Former 'Dog honored
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Joseph Hollak / The
Collegian
A former standout on
the Fresno State football team, Otis Vincent Tolbert was killed
in the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon. Former Bulldogs football
coach Jim Sweeney presents Tolbert’s jersey to his family
Saturday at Bulldog Stadium. |
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.”
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