the cal state fullerton titans tennis team was started first with a men's varsity team in 1960 started by dr. ernest becker who was the founding dean of students at orange county state college which is now known today as california state university, fullerton and also was a philosophy professor joined the school in 1959 and also became the first director of athletics. becker known as "ernie" to everyone was an amherst college grad and "mammoths" tennis letterman as a player on the team and received a graduate degree in "divinity" and a doctorate degree in "higher education" from the university of southern california, he started his professional career as a journalist working at one time for "the christian science monitor" and other news organizations. he was the first men's tennis coach and known as a father figure for the young team and also was enjoying practicing with the team and having annual faculty exhibition matches against the varsity team with such faculty members as thomas ashley, nish jamgotch, orrington ramsey, ronald calhoun, lee kerschner and of course dr. becker. he was a true pioneer in getting this men's titan tennis program started at fullerton. he had mitchel saadi '64 as the "team captain" in the early years of the program and also becker had tennis professional stan smith's brother ken smith jr. on the titan team. becker in 1940 while in india was playing tennis matches with the "maharaja of patiala" and his prime minister. becker during world war ii was playing exhibition matches and was a practice player hitting balls and getting tips on the game with legendary tennis professional bill tilden and also tennis pro vinnie richards as well as national doubles champion and davis cup team captain gardnar mulloy, davis cup member wayne sabin and national women's doubles champion helen marlow through playing matches with these notable players he was adding more knowledge of the game by the time he started the titans men's tennis program and coaching his players during those early years of the program. becker retired in 1977 at cal state fullerton as he held his final position at the school of "director of the career placement center". coach becker passed away on january 5, 1998 he was 83 years old.