Bakersfield College honored the 1977-78 state championship men’s basketball team by unveiling the banner that they will be hanging in the Gil Bishop Sports Center.
The banner unveiling was during halftime of the men’s basketball game against L.A. Valley on Feb. 8. The banner was given to the team to keep and they will hang another banner in the gym to honor the team.
Former BC coach Ralph Krafve, who was the head coach of the team, commented on the team being honored.
“It feels good that the team is being remembered and I enjoy seeing all the old guys. It’s fun to come back for something this nice and to see all the guys and that they’ve all done well. That’s good to see because they’re all good guys.
“There are too many memories, but I remember playing only six guys and during the season we had a four-game stretch, so that was incredible,” he said.
Krafve took over as head coach of BC in 1973, after coaching for 13 years at East Bakersfield High School.
During the 1977-78 season, the Renegades won the conference championship and the state championship with a record of 33-2.
That’s still the best all-time record in BC.
“The honor is nice, but seeing all the players is what is really nice,” said assistant coach Mark Hutson.
“This brings back memories of the team and what they did on the court. Although I was only an assistant coach here, when I coached at [Bakersfield High School] we played games here, so I have a lot of fond memories,” he said.
Hutson was a player and an assistant coach at BC, and he holds the record for most wins in the Central Section in high school basketball with 500.
Dean Jones, who was the starting point guard of the team and ended up being the state junior college player of the year, commented on the team being honored.
“It’s a great feeling. We’ve had reunions before, but it’s special to be honored here in this gym. I remember a lot of tough sweaty days here, Coach really pushed us really hard here. Coach really instilled some lifelong lessons in me and we’ve become really close friends.
“It’s also good to see all the guys,” he said.
“We see each other once in a while, but it’s good to be back here and joke around about who turned the ball over in the state championship game,” he said.
“I had a lot of fond memories here, but if I had to pick one that I remember the most is when we won the state championship game at Long Beach. I remember a lot of people from BC making the trip over there and it was just a great feeling playing in front of them.”
Along with winning the junior college player of the year he also won all-metro first team honors.
He averaged 15.7 points per game and nine assists per game during the season.
He’s still holds the record for assists in a season (316) and holds the record for all-time assists at BC with 515 assists.