If 2025 seemed like a year connected to fond sports memories for generations of Kern County community members, that’s because many entities were celebrating a milestone anniversary or, in two instances, christening a new one.

Bakersfield College’s jewel of a sports venue, Memorial Stadium, hosted its first football game in 1955. The venue turned 70 in 2025.

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“When I think of Memorial Stadium, I think about Gil Bishop and his foresight to build a stadium like that,” former BC football assistant coach Duane Damron, 91, said of Bishop, who was BC’s athletic director from 1954 to 1968. “We were the only act in town and we filled the place up.”

Damron, who began coaching there in 1966 and went for 35 years as a line coach for the staffs of Renegade head coaches Ray Newman, Gerry Collis, Carl Bowser and Dallas Grider, was always in awe of such a site to call his work office.

“I’d never seen a place quite like that then, and it is beautiful now with everything they’ve improved on through the years,” he said. “I really enjoyed coaching in that stadium for so long.”

He still goes, too, as a fan. He’s had sons play and coach football at BC and a niece who was a cheerleader. His grandson, Seth, is the current BC football offensive coordinator to show the depth of Memorial Stadium’s long, generational run.

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The Bakersfield Speedway, which had been located at North Chester Avenue for 79 years, held its 80th season about 24 miles to the southwest as an addition to Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway. It consists of a revamped one-third-mile dirt oval, just north of the paved half-mile track.

The facility hosted IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, IMCA Stocks, Hobby Stocks and American Stocks racing and more. New grandstands along the front straightaway are higher and afford better visibility along with increased capacity. According to new track owner Tim Huddleston, there are now 2,704 seats.

Also celebrating milestone years in 2025 were Stockdale Country Club and Bakersfield Country Club, 100 and 75 years, respectively. North of the River (NOR) Recreation and Park District, an organization dedicated to a wide range of community sports events and activities, also turned 70.

One local sports space that opened in 2025 is busy building community pride.

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The Kern High School District, with a major assist from Nate Franklin, a three-sport athlete and Highland High alumnus and his 661 Foundation, opened the East Side Aquatic Center facility. The pool, built on the west side of the Highland campus, is home to the B-Town Brazadas Swim Club, a community-focused nonprofit that offers beginning swim lessons and water-safety classes as well as a competitive swimming program. The facility has also hosted high school practices and water polo games, including a Centennial High CIF girls playoff match.

Brazadas Director Craig Charlson said 90 swimmers, children ages 6 to 18, are already enrolled as well as those in the adult swim program. He’s excited about the future and enjoys his new work space.

“I think this is one of the most beautiful facilities in the country,” he said. “To know I get to come here each day and this is my office; how cool is that?”

It is a 50-meter-x-25-yard competition pool that can operate as a 50-meter course with eight lanes or a 25-yard course with 19 lanes. It has two 1-meter diving boards, three buildings with showers and lockers, a ticket booth, restrooms, seating for 356 spectators, a state-of-the-art timing system, full-color video display, lighting to support competitive nighttime events and more. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in October.

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“This is an exciting milestone for our students, for the school and in our entire East Bakersfield community,” KHSD Superintendent Michael Zulfa said. “This state-of-the-art facility represents … a deep commitment for student health, athletics excellence and school pride. It’s a space that will serve generations of Scots, providing opportunities for physical education, competition and community connection.”

LOCAL TEAMS

Bakersfield Condors

The 2024-25 Bakersfield Condors came close — they won two games on the last weekend of the season against the Henderson Silver Knights — to making the American Hockey League playoffs last April, but it wound up not being enough to surpass the Tucson Roadrunners.

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Tucson split a weekend series against Colorado. Bakersfield and Tucson finished the regular season tied with 74 points for seventh place in the AHL’s Pacific Division.

But the Roadrunners’ 6-2 record in eight head-to-head season meetings was the tiebreaker.

The Condors — who battled the last several weeks to gain the final playoff spot despite injuries, player call-ups to Edmonton, signing players to amateur tryout agreements and more — were out.

Bakersfield finished 32-30-7-3.

Bakersfield Train Robbers

The Bakersfield Train Robbers were eliminated from the Pecos League’s Pacific Division baseball playoffs, losing 15-9 to the Dublin Leprechauns at Sam Lynn Ballpark in late July.

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Dublin, which won the first game of the best-of-three semifinal series, dropped the second game to Bakersfield 7-4 to set up a winner-advances to the Pacific Division finals.

Dublin, which had a 9-0 lead after two innings in its 17-6 Game 1 win, trailed 9-7 after six innings in Game 3. An eight-run eighth inning by Dublin was the difference.

Nick Danbrowney gave Bakersfield six innings as the starter, but gave up 12 hits, seven runs — five earned — walked five and struck out seven.

Dublin put together seven of its 20 hits in the inning off two Bakersfield relief pitchers, Bryan Krolikowski, who started the eighth, and Jaden Metz, who allowed five runs on five hits.

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Bakersfield, which finished with 11 hits, got three from Jared Gay and two each from Joe Riddle, Emilio Luna and Danbrowney, who tried to help his cause with two hits and three RBIs. Both Gay and Danbrowney homered for Bakersfield.

Bakersfield’s final season record was 36-21.

Sadly, only weeks after the Train Robbers’ season concluded, Danbrowney, 22, died in an Aug. 18 car wreck in North Carolina. He joined the Train Robbers’ roster in June and had attended Ramapo College of New Jersey. A GoFundMe account was organized in his name by his family.