July 2009 > Faculty

---

Herbert Davis Simons, 1937–2009

Herbert “Herb” D. Simons, a pioneer in the academic study of school and sports and a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, died of chronic lymphocytic leukemia on July 1, 2009. He was 72 years old.

Simons was founding director of UC Berkeley's Athletes and Academic Achievement Program (AAA), a master’s program in the Graduate School of Education (GSE). He was also instrumental in the development of the Athletic Study Center (ASC), an on-campus support service for student-athletes launched in 1984 that offers tutoring and academic advising. 

His involvement with the ASC began in the 1990s, when the Center was led by Jo Baker. Baker approached Simons on the sidelines at a Cal spring football practice, telling him the Center had only one tutor on board and asking if he could help her find more. Simons answered the call not only by recruiting School of Education masters' and doctoral students as tutors but also by setting up a study skills class for student athletes, many of whom were high-profile players.

The ASC is now considered a model program for collegiate student-athletes and a significant reason for UC Berkeley’s improved academic performance through graduation rates, high scores on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Academic Progress Reports and retention of student-athletes.

Simons started his Athletes and Academic Achievement program with the similar goal of helping student-athletes improve their academic performance and get more out of their Cal education. He wanted student-athletes to apply their athletic knowledge and academic skills to the scholarly study of the role of sport in society and the conflict between academics and athletics.

“Until Athletes and Academic Achievement, there was no program looking in a theoretical and intellectual way at the intersections of school and sport,” said Derek Van Rheenen, who now directs AAA as well as the Athletic Study Center. Van Rheenen, a former Cal and professional soccer player, and Tony Smith, a former Cal football player and the new Superintendent of Oakland Schools, were the program’s first two masters students in 1992 and helped Simons develop the program in 1995.

 “There were lots of sports management programs and sports psychology programs,” said Van Rheenen. “But there were no programs in the country that were looking at the way in which physical education and institutionalized sport were embedded within our educational institutions, or at the role of race, ethnicity, class and gender in athletics.

“This was his love. This was his passion,” said Van Rheenen of Simons. “He had a very deep sense of social justice. He really advocated for low-income, first-generation student-athletes. He felt that they were overly stigmatized and needed to be supported. Universities were bringing these young men and women onto campus and giving them very mixed messages. Herb had a real social conscience about trying to realize the promise that these young men and women had, and in helping them achieve academically.”

Athletes and Academic Achievement program graduates have successfully pursued sports- and education-related careers as professional athletes, coaches, teachers, athletic and educational administrators and advisers to student-athletes. Besides Smith and Van Rheenen, former students include (among many others): Scott Fujita (football), a New Orleans Saints linebacker; Mark Orr (football), athletic director at St. Mary’s College in Moraga; Keiko Price (swimming), assistant academic director for student-athletes at Stanford; and Courtney Johnson Clendinen (basketball), director of CYO Athletics at Catholic Charities in San Francisco.

Simons also established a mentoring group that paired Cal football players with Berkeley High School students in 2000. The college players helped the younger students learn study skills and time management.

“It helped all of us improve. It was a great program,” said Mark Jensen, a former Cal and NFL place kicker, who served for three years as Cal football's director of player development.

Academic Roots
Interestingly, Simons was never a collegiate athlete himself.  However, he was a lifetime fan of sports and an avid basketball player into his 70s.

Simons earned a Doctor of Optometry degree from the Massachusetts College of Optometry in 1962. After practicing as an optometrist at New England Medical Center for one year he turned to a life-long interest in reading acquisition. By 1963, he had earned an Ed.M. in Education with an emphasis on remedial reading from Boston University; three years later earned another Ed.M. degree, this time from Harvard.

By the time Simons received an Ed.D. from Harvard in 1970, he had already held a series of reading research positions there. Simons came to Berkeley in 1970 and became an associate professor in 1974 and professor emeritus in 2006. During his long tenure at GSE, he directed the M.A. Program in Reading Disability and the Advanced Reading and Language Leadership Program; chaired the Language, Literacy, Society & Culture Area; and authored or co-authored several research papers and reports. He was also an affiliated faculty member with the School of Optometry from 1985 on. 

Simons was an advisor to a number of Ph.D. graduates in reading and literacy research.  “He inspired us with his intellect, his passion for clear thinking and a commitment to the most rigorous research possible so that we might solve problems that would enable all students in our society to gain access to literacy and learning,” said Don Leu, the Neag Endowed Chair in Literacy and Technology at the University of Connecticut and past president of the National Reading Conference.

“What held all of his work together was his passion for equity,” added Sarah Freedman, now GSE’s Head Graduate Advisor, a position that Simons twice held. “When he did research in reading, he was most interested in the kids who were least well served by the school.”

"He approached every academic endeavor — a new article, course, program or dissertation project — with a strong sense of enthusiasm and commitment," said GSE Dean and professor P. David Pearson. "But there was nothing that Herb did that brought him as much joy and fulfillment as his master's program [Athletes and Academic Achievement]."

During his nearly three years of retirement, Simons fought for his health but still savored helping graduate students with their research. He enjoyed learning from his students as much as teaching them. He also loved spending time with his family and friends, engaging in spirited conversations on all topics, eating good food and attending Cal football and basketball games.

Simons is survived by Elizabeth (Liz) Simons, his wife of 43 years; his daughter Rachel of Santa Barbara, California; son Daniel of El Cerrito, and two granddaughters.

Donations in Simons’ memory may be made online to the Herb Simons Fund for Athletes and Education for students in the Athletes and Academic Achievement program, care of Derek Van Rheenen. For more information, please call GSE's Office of Development and External Relations at (510) 643-9784.

A celebration of his life will be held at his home on Sunday, October 18, 2009.

 

return to News

return to gsE-bulletin