Jim Malik, 85, SDSU leader

Jim Malik had been a chemistry professor at San Diego State University for more than 15 years when in 1973 he was appointed the faculty athletic representative for the university. It was a defining moment in his career and his life.

For the next 21 years, he represented the institution at the NCAA and the Western Athletic Conference, serving under four SDSU presidents and five athletic directors. He was responsible for determining the eligibility of men and women in intercollegiate athletic programs and ensuring strict adherence to the rules and regulations set forth by the NCAA and the conference.

And, in the early 1990s, Dr. Malik delayed his retirement at the behest of then SDSU President Thomas Day. He was tasked with conducting an in-house investigation when SDSU came under fire from the NCAA for accepting false Mesa College academic credits for three Aztecs football players.

“I just don’t think San Diego State could have had a better person in that role,” said Clayne Jensen, retired athletic director for Brigham Young University. “In fact, he was probably the most thorough person in the NCAA.

“He was always right on top of the problems and the solutions and always at the meetings and always played a major role in every meeting he attended. He was not only a leader for San Diego State University in athletics, but he was a leader of the athletic groups he participated with.”

Dr. Malik died of brain cancer April 17 at his home in El Cajon. He was 85.

He was born Jim Gorden Malik on Oct. 5, 1928, in Elyria, Ohio, the elder of two sons to Joseph Malik and Carolyn Verba. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1950 from Wabash College in Indiana and a Ph.D from Michigan State University in 1954.

As a graduate student, he was called, and deferred, three times to serve in the Army during the Korean War. He learned later his research team was working on fuel sources for the Atomic Energy Commission. He used his work on the top secret project for his thesis and earned his doctorate at just 25.

Dr. Malik taught inorganic chemistry at the University of Minnesota Duluth for two years before teaching chemistry at Knox College in Illinois. In 1957, he moved to San Diego to teach at what was then San Diego State College.

Except for a year at Sonoma State College to establish its chemistry department, he remained at San Diego State University until his retirement in 1992. Honored in 1966 for Distinguished Teaching by the California State Colleges Division of Academics, he also penned more than 30 articles for research and educational journals and served as president of the SDSU Faculty Senate.

“He was on the razor’s edge of knowledge,” Jensen said. “He was an easy person to approach, to visit with and to learn things from.”

While the faculty athletic representative, he was appointed to serve on the NCAA Council from 1991 to 1993. The Jim Malik Award was created to honor SDSU’s student athletes with the highest semester grade-point average.

In 1978, Dr. Malik became a founding director of the Holiday Bowl, serving as liaison between the organization and the NCAA.

“He loved college football and he certainly loved San Diego State,” said Bruce Binkowski, the bowl game’s executive director. “He was very instrumental in helping us start off what is quite a successful bowl game. His legacy is that he helped us create and sustain this great organization.”

Dr. Malik is survived by his wife of 36 years, the former Norma King, of El Cajon; a daughter, Janice Merritt, of McAllen, Texas; sons Jeffrey Malik, of San Diego, John Malik, of Lucas, Texas; stepson David Peterson, of El Cajon; a brother, Jack Malik, of Fort Collins, Colo.; and 11 grandchildren. He is also survived by his first wife, Judy Molitor, of North Carolina.

A celebration of life is being planned. The family suggests memorial donations to the SDSU Scholar Athletic Program, which can be made by calling the Aztec Club at (619) 594-6444.