From the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento to a lifelong home in Davis
Bob Warren is one of those great citizens who has made Davis what it is today
To say Bob Warren had an unusual childhood would be a vast understatement.
Warren, 91, was a three-sport athlete at UC Davis, known most prominently as a four-year starter in football, excelling as a center on offense and as a linebacker on defense.
When Bob was just seven years old and still going by “Bobby,” his dad, Earl Warren, was elected Governor of California.
Earl Warren, however, wasn’t elected just once to a four-year term as governor. No, he was elected three times, and remains as the only California governor so honored. He led the state from 1943 to 1953, but his third term was interrupted when President Dwight Eisenhower named him Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Thus, from the age of seven through his graduation from McClatchy High School, Bob Warren lived with his five older siblings in the historic Governor’s Mansion at 1526 H Street in midtown Sacramento. The mansion still stands, but California governors no longer live there.
It’s safe to say that none of his classmates at Crocker Elementary, Cal Junior High or McClatchy High School had anything close to that living arrangement.
At the age of seven, having just moved to Sacramento from the Bay Area so his dad could assume the governorship, Bob was the new kid at Crocker Elementary and went through a predictably awkward introduction to his new classmates.
Warren remembers that first day of school well.
“The teacher told everyone, ‘This is Bobby Warren. His dad is the new governor,’” Warren said.
“Most everyone had no idea what that meant, and they all went out on the playground except for one kid, Larry, who came over and asked me if I wanted to go outside and play. He was the only one, and we ended up being friends for life.”
As Bobby grew older and became Bob to his friends, he made the football team at McClatchy, one of Sacramento’s historic high schools, with opponents that included Christian Brothers and Woodland High School, along with schools down the Central Valley in Lodi, Modesto and Turlock.
One of his teammates at McClatchy, Gene Weiss, went on to play at Sacramento State.
Touchingly, years later, in 2024, Bob Warren and Gene Weiss participated in the ceremonial coin toss at midfield prior to the Causeway Classic.
After graduating from McClatchy, Bob spent part of the summer in Southern California and fancied the idea of playing football at UCLA. So he went to talk with legendary Bruins head coach Red Sanders, who was not inclined to give him an athletic scholarship.
“So I jumped in my Plymouth and immediately drove to Davis,” Warren recalled.
“Growing up I had a horse and rode most every day, so Davis’ history as an agricultural school had always appealed to me. I registered with a major in animal husbandry and signed up for football in the fall of 1954.”
At various times in his Aggie career, Warren was also on the swim team and the track team in addition to his football exploits.
In his four-year football career, he started every game except one, but he remembers well why he missed that game.
“My dad, obviously, had moved to Washington, D.C., and he had never seen me play football in college,” Warren said.
“So he came out for a game and sat on the 50-yard line down near the field behind the Aggie bench. But within 10 minutes they were loading me in the ambulance with a leg injury, and off I went to the Student Health Center, where Dr. Tom Cooper took care of me. My leg wasn’t broken, and I was okay to play the next week, but my dad had already gone back to D.C.”
Warren played with the likes of Aggie greats John Kidd, Marv Mays, Jim Waller and Myrel Moore.
Ted Forbes was his coach in 1954 and 1955, with Will Lotter taking over in 1956 and 1957. The 1956 team started the season 6-0 and went on to a 7-2 season and a share of the Far Western Conference championship.
In those days, when UC Santa Barbara still had a football team, the Aggies would take part in an annual All-Cal weekend, with UCD and Santa Barbara playing the first game, and Cal taking on UCLA in the so-called main event.
The site would alternate between Memorial Stadium in Berkeley and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The games were frequently standing room only in two of the biggest stadiums on the West Coast.
One year, the game against Santa Barbara was taking too long and delaying the start of the Cal-UCLA game. So, at the end of the third quarter, the game was called.
“We were all upset,” said Warren. “Both teams wanted to finish the game, no matter who was ahead. It didn’t seem fair to us. It was just a lack of respect, and we were all very disappointed.”
While he said it was challenging to be a student and an athlete and hold down a part-time job with the Davis Fire Department all at the same time, Warren noted without a doubt that his greatest joy at UC Davis was being a member of the football team.
“I have memories for life and still keep in touch with a number of my teammates,” Warren said.
After graduation he put all his athletic experiences to good use as an athletic director and coach for the California Department of Corrections at Soledad Prison in Monterey County.
After six years in that position, he moved back to Davis, where he currently lives, and founded Warren Real Estate, primarily covering Davis, Dixon, Woodland and Winters.
But Bob Warren never left the field of play, serving for over 40 years on the chain gang for UC Davis football games along the sidelines at Toomey Field.
Now a prominent booster of Aggie football, Warren said, “the fun is still going on. It’s an exciting time for Aggie football, and we’re taking important steps forward.”
Bob Warren, an athlete for all seasons at UC Davis and a man for all seasons in his adopted hometown of Davis.
Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com
**Bob writing a tribute to Bob is a joy to read — Dunning on Warren.**
I am blessed to know Bob Warren. When I decided to dedicate my professional career to commercial and investment real estate, Bob Warren gave me a job. He let me hang my license with him, and it was a treat and an honor. I worked with and for Bob until I co-founded my own firm. I learned a great deal from Bob Warren — but never enough.
Bob worked hard, knew everyone in town, and always held the highest ethical standards. He was fair in all of his dealings, and he understood risk and return and could explain both to clients. If he believed in something, he was always willing to have skin in the game.
Bob served clients, but he also invested his resources — time and money — in projects in his community. As I drive around Davis, I see Warren's influence and imprint everywhere. The First Northern Bank complex at 2nd and D Streets was developed by Bob and his partners. So was Mansion Square at 2nd and E Street. Court and Cedar. The Depot Building. Ponderosa Commercial Condominiums on F Street between 4th and 5th. Those are just a few. He also made a positive imprint in Dixon, Winters, Knights Landing, Woodland, and many more valley towns — but if you talk with him, he loved Davis the most.
He has contributed a great deal to everyone he comes across. I remember fondly a time or two when Bob invited me to join him for lunch at Mr. B's with Jim Sochor and other UCD coaches. I also watched with a giggle as Bob moved the chains along the sidelines at Aggie football games. When I mentioned that I'd seen him on the chain gang, he told me he had the best view of the game.
One day, Bob, you need to write another column on the other Bob's political memorabilia. World class. He loves that stuff as much as you love baseball cards.
Thank you for sharing a part of Bob's athletic legacy.
Bob Warren, when you read Bob's column, I hope you will pause and reflect on what an important role you played in this community and in the lives of the people lucky enough to know you. Thank you for who you are and what you have done.
Fascinating…(Larry’s friend from 2nd grade who went home to the Governor’s Mansion after school ).