How the block F became part of stadium lore

Ever driven past Valley Children’s Stadium on Barstow Avenue and wondered what’s up with that 12-foot-tall, red Block F on the berm along the northeast side of the stadium facade? Longtime Fresno State football associate head coach John Baxter (pictured above) has the story – and he’s confident it’s more than a campus urban legend.

Baxter is currently in his second stint as a Fresno State assistant coach, rejoining the program under Jeff Tedford in 2022 after previously serving on Pat Hill’s Bulldogs staff from 1997 to 2009. When Baxter first arrived on campus in the ’90s, coaches who remained from the Jim Sweeney era shared a “knowledge transfer” with him about the origin of the Block F.

According to the story, after Fresno State’s landmark 24-7 Freedom Bowl win over USC at Anaheim Stadium on Dec. 29, 1992, an unknown person or persons dug up the “F” from the “FRESNO ST” lettering in the end zone, (pictured right) brought it back to Fresno and planted it on the stadium berm.

“Evidently, when the game was over there in Anaheim, whoever went out there with square-tip shovels dug up the ‘F’ in the end zone, drove it back and planted it right there on the hillside,” Baxter said. “So to cement the memory, they formed it up and put it in concrete, and they either stained the concrete or painted it red. It’s there, but it’s a semi-lost piece of Bulldog lore.”

Now, as a veteran coach on the Bulldogs staff, Baxter shares the story widely to make sure the legend – “it’s true,” he said confidently – lives on and is embraced as part of Fresno State tradition.