DAVIS, Calif. — After spending four decades in service to UC Davis, including serving as head coach of five different athletics teams during his tenure, Will Lotter passed away peacefully at his home last week at the age of 94.
No other coach in the history of the university has taken the helm of so many teams as Lotter did, serving as head coach for Aggie football (1954, 1956-57, 1959-63), baseball (1953-58), track & field (1960-62), men's tennis (1968-78) and men's soccer (1972-87). The football team won a pair of Far Western Conference titles under his guidance, while the men's tennis squad made seven NCAA playoff appearances and boasted the program's first individual national champion, Tim Monroe in 1976.
Bob Foster holds the rare distinction of having played for Lotter, enjoying a four-year career at running back from 1958-61, then later coaching alongside him: Foster served as both a football and tennis coach at UC Davis from 1971 to 1992. While Foster enjoys countless fond memories from his playing career under Lotter, it is a simple philosophy that made the most indeliable impression:
"One thing he said to me that I've thought about my whole career as a football coach," said Foster, "was 'no matter the circumstance, be positive and enthusiastic.' That has stuck with me all through the years. That was Will Lotter. That's the way he was. What a wonderful man."
Lotter may best be known for his time with the men's soccer team, serving as the team's first full-time head coach and leading the Aggies to four NCAA postseason berths in his first five years. Upon his retirement from coaching, he was the eighth-winningest coach in NCAA Division II history with 141 career victories during his 16 seasons at the helm.
However, Lotter's greatest contribution to the UC Davis soccer programs is the very field the Aggie men and women now call home. He and former player Alan Moll spearheaded a massive volunteer effort to build a first-class playing facility next door to the then-new baseball stadium, which also was constructed through community volunteer efforts.
Outside of athletics, Lotter was the first director of the UC Davis Educational Opportunity Program, which helps students from historically disadvantaged communities prepare for college by understanding what courses to take, how to apply and receive financial aid, and how to connect with campus resources, and served as the acting Dean of Students from 1969-70. Over his 40 years at UC Davis, Lotter taught more than 15,000 students in physical education courses over the years.
Among those many students fortunate to have benefitted from Lotter's tutelage is current head football coach Dan Hawkins, who attended UC Davis in the early 1980s. "Will's humanity, and philosophy made a huge impact on this department, and football program," said Hawkins.
Born in Alameda, California, in 1924, Lotter served in the United States Navy as a fighter pilot during World War II from 1943-45, before matriculating to UC Berkeley, where he played both baseball and football for the Golden Bears. In fact, he was a member of "Pappy's Boys," a nod to legendary football coach Pappy Waldorf, who went undefeated in the 1948 regular season and played in that year's Rose Bowl. In baseball season, Lotter played catcher and helped his team to the College World Series, where he played against Yale and its first baseman, George Herbert Walker Bush.
Lotter graduated from Cal with a degree in physical education in 1949. He joined the UC Davis faculty in the physical education department in 1952, finding time to complete a master's in education at Sacramento State in 1955 and, later, earning his doctorate in education from his alma mater in 1960.
His volunteer efforts were not limited to UC Davis, however, as he served as Deputy Director, then Country Director, for the Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa, and Training Director for Peace Corps Nepal training programs from 1965-67. He continued to make numerous trips to Central America during his time with the university, becoming a leading human rights activist and working with numerous groups to assist communities in Central America. Lotter even donated old Aggie soccer uniforms and apparel to the poor during those humanitarian visits. In 1994, he served as a United Nations International Election Observer in Malawi and served in a similar capacity during the 1996 presidential election in Nicaragua.
Along with his wife, Jane, the couple has received the Liberty Bell award for work in civil liberties and human rights from the Yolo County Bar Association, the City of Davis Peace and Justice Award and the Life Time Achievement Award from the Davis Martin Luther King Scholarship Committee.
In 2004, Lotter was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame for his meritorious coaching career. A decade earlier, he received the department's Special Recognition Award for outstanding volunteer contributions, thanks to his efforts in building Aggie Soccer Field. To date, Lotter remains the only individual to have received both such accolades.
Per the Lotter family's wishes, a memorial service will take place during the fall, likely in mid-September. More information will be made available later.
