This is a tribute to Tom Kane, a man that every Fresno resident likely saw at least once, if not dozens or hundreds or thousands of times, without every knowing who he was.

Mr. Kane, who died Nov. 17 at the age of 85 after battling health issues, was both the grease and the glue behind the scenes for Fresno State sports and other events for nearly three decades — and at the Save Mart Center for many years after that.

His service to the university spanned the time from when the Bulldogs played basketball at the North Gym to their move to Selland Arena and on to the Save Mart Center. Similarly, he served as the university’s sports information director when Fresno State played football at Ratcliffe Stadium and at what is now Valley Children’s Stadium.

Mr. Kane walked fast, talked fast, and always had somewhere else to go.

You might have seen him lugging copying equipment up the Ratcliffe stairs to the press box in the 1970s, or running along the floor, statistics sheets in hand, at Selland. Or solving a ticket problem at the Save Mart Center. He was the bald guy pointing and directing parking attendants, security personnel, athletes, and media to where they needed to be.

He was also the guy in meetings raising a dozen different ways things could go wrong and how to make sure they didn’t. Appreciative committee members wondered, “How did Tom think of that?”

How, indeed? Experience helped. So did the ability to see ahead. Amazingly, he wasn’t big on writing things down. He kept most everything in his head.

Reflecting his Irish heritage, Mr. Kane’s favorite adult beverage was a shot or two of Jameson’s on the rocks.

An Eye for Details and a Passion for Planning Events

His commitment to the community matched his love for the university. He served on numerous boards, including the Greater Fresno Youth Foundation, State Center Credit Union, Valley First Credit Union, the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Bulldog Foundation, of course.

Often, Mr. Kane would be the board secretary, always a stickler for Robert’s Rules of Order. Sometimes the treasurer. But his passion was planning. He was one of those obsessive people that every group needs to be successful. Details, details, details. None was small in his book. Any could make or break a fundraising dinner, a Christmas Tree Lane Walk, or something as big as the time evangelist Billy Graham attracted 201,000 people to the football stadium over four days one month after 9-11.

“His favorite thing to do was plan events,” says Mr. Kane’s daughter, Suzi Huettmann. “He liked the challenges and he enjoyed being involved in the community and building relationships with people.”

Huettmann shared about the time she was put in charge of an elementary school carnival while living in Ohio: “He flew out from Fresno to make sure that everything was right.”

Just as he flew to Kentucky to see a Billy Graham crusade ahead of his Fresno visit to learn all that he could about running such a big event.

While Mr. Kane could work himself into a near lather planning festivities big or small, he was reluctant to take credit for his role in their success.

When asked about Graham’s 2001 appearance, he said, “It was the full community of Fresno involved in his crusade.”

A Love of Sports Passed Down From His Father

No one is quite sure how Mr. Kane came to embrace event planning, but his love for sports came from his father, Tom Kane, a Sacramento Bee sportswriter for 42 years. The senior Kane covered the San Francisco Giants for many years and once received a proclamation from then-Gov. Ronald Reagan for his outstanding sports reporting.

Born in Sacramento, the younger Kane worked as a restaurant manager and assistant secretary and sergeant-at-arms of the California Senate before accepting a job as a writer in 1967 for Fresno State’s public information office. He became the sports information director in 1971 and in 1983 moved into coordinating events and projects for all athletic events.

When he “retired” in 2002, that afforded more time for community projects such as Rotary’s Camp ROYAL for high school students, running the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame’s annual dinner, and overseeing the football game-day parking at St. Paul Catholic Newman Center. He started an event consulting business and also worked in customer service at the Save Mart Center.

“Tom Kane had a heart of gold, a quick laugh, and really cared about the people in his life,” says Dan Taylor, executive director of the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. “He wanted nothing but the best for Fresno.”

Survivors and Services

Mr. Kane is survived by his wife of 55 years, Melissa; son James Kane and his wife Heather; daughter Suzanne Huettmann and her husband, Bryan; and five grandchildren.

Rosary is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at Farewell Funeral Service. The funeral will be  11 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, at St. Paul Catholic Newman Center.