Promotions director wants to spread Sac State’s name

Solomon Fulp

The lone soldier.

After 18 years of living on Kodiak Island in Alaska, Solomon Fulp took a chance. The oldest of six (three brothers, three sisters), he moved to Oregon to attend Pacific University on a wrestling scholarship.

“Solly broke my parents in,” Solly’s brother and Sac State junior Sean Fulp said. “He was the leader of the pack. The lone soldier.”

Ten years have passed and Solly is now leading a different cause.

As the athletics department marketing and promotions director, he is vital to the success of Hornet athletics.

“What Solly does is essential,” athletic director Debby Colberg said. “If we are going to move forward, we need the type of community support to help take us there.”

Solly creates the link between Sac State and the community through handling corporate sponsorships, season ticket campaigns and managing booster groups.

For 1998-1999, Solly has raised $324,980 in marketing production for the athletics department.

“He’s a solid guy,” director of promotions Zachary Souza said. “He knows what he wants and he goes for it.”

After going to Pacific University for a year, Solly transferred to the University of Oregon. He left his scholarship behind and walked onto the Ducks wrestling team. He wrestled on the varsity squad for three years. The Ducks athletic program is his model for Sac State.

“There’s a vision I see for this program that I’m accustomed to at Oregon,” Solly said. “Someday we’ll get a little bit of that and that’s my goal. I don’t want to lose sight of that and get accustomed to a losing program and mediocrity. If that happens, I’ve got to put my resignation in.”

Outside the office, Solly is all about family. He met his wife, Cindy, at the University of Oregon. They have been married for two years and don’t have any children, yet.

“My wife has been a big support for me throughout this whole process,” Solly said.

His family in Alaska is an athletic bunch. Solly’s father has been the park and recreations director in town for 30 years and all six of the Fulp children compete in either basketball or wrestling.

“We all compete with each other in sports as well as in life,” Sean said. “Everyone wants to top the other person and that aggressive attitude has got Solly where he is today.”

The Fulps are a tight group, according to Solly.

“We’ve got the old traditional family,” Sean said. “Mom stayed at home and we went to church on Sunday. We’re in touch, there’s no stray birds.”

Sean said his brother’s love for his job makes him successful.

“He’s been in athletics all his life but he’s not a salesman,” Sean said. “Anyone can sell what they love.”

Solly graduated when he was 23 years old. After graduation, he and Cindy moved north to live in Anchorage, Alaska. Solly worked as a fitness recreation coordinator at a senior center and Cindy was an architect. Cindy was originally from Folsom and she decided to change things.

“She told me, ‘Honey, I’m going to show you a better quality of life where the snow isn’t on the ground for eight months,’“ Solly said.

Solly and Cindy moved to the Sacramento area. He worked as a sales rep for a company called Steward Tidal for eight months. That sales experience coupled with his irrelevant degree in English were his only qualifications for his first Sac State position, Events Coordinator.

He had big ideas for Hornet athletics, but no power in his position to make a difference.

“I knew what the department was lacking in and that was community involvement,” Solly said.

Former athletic director Judith Davidson took a chance with Solly. She appointed him at his current position where an outside marketing firm had handles those duties in the past.

Solly wants to give Sac State students the experience he had at Oregon.

“I go annually to U of O and meet friends and reconnect,” Solly said. “It’s important to me to relive my college days.”

He sees the necessary fanbase at Sac State to one day have that type of program.

“We’ve got a lot of students on this campus that want the atmosphere that is at Duke,” Solly said. “They see that on ESPN and say, ‘Why can’t we have that here?’“

The athletics department will soon be hiring an assistant for Solly. He will no longer be the “Lone Soldier” of his department but the leadership role will remain.

“He understands that as the department grows, his job will grow,” Sean Fulp said. “He wants to lift himself and the department up.”