Chris Carpenter, a Cal Athletics icon and mainstay of the Big C Society for decades, passed away last month due to complications from melanoma and multiple myeloma. He was 82.

Carpenter played basketball at Cal during the early 1960s and immersed himself in the athletic department for the rest of his life. He served as both the president and executive director of the Big C Society - the honor society that bestows letters on Cal varsity athletes - and was seen regularly at various Cal sporting events and functions.

"His Blue & Gold spirit ran deep into his veins," said former Big C Society president Don Bowden, who starred on the track & field team at Cal in the late 1950s and was the first American to break the four-minute mark in the mile. "I am very thankful to have known Chris and very grateful for all he did for Cal and the Big C Society. He was someone that everyone respected and really loved. He was an exceptional person. He will be missed."

Carpenter played on the Golden Bears basketball team from 1961-64 and proudly held the program record for total fouls in a season for several years. A native of Kensington - just a few miles north of campus - he earned both his bachelor's and law degrees from Cal. He then went on to a long professional career as a criminal prosecutor for the Alameda County District Attorney's office before overseeing the county's Consumer and Environmental Protection division.

All the while, Carpenter and Cal Athletics were joined at the hip. Among his many rituals, Carpenter regularly represented the Big C Society at end-of-season banquets and celebrations to present varsity letters and talk to student-athletes about the society's traditions and history.

"Chris was truly committed to giving back to Cal," said Clif Mayne Jr., the Big C Society's longtime treasurer whose father, Clif Mayne, was the executive director of the Big C Society and a former tennis star at Cal who was inducted into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991. "I grew up coming to games and as long as I can remember I would always see him around Harmon Gym, around tailgates. He'd be the first person to shake your hand and welcome you, share a laugh with you. He loved going to all Cal sports. He'd always be lurking around and be the first to congratulate anybody on whatever team he had just watched."

A memorial service to honor Carpenter will be held at the UC Berkeley Alumni House on Sunday, Feb. 11, at 11 a.m. PT. In lieu of flowers, Carpenter's family requests donations be made to the National Audubon Society.