Willow Glen Resident

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Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Milestones: Mel Cotton celebrated his 90th birthday with friends and customers on March 30 at Mel Cotton's Sporting Goods on W. San Carlos Street.

Longtime local businessman turns 90

Mel Cotton moved to South Bay after WWII

By Mary Gottschalk

Mel Cotton, the man, celebrated his 90th birthday recently at Mel Cotton's, the store.

Surrounded by friends, customers and employees, and looking much younger than 90, Cotton smiled at the greetings and accolades during the March 30 celebration.

When someone commented on how good the store looked, he couldn't resist saying, "Go buy something; make it better."

The fact that there really is a Mel Cotton is something that continually surprises people, says Justin Hicks, marketing director for the sporting goods store at the corner of W. San Carlos and Race streets.

Cotton says occasionally he'll be introduced to someone for the first time and they'll ask, "Are you the Mel Cotton?"

Cotton, who lives in Willow Glen, was born in Sacramento on April 3, 1916.

When his father died, the then 8-year-old Cotton moved with his mother and sister to San Francisco and then to Oakland.

Cotton left high school before graduation in order to help support his family.

By his early 20s, he was operating his own junk and scrap metal business in Oakland, which he put on hold when he joined the U.S. Army in 1941.

"You could volunteer for the army and serve for one year or be drafted for three years," he says. "I joined, and I had two months to go when they bombed Pearl Harbor, and I was in for three years."

At Fort Ord, Cotton married Dorothy Goldfard, whom he met when she came to work at his Oakland junkyard.

"Two weeks later I was on a troop ship heading overseas," he says.

While in the army, Cotton made seven amphibious landings, primarily in France.

Asked about the landings, which had a high mortality rate, Cotton quips, "If you know how to do it, they keep you around to do it again."

Discharged from the army in 1945, Cotton had earned two Bronze Stars, the Legion of Merit, 10 battle stars and several other medals, including France's Croix de Guerre.

Rather than return to Oakland, Cotton moved to San Jose, where he purchased the Great Western Junk Company.

"I bought that with money I saved from playing poker in the army," Cotton says with a smile.

How much did he pay?

"$5,000," he says, smiling wider.

"We started buying war surplus, and then we got involved in tents and canvas," he notes.

Cotton's formula for success was a simple one: "We bought what we could sell, and we sold what we bought."

Over the years, there have been 10 different stores, although no more than three were open at any time. Some had different names, and today, there is just the familiar Mel Cotton's Sporting Goods at the intersection of W. San Carlos and Race streets.

During Cotton's birthday celebration, former employee Dave Larson stopped by with his wife, Pam.

"You gave me my first real job, so I didn't have to work in an orchard anymore," Larson said, expressing his gratitude and joking about working in the rental department.

Another former employee, Mary Martin, flew in from Hawaii with a lei of white orchids.

"Knowing you has brought me so many blessings," Martin said as she gave him the lei.

Cotton's generosity isn't limited to employees.

When he was actively running the store, he says he hired one or two parolees at a time as a form of prisoner rehabilitation.

Asked why, Cotton says simply, "It needed to be done."

He has also contributed to the community in other ways. He is proud of his service on the Santa Clara County grand jury along with his business and civic volunteer work.

For Cotton his Jewish faith is equally important.

He and his wife helped Holocaust survivors with housing, clothing and transportation. Dorothy Cotton died in 2002.

They also helped found four Hillel Houses--Jewish places of worship--on college campuses, including one at San José State University.

Additionally, the Cottons were one of the 10 founding families of Congregation Sinai in Willow Glen 52 years ago.

Cotton is no longer actively involved in running his namesake store, but he says, "I never resigned or quit, but I don't get a paycheck anymore."

Cotton's son Stan and partner Steve Zehring Sr. co-own the store, and Steve Zehring Jr. now serves as president.

His other son, Louis, lives in Israel, along with Cotton's two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Cotton says he's planning to visit them soon, along with Alice Kleszyk, whom he introduces as "my significant other."

At the birthday party, San Jose City Councilman Ken Yeager congratulated Cotton and said he's looking forward to giving him two commendations--one for his 90th birthday and one for the store's 60 years in business--at city hall in the near future.

Looking at two cakes, one decorated to resemble a mountain stream and the other with a nine and a zero candle, Cotton listened as everyone sang "Happy Birthday."

With a smile, he said, "You get happy events once in a while."