Aggies to join Big Sky Conference for football in 2012

UC Davis vs. Cal: See slide show from last week's historic game.

Besides the football game against Portland State, the Aggies' home opener on Sept. 11 will feature "A Salute to Heroes" — celebrating law enforcement and honoring local officers killed in the line of duty. Organizers said the program will feature a helicopter flyby and the Air Force's Band of the Golden West.

The athletics department also plans to recognize retired coach Jim Sochor and his 1970s-era teams that started a streak of 37 consecutive winning seasons, beginning 40 years ago this year.

The campus Police Department is selling discounted tickets as a fundraiser for Concerns of Police Survivors, or COPS, a national program that runs a summer camp for surviving children, and provides other resources to surviving families and co-workers of slain officers.

Lt. Matt Carmichael said "A Salute to Heroes" will specifically honor the Vallejo Police Department’s Jeffrey Azuar, shot and killed while apprehending a suspect in 2000; the Rocklin department’s Matthew Redding, struck and killed by an intoxicated driver in 2005; and special agent David Wieger, Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Travis Air Force Base, killed when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Iraq in 2007.

Relatives and colleagues of the three officers are expected to take to the football field before the game begins. A helicopter flyby is planned as a salute to the special guests.

“The aim is to honor these officers, raise funds and draw attention to this national program,” Carmichael said.

Law enforcement display

"A Salute to Heroes" is set to begin at 4 p.m. (two hours before kickoff) with a huge display of military equipment, including the following:

• Yolo County's mobile command unit, bomb squad robots and related equipment (Yolo County Bomb Squad), antique police vehicles, and an armored personnel carrier and a military Humvee, outside the stadium's main gate.

• California Highway Patrol and Placer County Sheriff's Department helicopters, on the Dairy Road Intramural Field across La Rue Road from the stadium.

Organizers said the Sacramento Police Department's equestrian unit also will participate. In addition, campus firefighters plan to be on hand with the department's ladder truck — with the ladder serving as a giant flagpole for the red, white and blue.

The program inside the stadium is scheduled to begin just before 6 p.m., with a Flight 93 memorial — honoring one of the doomed flights of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Air Force's Band of the Golden West, from Travis Air Force Base, is due to perform the national anthem.

A salute to Sochor and the streak

The streak began in 1970 with a 6-4 record during Sochor's second season as head coach. In 2003, the Aggies set a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II record for most consecutive winning seasons: 33.

The streak continued through the UC Davis¹ reclassification period (to Division I) from 2003 to 2006, and ended with a 5-6 mark in 2007.

During the streak, the Aggies won 20 consecutive league titles and earned 19 trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The Aggies went 5-7 in 2008, and, then, in 2009, they righted the ship with a 6-5 record, giving UC Davis 38 winning seasons in its last 40.

The discounted tickets, $18 each, include reserved seating and a large drink. For more information or to order tickets, contact Carmichael, (530) 752-5350 or mecarmichael@ucdavis.edu.

Regular tickets are available from the Freeborn Hall box office, in person or by telephone, (530) 752-1915; and online (via Tickets.com).