Golden Nuggets: Cooperstown, Bear Recruiting Updates, and Battle of the Big C's

You get TWO photoshops this week!

Hello and welcome to Golden Nuggets, our weekly recap article where we try to highlight all the fun, funny, or interesting things you might have missed roughly over the last week across Bear Territory (the whole damn world of course). Think of it like a primer for water cooler talk. While everyone else talks about Tosh, you’ll be able to tell everyone about the latest bear adventures!

Cooperstown is Bear Territory

News broke Sunday that Jeff Kent, long time San Francisco Giant and part time Bluejays/Met/Guardian/Astro/Dodger was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame via the Contemporary Baseball Ere Committee.

Kent also played baseball at UC Berkeley from 1987-1989 where he competed with Cal in the 1988 College World Series, advancing out of the Central Regional to the World Series before losing to Arizona State and Florida. Kent since then has stayed in touch with the program, helping fund facility upgrades at “the Stu” and paying for the “Jeff Kent Batting Cages”.

Kent also famously appeared on TV Show “Survivor”, finishing 10th out of 18 players, winning 6 challenges, and lasting 22 of the 39 days (its a fun season go re-watch it if you have nothing better to do!

Congrats Jeff!

IMPORTANT URSINE UPDATES

It happened again.

Previously, we here at Golden Nuggets reported the appearance of a 525-pound bear founding hiding in the crawl space of an Altadena home. The bear of course was recruited significantly by Cal Staff, but ultimately decided to take a year off and put on some weight in the Angeles National Forest.

And boy has that worked out for him. Ursus Oro gained approximately 25 more pounds of muscle and was found denned up in the crawl space of another Altadena home this past week. The bear is currently considering his options (whether or not to move out) while also mulling where he’ll play college football. Industry insiders thought he was heading to Westwood this fall, but the hiring of Tosh Lupoi has added a new wrinkle to his recruitment. Ursus Oro is also receiving interest from Oregon, Ohio State, and Alabama.

In other bear news, a fellow black bear decided to take in the Gatlinburg Christmas parade.

Elsewhere, black bear populations are rebounding in Texas (0-2 against your California Golden Bears in the last decade by the way).

Hot Links

Incarceration to College

CBS News profiled Shani Shay, Founder and Director of the Incarceration to College program that aims to give Bay Area youth a chance at higher education.

A Tale of Big Cs

UC Riverside News looked into the origins of the Big C on both UC Berkeley and UC Riverside’s campuses. It’s a fascinating history, especially for someone who grew up in the shadow of one Big C and went to college in the shadow of the other.

Bridging the Data Gap in Women’s Sports

For decades, sports medicine has relied on data collected almost exclusively from men — an inequity that experts say underserves female athletes, and creates a barrier to preventing career-ending injuries.

A first-of-its-kind initiative launched by UC Berkeley on Friday seeks to close that gap in medical research. Read more here!

Small Bites

• The Daily Bruin sent a photojournalist to Berkeley to document it like a foreign travel show.

• The 2026 Men’s Tennis Schedule Dropped

Golden Bear Honors

• Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (Football) was named ACC Rookie QB of the Year. Jaron was also named the Offensive Player of the Week by the UK & Ireland College Football Media. Jaron was also named to the 2025 True Freshman All-American Team by On3

• Luke Ferrelli (Football) was named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year

• Mele Cal-ikimaka! Cal is headed to the Hawaii Bowl!

• Liz Klompmaker (Field Hockey) was named to the NFHCA All-Region Team

• Jacob De Jesus and Cade Uluave were named finalists for the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year

Cal Athletics Recap

• Women’s Basketball lost to Missouri (67-68) but annihilated San Jose State (92-42)

• Men’s Swimming and Diving had a great time at the Minnesota Invitational (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) cruising to the team title

• Women’s Swimming and Diving also had a great weekend up in Minnesota (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) also winning the overall team event

• Track and Field had a good indoor season opener in the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston (Results)

• Men’s Basketball beat Pacific (67-61) and beat Dominican (93-71)

Cal Pros Recap

College Football

Desean Jackson was named HBCU Coach of the Year!

Table Tennis

Lily Zhang is having a moment. Learn more about Lily Zhang here. Or watch her go toe to toe with Anthony Edwards.

Football

Aaron Rodgers when for 284 yards and 1 touchdown on the air and another on the ground (complete with the discount double check celebration wow we really are back in 2012), including one pass for 52 yards in a win over the Ravens. Cam Bynum got a sack. Jared Goff went for 309 and a touchdown in a win over the Cowboys. Marcus Harris forced a fumble in a win over the Browns. Watch it all here.

Basketball

Jaylen Brown sat out against the Wizards, but scored 30 each over the Raptors and Lakers. Jaylon Tyson scored 24 against the Spurs and a double double over the Warriors.

Baseball

Jeff Kent is headed to the Hall of Fame!

Track and Field

Garrett Macquiddy (Track and Field) took third in the 2K Race at the US Track and Field Cross County Championships

Next Week in Bear Territory

• Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving continues to compete at the USA Winter Diving Nationals (12/8-12/16)

• Women’s Basketball takes on Idaho (12/10) before opening ACC play against Stanford (12/14)

• Men’s Basketball takes on Northwestern State (12/13)

And so we find ourselves again at the end of Golden Nuggets. I appreciate you all reading this, and I have a ton of fun writing it. Last week’s most clicked link was seeing Duke fans donate to Cal’s NIL for knocking SMU out of the ACC Championship. No word on if they kept donating after beating Virginia (you’re welcome by the way!) Have a good week!