal and they tell you look to your left and look to your right—only one of you will be here on graduation day! I was quite taken with that. In those days we went down to what was still Harmon Gym to register, and it was literally manually going from table to table picking courses and activities. So I went through that and I was leaving the gym, and out in one of those corridors as you left the gym was this little table, and a guy jumped up and introduced himself and asked me if I would be interested in joining the crew. And I didn’t know it at the time, but he had opposite his table a little tape on the wall that was at about six feet two, and so as freshman came by that broke that tape—and I don’t even think I really broke it, but I was close—he would recruit them. In those days that’s how the crew was recruited. And I didn’t know what he was talking about. I didn’t know if crew was sailing or water polo or something else. I didn’t have any idea what it was, and he started talking about rowing in boats. I had absolutely no interest. 01-00:03:47 Cummins: And who was this person? 2 01-00:03:48 Rogers: His name was John Halberg.

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