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1926-1935

• January 18, 1926: The student body voted to select “Dons” as the official mascot for Santa Ana Junior College. With 92 votes, Dons easily won the election ahead of second place Vikings, which garnered 19 votes.
• February 17, 1926: A proposal was made to create a new “union” junior college that would merge Santa Ana and Fullerton Junior Colleges.
• March 4, 1926: Santa Ana Junior College looked to create a separate brand apart from Santa Ana High School.
• March 10, 1926: A seal was created for Santa Ana Junior College. The seal featured a “Don” in the foreground and a mission in the background with Santa Ana Junior College written around it. A contest began for an Alma Mater (college song). The Dons added two new indoor sports: indoor chess and ping pong.
• March 17, 1926: Construction on the gym was underway.
• April 20, 1926: The student body considered a color change. Five songs were submitted during the Alma Mater contest.
• September 15, 1926: The student paper was published as “The Dons”. Dana King Hammond called for the slogan of “Start, Stride, Finish.”
• September 22, 1926: The second issue of the school newspaper bore the moniker “The Don”. Andrew Gymnasium was opened. The following new courses were announced: journalism, Spanish, Latin, German, accounting, organic chemistry and introduction to business; to “make,” enrollment had to be 15 students in each.
• December 14, 1926: The Don was printed in color. A Music Club was organized for the first time. The Women’s Athletic Association was formed.
• January 4, 1927: A fun, student-only, version of The Don was published. It was known as El Toro and all the print was red. Content appeared to all be in jest.
• January 26, 1927: 72 courses were offered; five more than the previous year.
• March 23, 1927: The college discussed a possible name change. Among the proposals were Valencia College and Santa Ana College.
• May 18, 1927: Discussion continued regarding name change.
• May 25, 1927: With 98 votes, the college once again discussed renaming Santa Ana Junior College. 28 votes were placed to not change the name with the following names also receiving votes: Valencia College (4), The Don’s College (5), Santa Ana Valley College (5), Heretoga (2) and Savoc (4). Savoc stood for Santa Ana Valley Orange County.
• September 14, 1927: Andrew J. “Bill” Cook was introduced as head football coach.
• October 10, 1927: Junior colleges began to offer education courses and SAC offered history of education. Faculty worked to standardize grading. Once standardized, all grading was on a bell curve.
• October 18, 1927: A total of 3,368 students were enrolled in Southern California junior colleges.
• November 30, 1927: Students receiving below a ‘D’ average, or enrolled in 9 units or less, were dismissed. Reinstatement was offered after one quarter.
• December 14, 1927: Planning for a new campus began. A women’s volleyball team was added.
• March 28, 1928: 70 students were slated to graduate.
• April 18, 1928: Board discussed change of school colors. During basketball season, the team wore red and white due to the purple uniforms fading.
• May 1928: The first annual Fiesta Day was held to which all graduating high school seniors were invited—deemed a good recruiting effort.
• May 14, 1928: Student body voted on a color change, and selected scarlet and black as official school colors with 126 votes for scarlet and black, and 40 votes to remain purple and white. New letterman’s sweaters had a black ‘S’ on a scarlet background.
• October 31, 1928: It was announced that John Phillip Sousa would perform in high school’s gym on campus.
• March 12, 1930: Santa Ana Junior College became the first junior college in California to have a chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. SAC’s chapter was the Alpha Beta chapter.
• December 3, 1930: The college annual, the Algol, was renamed to Del Ano.
• January 7, 1931: The school newspaper was renamed El Don.
• 1932: “Bill” Cook introduced the first night football game at the Santa Ana Bowl.
• May 4, 1932: The first summer school courses were offered. Thirty classes were offered for the six-week session.
• March 10, 1933: The Long Beach Earthquake damaged the campus. However, classes remained in session through the 1933-34 school year. Later, a decision was made to demolish the structure.
• September 10, 1934: Santa Ana Junior College moved to a temporary campus at 10th and Main Street campus, the former home of Santa Ana High School and Willard Junior High.
• 1935: Enrollment was 782 with 144 graduates.
• November 1, 1935: El Don became the first junior college newspaper to print world news in pictures in its weekly newspaper.