As the world prepares for the World Cup and Fresno welcomes its first professional team, the Valley Public History Initiative at Fresno State has been hard at work. We’ve been browsing old newspaper microfilm, digging through college and high school yearbooks, looking through photo albums, and interviewing old and current futboleros and futboleras. After a semester of gathering and analyzing these sources, we are ready to present our initial finding on the history of soccer in the San Joaquin Valley. We’ll be sharing what we’ve learned in two ways: The Other Football Conference and Baseball Cards at Fresno FC’s game on May 9^th.

On May 3^rd and May 8^th, we’ll host The Other Football Conference at Fresno State Madden Library (see poster for full itinerary). Fresno State students will present on the collegiate game in Fresno (Fresno City College, Pacific University, Fresno State), semi-professional soccer in the Valley, and their hometowns (Visalia, Madera, Mendota, Bonadalle Ranchos). On Thursday May 3^rd from 12:30 to 1:20, Professor Romeo Guzmán will host a conversation with two San Joaquin Valley icons: Jeremy Schultz of Fresno FC and Jaime Ramirez, head coach at Fresno Pacific.

 

History, we think, should exist in the world in ways that are organic to the people we are writing about. It is in that spirit that we’ve made 16 unique  trading cards about important players, teams, and coaches from the San Joaquin Valley. In partnership with Fresno FC, we will be giving away baseball cards to the first 1,000 guests at the May 9^th Fresno FC match. Limit 1 card per guest.

Want all 16 cards?

In an effort to continue learning about the history of soccer in the valley, we will be hosting a photo-contest. We are asking former and current players to submit photographs related to soccer. You can submit in a few different ways.

• In Person: Bring your photographs we’ll do the rest. Fresno State students will be scanning photographs at
  • The Other Football Conference May 3^rd and May 8^th
  • Fresno FC game on May 9^th
• Online: Using the Google form below, you can upload photographs. For physical photos, we recommend scanning them on a regular scanner at 200DPI (taking a photo of the photo will not work; it will be too blurry). Digital photos taken with a digital camera or phone can be uploaded.

https://goo.gl/forms/hvyZa0Rv5DkoMkNU2

Guidelines:

• Photo should be set in the San Joaquin Valley or should be of a player from the San Joaquin Valley.
• Old photos are great, but we are also looking for more recent images.
• We encourage folks to pick 1 or 2 of their best photos.
• For examples, check out our historia publica twitter and instagram

To learn more about The Other Football, click here. Know someone we should interview? Contact Professor Romeo Guzmán at romeog@csufresno.edu.