The 1960 Cal Poly football team will receive an honorary induction into the Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 29.
Cal Poly will host two campus events honoring the team and the unique legacy it brings to the history of the university.
A late-afternoon private ceremony will be held dedicating Mustang Memorial Plaza, a 15,000-square-foot space honoring the 18 members of the Cal Poly family who lost their lives in the tragic Oct. 29, 1960 plane crash at Toledo Municipal Airport.
In the plaza, each of the 18 individuals who perished will be honored with a biographical plaque mounted on a copper pillar standing at the height of each person. In addition, other plaques, including those previously placed at the University Union Mustang Plinth and the memorial Rock placed at the base of the stadium flag pole, will be rededicated.
In an evening ceremony on campus, Cal Poly Athletics will host its annual Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in which the entire 1960 Cal Poly football team will receive an honorary induction into the Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame.
Families of those who perished, team members who survived the crash, coaches and other members of the 1960 team have received personal invitations to return to campus and join past Hall of Fame inductees and special guests for this very special honor and recognition.
On Sept. 30, Alex G. Spanos Stadium and Mustang Memorial Field will be formally dedicated during a pre-game ceremony which also will include the public opening of Mustang Memorial Plaza. Cal Poly plays Southern Utah in a Great West Football Conference game that night at 6.
Alex G. Spanos Stadium, scheduled to open this season, will expand seating of the former Mustang Stadium to 10,000 seats and also includes widening and improvements to the existing field, new lighting and public address systems, a press box with press and game staff areas, two radio suites, one television booth and selected reception areas.
The Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame currently has 90 members, including one athlete twice – Cecil Turner as a football player and as a member of the 1968 men’s 440-yard relay quartet.
The 1960 football squad will be the first team entry into the Hall of Fame.
Sports Editor’s Note:
Game/event recaps and coverage of the Cal Poly football, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, cross country and men’s and women’s golf teams will begin to run Sept. 25 in the Mustang Daily’s Back to School edition.