The First Races
It started as a joke between Dean of Students Ernest Becker and one of his assistants, but with the help of some early student leaders at then-new Orange County State College, the joke became the First Intercollegiate Elephant Race "In Human History". The race attracted elephants from ten universities around the nation and even from Oxford, England. A crowd of 10,000 people turned out on the hastily graded field which became known as "Dumbo Downs" on that afternoon in May, 1962.  Jack Hale '62 was the "mahout" (rider) for OCSC's entry Sheba, and also served as vice-president of the Elephant Racing Club (ERC) while Ben Wade '62 served as president.
Later Elephant Races
Less known are the follow-on races held from 1963 through 1965. Merritt Grimm '65 former ERC President (64-65), remembers: 'The '63 race was moved to Los Alamitos Race Track after the college administrators got spooked when a one-eyed elephant bolted  at the '62 races, guaranteeing that Dumbo Downs would never again be the race venue. Jack Clement '63 was mahout in the 1963 event at Los Alamitos.. In '64  and '65 we moved the race to a field in rural Placentia., east of the campus"  Getting "prestige"  schools to enter the races was one of Grimm's main jobs: 'We had Yale's ASB President lined up to race in '64. I called him one evening a few days before the race because we hadn't heard from him. He sobbed '"the President of Yale won't let me go...says racing elephants doesn't fit our Ivy League image...and I already have my airplane ticket!". Not thinking about the 3 hour time difference, Grimm called the President of Yale at 11pm California time and got him out of bed. 'After a cordial exchange of Yalie jokes, it became clear to me that Yale would be a no-show. At 8am the next morning [CSUF President] Langsdorf''s office called me in. Langsdorf had been awakened at 4am by Yale's President, wanting to know  what kind of university would let students wake him up in the middle of the night.'
Origins of Tuffy The Titan
To publicize the 1962 event, a circus-like elephant called Tuffy the Titan was used and it began appearing on sweaters and notebook covers around the campus. With no other mascot, the elephant was unofficially adopted. Several revisions in the caricature have been made in recent years to create a more tenacious Tuffy, or Titus as he also was called in an attempt to make him Greek. The costume that brings the mascot to life also has changed. Tuffy even attracted a female,  "Tiffy" in 1992.