Saturday, June 14, 1964, was a historic day for Fresno State. On that day the Bulldogs track and field team won the school’s first-ever national championship, the NCAA college division title. The catalyst for that triumph was Sid Nickolas.

Born in New Orleans, Nickolas moved as a young child with his parents and eleven siblings to Vallejo. When he reached Vallejo High School he blossomed into a three-sport standout.

Nickolas excelled as a football running back, and a forward in basketball, and was one of the premier high school long jumpers in the country. As a senior, he was named a high school All-American.

At Vallejo Junior College he recorded the best junior college long jump mark in the nation and was coveted by a bevy of colleges and universities. Fresno State’s coach Dutch Warmerdam won the battle.

Early in his junior season at Fresno State Nickolas broke the school record in the long jump. In his senior year, he shattered the mark by eight inches when he sailed 26’ 2 ½” which was the second-best mark in the country.

In the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship meet Nickolas won four events and was named the Most Outstanding Athlete.

In the NCAA college division championships Bulldogs won five events. Nickolas triumphed in three of them. He sailed 26’ in the long jump, more than a foot better than the second-place competitor. He clocked 13.9 to win the 120 high hurdles, ran the third leg on Fresno State’s victorious 440-yard relay team, and then was third in an event he rarely competed in the triple jump. Nickolas scored an astounding 28 ½ of Fresno State’s 85 points to lead the Bulldogs to the school’s first national championship.

Nickolas took high expectations into the long jump at the Olympic trials later that summer. In an intense competition, he fouled on his first two jumps then took a tentative approach on his third jump and fell far short of what was required to make the US Olympic team.

In the years that followed his athletic endeavors Nickolas worked with the Fresno Parks and Recreation Department. He later returned to Vallejo and worked with the parks and recreation department there. For two years Nickolas exercised another skill, singing, as a member of the popular group, The Platters.

On June 9, 2023, Nickolas succumbed after a fight with cancer.