OCC honors snapshots of success

COSTA MESA — When Norman Watson first came to work at Orange Coast College, he never imagined the school would honor him more than 40 years later. In fact, during his first few months on the job, he didn’t make a penny.

Watson, the second president of OCC, was working as a public school superintendent when college founder Basil Peterson offered him an administrative job.

Since Watson was still under contract at his old job, he had accrued enough vacation days to last through the entire summer — and hence, he told a campus audience on Thursday, Peterson paid him nothing until September.

“I called [my wife] and said, ‘I got the job. I got the part,’” Watson said at the evening ceremony, where he was honored along with OCC’s other eight presidents. “She said, ‘What does it pay?’ and I said, ‘Nothing.’”

Watson got his pay soon enough, serving as OCC president in 1964 before becoming chancellor of the Coast Community College District and founding KOCE-TV. His story was similar to those of most of the college’s past leaders — a hair-raising start, followed by years of prosperity.

The ceremony in the Student Center Lounge, followed by a buffet dinner, was part of the school’s 60th anniversary celebration. Six of OCC’s nine presidents appeared in person — Watson, Bernard Luskin, David Grant, Margaret Gratton, Gene Farrell and current President Bob Dees — while the descendants of two others, Peterson and Bob Moore, spoke on their behalf. The ninth president, Donald Bronsard, was unable to attend.

Physical education instructor Laird Hayes, the emcee of the event, introduced the presidents in chronological order — providing, in the process, a snapshot history of the school’s first six decades. Luskin introduced computers into OCC classrooms, while Grant helped to shape the college’s world-renowned sailing school. Dees, who took office in April 2005, said he felt humbled in the presence of his predecessors.

“I truly am standing on the shoulders of giants,” he told the crowd.