Goodbye "Red"
Former COM president Irwin P. Diamond made education and athletics his life's work.
Yukie Sano
Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: News
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"My father cared about every student and every staff member," said Joan Diamond, Red Diamond's daughter. "He dedicated his career to their growth, success, and opportunities for them to achieve their dreams. "
Born in Oakland on August 2, 1921, Diamond was the youngest of four sons. Both of his parents, Harry and Revkah, were born in Europe and immigrated to the United States in 1900. The couple moved to San Francisco before settling down in Oakland. Diamond's father was a businessman who owned furniture stores in downtown Oakland; his mother stayed at home and took care of all the children.
Sports played a principal role in Diamond's life starting at a young age. Too young to work for his father, he played sports with the other children in the neighborhood during his spare time and was also an all-city basketball player. In high school, he played on the basketball team. "Basketball was my first love," Diamond said in his interview with Ann Lage for the University of California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office. "I might have enjoyed baseball, but baseball is kind of slow, and I'd like to be more active. And I thought about football, but that goes into basketball."
It was during a meeting with his high school counselor that Diamond found which path was best for him. "'Major in PE,' he said. I told him I was going to Cal… I wanted to be a high school principal and he said 'Many of the principals were athletes and PE majors,'" Diamond recalled during his interview with Lage. In 1942 Diamond graduated from Cal with a bachelor's degree in PE and speech. Diamond also played varsity basketball and served as coach for the University's freshman basketball Diamond later earned a master's degree in higher education from Cal.
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