Former Bakersfield College Athletic Director Jan Stuebbe passed away at the age of 62 on Nov. 30 after his battle with cancer.
Stuebbe held the position of BC athletic director for 11 years, and many of the athletic staff are in agreement that Stuebbe was an amazing man who will be missed dearly.
Sandi Taylor, current athletic director for BC, worked with Stuebbe for 13 years as associate director and said that he was a great man with many good qualities.
“He was about doing what was right because it’s right, and he was extremely supportive and positive and willing to help you in any way to be better at what you wanted to do, whatever it was,” said Taylor.
Head football coach Jeff Chudy also remembers how supportive Stuebbe was and said that he was a “great mentor” and “passionate about BC.”
Long before Stuebbe was appointed athletic director, he played football for BC as a quarterback in the1969-70 season, where he met his wife.
“He met his wife when he was going to school here, she was a cheerleader and he was quarterback, so it was quite the storybook romance,” said Taylor.
“At that time the firehouse had folks that lived in it so he rented a space from them to live, played football here, met his wife here, started dating, and got married later, so it’s a pretty cool story.”
Stuebbe worked many jobs coaching football around Kern County, starting at McFarland High School at the age of 22. He also coached for 16 years at Shafter High School, and helped get the athletic program rolling at Centennial High School, where he worked as athletic director and head varsity football coach for five years before making his way to BC to head the athletic department.
Rich Hughes, BC’s men’s basketball coach, said Stuebbe hired him nine years ago and that he’s always been grateful to him for giving him a chance when others may not have.
“He was a good person, like I said, he hired me so I was always thankful for him taking a chance to hire me when maybe someone else wouldn’t,” said Hughes.
“When I got here he was very supportive of me, trying to help us develop the program. He did whatever he could to help us, and it just speaks to the type of person he was. He wanted to help people succeed. It was never about his own ego, it wasn’t about Jan Stuebbe, it was about BC athletics and helping the coaches do the best that they could.”
Taylor said Stuebbe had been ill for a long time, but that didn’t stop him from still wanting to be there to support his former colleagues in all their endeavors. She said that Stuebbe was always eager to help and encourage even though he was very sick.
Visitation will be held from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 4 at Peter’s Funeral Home in Shafter.
A memorial service has been set for 10 a.m. Dec. 5 at Valley Baptist Church. A graveside service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at Shafter Memorial Park.