DAVIS, Calif. -- "You never really leave Davis," says Lois Goss, a 1985 Aggie graduate and wife of former UC Davis standout running back Darryl Goss. "Davis gets in your blood."

Her statement is somewhat ironic. Although they attended a few football games over the years, including several occasions when the Aggies visited Texas, the Gosses did not physically return to the UC Davis campus for almost two full decades. 

After finishing a career that saw him lead the Far Western Conference in rushing, Darryl earned his undergraduate degree in African-American studies in 1983, but remained in town until Lois completed her sociology degree two years later. The couple then moved to Atlanta to start a family, and has since lived in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Texas, Maryland, Scotland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Taiwan, Indianapolis (again), Michigan and finally back to Texas. 

Of course, to borrow a saying attributed to everyone from Pliny the Elder to Elvis Presley, the Gosses are well-versed in the notion that "home is where the heart is." After all, Lois was born in Mississippi but grew up in Southern California; while Darryl was born to an Air Force family, and attended three different high schools before arriving at UC Davis. Even his undergraduate years represent just one of 13 schools he has attended in his life.

Today, Lois serves on the Dean's Advisory Council for the College of Letters and Science. Darryl, now the chief executive officer at the Irving, Texas-based Inform Diagnostics, was elevated to board chairperson for the UC Davis Foundation last July. And while they reside some 1,500 miles away from the campus, they rate as one of the most active members of the university community.

The Gosses have contributed to all corners of UC Davis and have created numerous endowments across campus, with two specifically for intercollegiate athletics. They established the Joe Singleton Athletic Scholarship, named for the beloved coach and athletics director, which supports a student-athlete majoring in ethnic studies, Chicano studies or African-American studies. More recently, the Gosses started the Eugene D. Stevenson, Sr. Endowment Fund, in memory of the campus's first black assistant vice chancellor, which provides financial support for the Aggie EVO student-athlete outcomes program. 

"We like to name them after people who made differences in our lives," said Darryl. "There is a lot of gratification to naming these after people who were instrumental to our lives."

The Gosses have also created campus funds in honor of Gary Perkins and Leslie A. Campbell, two key figures in growing educational opportunities for Aggie students, particularly for those from underserved communities. Oddly, the Gosses normally prefer to donate anonymously. However, UC Davis is the exception. Lois' father was a Baptist minister, who instilled the giving spirit in her. "He told me one time that sometimes people need to know who has given, what was given and why you've given," she said.

"Davis was the place where we said we need to share with people that we're willing to give, and these are the reasons why we give," said Darryl.

They also actively recruit alumni to reconnect with their alma mater, knowing that others will feel inspired to contribute to the campus as volunteers and philanthropists. This commitment earned the Gosses the Cal Aggie Alumni Association's Aggie Service Award in 2018.

Like Lois, Darryl credits his church upbringing and an experience coaching youth baseball for beginning his interest in community participation. However, he cites a moment from his Aggie football playing days for truly sending him down a path of leadership. During pregame warmups in his senior year, legendary head coach Jim Sochor told him, "I need you to be a leader." Until that point, Darryl says, he thought leadership roles belonged to the quarterback and middle linebacker.

"He was really sharing that it's not necessarily about positional leadership, it's influential leadership," Darryl said. "I was a senior, and I had a lot of people who looked up to me and respected me for what I was doing. [Leadership] is about you as an individual, what you bring to the table, and being able to influence people to do the right thing."

Yet it bears repeating: the Gosses went early two decades before getting reacquainted with the UC Davis campus. In the mid-2000s, when Darryl served as a senior vice president and chief operating officer for the Austin, Texas-based lab services company Esoterix, the couple found themselves passing through Northern California. Lois suggested paying a visit to the African-American studies department, now located in Hart Hall.

This led to a chance encounter with AAS professor Milmon Harrison, a 1994 UC Davis graduate and Department Citation recipient who joined the faculty in 2000. Dr. Milmon, as he is better known, graciously gave the Gosses a tour of the department and jotted down their contact information to pass along to Debbie Wilson, then the development director for the College of Letters & Science. As it happened, Wilson was soon traveling to the Lone Star State. She met up with the Gosses back at their home in Texas, and forged a friendship.

"About four or five months later," Darryl recalls, "they were having a panel discussion at Davis. They wanted CEOs, CFOs and COOs. I was chief operating officer at the time. Debbie asked, would I be interested in participating in this panel?"

"And I said, 'yes, he would,'" said Lois.

The Gosses returned to UC Davis to take part in this L&S speaker series, which was publicized in the campus's Dateline newsletter. As luck would have it, Darryl's freshman roommate, Jermaine Hill, saw the article. By this point, Hill was working as an attorney in the Bay Area. The two had not seen each other since sharing a place on Oxford Circle nearly 40 years prior. "He took the time to drive all the way to Davis to come see me," said Darryl.

This unplanned trip to the campus, the welcoming nature of Dr. Milmon, the outreach of Wilson, and the reunion with an old college friend coalesced into a relationship between the Gosses and the university that has since blossomed to the ultimate degree. "We had been gone for a long time and just happened to be passing through, I can't remember why," said Lois. "I thought we would just stop in and see how everything was. And that's how we became active again."

"Once we came back," she said, 'it was like we never left."

Since reconnecting to the campus, Darryl and Lois have made it their "hobby" to encourage others to follow suit. Lois considers herself a "recruiter." They know many of their Aggie friends have lost touch with the university and the athletics department. If the Gosses can encourage their friends to return to UC Davis – even for just one day – a similar spark will be lit for other alumni.

"When we travel, especially when we travel internationally, Darryl always wears his UC Davis shirt," says Lois. "We were all over the world, and we never went anywhere without meeting someone who went to Davis, or knew someone who went to Davis – family, neighbor, friend. Everyone knew UC Davis. We thought if we could just get people back to Davis, we could renew and rekindle that fire."

The Gosses began hosting an annual pregame tailgate during the 2010 football season. The event started small, with a few former Aggies joining them, but has since grown to a key event on the calendar. The guest list includes UC Davis football legends, such as Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Famer Ronnie Austin; former professional players, like CFL veteran Mel Byrd, plus numerous campus dignitaries – up to and including Chancellor Gary May and his wife LeShelle.

Ultimately, the Gosses provide to the university for the benefit of the students, in appreciation for their own time as UC Davis students decades ago. Darryl's fondness for Aggie EVO, for example, stems from the experience he had working a six-month internship at IBM in his junior year. Lois was a first-gen college student, admitted to the university through affirmative action. 

"Those things, to some, may be stumbling blocks," she said. "But once I got to Davis, I started to meet people who didn't want me to feel like those things would hold me back. They taught me, you're going to have to work hard. You're going to have to hang in there. Tough it out sometimes. But you can do it. So that's why I encourage the students. That's where our heart is: for the students. We have a heart for Davis and a heart for students."

ABOUT UC DAVIS:
With the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.

UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.

Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.