Jack Hart, a member of the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame who helped lead the Golden Bears to the Rose Bowl in 1959, passed away last week at the age of 87.

Hart was an All-Pacific Coast Conference running back and teammate of legendary quarterback Joe Kapp. Hart remained involved with Cal and college football for most of his adult life after leaving Berkeley, including creating the Glenn Seaborg Award – an honor given annually to a former Golden Bear for his career accomplishments and who represents the honored Cal principles and traditions of excellence in academics, athletics, leadership and attitude.

Hart also served as president of Pappy's Boys – an organization of players who played for head coach Pappy Waldorf – and was the executive director of the East-West Shrine Game.

"If you want to see what Cal means, look at Jack Hart," said Burl Toler Jr., the current president of the Glenn Seaborg Award committee.

Hart was recruited by Waldorf out of Garden Grove in Southern California and he became the first member of his family to attend college. He scored two touchdowns against Iowa in the 1959 Rose Bowl, a game the Bears lost 38-12. That was the last time Cal played in the Rose Bowl, and for years Hart refused to talk about the game because of the lopsided loss.

As years went by and Hart and Kapp become unofficial spokespeople for the Rose Bowl team, Hart produced a line that became repeated many times: "We aren't the last Cal team to go to the Rose Bowl; just the most recent."

"He refused to talk about the Rose Bowl for a long time because it wasn't a good game and he was all about competing," said Hart's son, Joe, who was named after Kapp. "It didn't matter that it was the Rose Bowl. We lost, so don't bring it up. There was this big party after the Rose Bowl and my dad refused to go to it."

Hart valued his time at Cal well beyond the playing field and looked for ways to honor his experience. That was the genesis of the Seaborg Award, named after the former university chancellor who believed in the value of athletics on a college campus. Seaborg regularly attended Cal football games while Hart was a player.

"I think the thing that showed most of all how much Cal affected him was starting the Glenn Seaborg Award," said Hart's wife, Jeri, who was married to Jack for 68 years after the couple wed during their freshman year of college. "That was his way of honoring Glenn, but also doing something good for Cal. I think Jack felt in his heart that there was never enough he could do to pay back Cal."