The Golden Bears and the
Polka Dot Man by Will Byrne
The University of California at Berkeley's Sproul Plaza has been a center for the counter-culture movement for over forty-five years. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke over its steps in 1967. Joan Baez crooned free speech there before she became famous at Woodstock. Over the decades, it has remained a space for engaging in civil disobedience and forward-thinking rhetoric, as well as an open microphone for downright eccentric characters.
Amongst its longtime tenants is the Polka-dot Man, aka the X-Chromosome Man, aka the Black-Hole Man, aka William Wollbrinck.
Wollbrinck, a diagnosed schizophrenic, has been a daily regular presence at Sproul's Sather Gate since the mid 70's. He started as the Polka Dot Man, sporting white scrubs and face-paint with red polka dots from head to toe. On a daily basis, he has engaged the student population with his passions and philosophies, his garb reflecting these concepts: X's across his body to support the X Chromosome and feminist ideals, black painted five gallon jug over his head during his "Black-Hole" phase, relating somehow to Buddhist notions of inner peace.
Born in Hollywood in 1948, Wollbrinck’s mission was, and still is, one of imparting self-awareness on the local population, a calling he pursues with daily diligence. It was in 1980, when he forged an odd partnership with the Golden Bears Field Hockey program.
The Polka Dot Man gravitated into the pull of the Cal Field Hockey program, "on a whim of a smart-aleck freshman," says
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Shellie Onstead, currently coaching her 17th season at the helm of Golden Bears Field Hockey. In the fall of 1980, she was just a sophomore on the team, after having transferred to Cal from UC Davis.
Maureen Robbins (now Ybarra), the smart-aleck freshman on the squad, had regularly engaged the eccentric street performer on daily walks across the plaza, and egged him into coming to their afternoon practice.
"We began exchanging actual information," said Ybarra, "and our subject was field hockey. He became invested in knowing how we did following a game and, so, it was only natural to invite him to Kleeberger Field, where we practiced and played."
"Maureen, you idiot, he's following us!" Onstead remembers thinking that first day. "The whole team was a little freaked out, but I give my coach [Donna Fong] a ton of credit: she reminded us to not be judgmental."
Within a few days, Wollbrinck knew the names of all the players,
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