Planned for release this November, “100 Seasons of Aztec Football” is a new book that chronicles more than a century of San Diego State University football and is timed to coincide with SDSU’s 100th season. From its origin as a club sport through its Division I glory days, the program’s proud history is presented through a combination of stunning visuals and stories of its most remarkable moments.
Marshall Faulk rushed for 220 yards and three touchdowns during the 1992 Aztecs vs. USC game at the former Jack Murphy Stadium. (Photo courtesy SDSU Athletics)
Through extensive research, interviews and months of culling material, University History Curator and Anthropology Professor Seth Mallios has put together a 500-page collection of stories and images that will surely serve as a go-to reference guide for SDSU football fans. In addition to more than 800 photos, the book features details and remembrances from the 1,046 games San Diego State teams had played by the start of the 2022 season.
Mallios and his graduate student assistants, Jamie Bastide (’19) and Shannon Farnsworth (’19), pored through decades of yearbooks, athletics media guides, Daily Aztec articles, and 74,000 photos taken by the late Ernie Anderson, whose widow, Cathy (’70), provided access to the photographer’s scrupulously archived work covering more than half a century of SDSU sporting events. For research purposes, Mallios said, Anderson’s detailed notes provided a “treasure trove” of names, dates, and descriptions to accompany his frequently astonishing photos.
From his images that capture Marshall Faulk in full flight to ghostly figures that appear to haunt a “fog bowl” game, Anderson demonstrated he was an artist as much as a photojournalist. Mallios points to several Anderson photos he describes as among his favorites for different reasons.
Players resemble ghosts during the 1968 "Fog Bowl" game vs. San Jose State. (Photo courtesy Ernie Anderson.
“If you go to that many football games, you start to know the players and their tendencies,” Mallios said. “Ernie was so good, he could sense when something was about to happen and he could rotate from the sideline to the back of the end zone to find a way to be in the right spot to capture these magical moments in games.”
FEELING MOMENTUM
Mallios approached this latest project, his 11th book, from the position that football is one of the most powerful public faces of the university. In writing “100 Seasons of Aztec Football,” he hoped to convey the progress both the football program and the university have achieved over the past 100-plus years.
“The thing that was most exciting about going through every season so meticulously is you feel momentum,” he said. Through decades of coaches and players, of high notes and low points, the growth of the football program often mirrors the ascendence of the university.
The book highlights many of what Mallios calls “famous firsts”: the first fireworks show, the first time the team flies to a game, the first team photographs in color, and the first bowl game. It even includes the first time a San Diego State player became a meme in 2017 when Rashaad Penny dragged a University of Hawaii player almost 10 yards as the defender held onto his jersey.
Marshall Faulk scored early, often, and with style against BYU in the 1991 conference finale. (Photo courtesy Ernie Anderson)
“That is a cultural moment where suddenly you get to see something that played out millions of times across the country,” Mallios said. “That's what has been so special about this project, to see these moments that are even bigger than football that become a part of the fabric of modern culture.”
SPECIAL PEOPLE, SPECIAL MOMENTS
Having so much great material to work with, Mallios composed a first draft of almost 1,000 pages. His biggest challenge was to make it shorter. “The trick has been to cut the text,” he said.
Mallios has had some help from the staff of Montezuma Publishing where General Manager Lia Dearborn has been navigating supply chain issues to help meet book release goals. The intent is to make “100 Seasons of Aztec Football” available in the SDSU Bookstore, the Snapdragon Stadium Team Store, and online through shopaztecs.com as near to Homecoming Week as possible.
The coffee table book will measure 12 inches by 10 inches and be offered at $100. Dearborn believes it will be popular among SDSU alumni and fans especially during the approaching holidays.
“Even if you are not a huge fan of football, this is such a unique picture into San Diego State's history,” Dearborn said. “It’s beautiful and the stories Seth is telling are what really make this book so special.”
That, Mallios hopes, will be the readers’ takeaway. “As much as I like to say this book is about the composite - the whole thing - the composite is made up of special people and special moments,” he said, “and I don't want that to be lost.”