Former 'Dog honored

By Jenna Nielsen
The Collegian

Former Fresno State football player Otis Vincent Tolbert was honored during the halftime ceremonies at the opening game against Weber State Saturday.

Tolbert was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Tolbert, a Navy lieutenant commander, was working in the C corridor when the plane hit his office in the Department of Defense building.

Former football coach Jim Sweeney presented a plaque containing Tolbert’s number 30 jersey to Tolbert’s wife and three children.

The crowd gave a standing ovation as Tolbert was honored.

“I was really impressed by the way people responded,” said Yolanda Akers, who watched the halftime ceremonies with her husband Dave.

“It was good the people responded as well as they did. They were all standing and clapping. The whole crowd.”

“I thought it was very, very cool,” said Dave Akers. “It was a real class act.”

Tolbert was a native of Lemoore, Calif. and graduated from Fresno State with a degree in criminal justice in 1985. He was a four-year letter winner and standout defensive end for the Bulldogs from 1980-83.

Tolbert was commissioned in 1989 as an ensign after attending the Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I.

He eventually earned the rank of lieutenant commander and was assigned to Washington, D.C. in April 2000 where he served under the Director of Naval Intelligence.

Tolbert was one of 125 Pentagon personnel killed or unaccounted for in the attack, and he was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Sept. 27, 2001.

A plaque is dedicated to him under the flagpole by the North Gym. The university also has a tile dedicated to him in the Smittcamp Alumni House.

A portion of Highway 98 in Lemoore is named in Tolbert’s honor as “Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert Highway.”