Lots of salutes at final home football game Nov. 21

Fresno State’s final home football game of 2009 kicks off at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, saluting not only senior student-athletes, but also armed forces veterans, Toys for Tots and a California Bowl IX championship team reunion.

The Bulldogs have teamed up with the Marines Corps. for its Toys for Tots program with receptacles for donated toys at Bulldog Boulevard (on Cedar Avenue between Barstow Avenue and Bulldog Lane) and at the four main entrances to Bulldog Stadium.

The new Fresno State Student Veterans Organization will be recognized and its officers introduced on the field in the first quarter along with Dr. Paul M. Oliaro, vice president for Student Affairs who was a member of the Air Force ROTC detachment while attending St. Mary’s College. The club, formed this semester, is targeting the university’s 350 veterans, reservists and active-duty personnel enrolled this fall for recruitment.

Oliaro will be joined on the field by President Denise Harris, Angelica Capuchino, Brad Kendzora and Vincent Trillo. The Veterans Service Office in the Division of Student Affairs will be represented by Sam Mabanta and Oraldo Martinez, also student veterans.

As part of the salute to veterans, there will be a pregame flyover by the Fresno-based California Air National Guard 144th Fighter Wing. A special guest at the game will be the wing commander, Col. Gary T. Taylor, who received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural business at Fresno State in 1983 after graduating from Clovis High School. Taylor took command in September.

In addition to honoring the 2009 seniors, the Bulldogs will mark the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Cal Bowl champion football team coached by Jim Sweeney that finished with an 11-1 season record.

Saturday will be a busy one on campus, which means anyone planning to be in the area needs to consider the possibility of traffic congestion. Besides the football game, there will be a winetasting at the Gibson Farm Market (Barstow and Chestnut avenues) from noon to 4 p.m. and a KISS concert at the Save Mart Center (Chestnut and Shaw avenues) that begins at 7 p.m.

Beginning at 10 a.m., Barstow will become a one-way street going west between Chestnut and Cedar. For the KISS concert, event traffic will be directed onto the campus only through Chestnut.