Important Note:
Just a reminder that we will be offsite this week at Bolthouse Properties. Bolthouse Properties is located in the Southwest at 11601 Bolthouse Drive, just off Buena Vista near St. John’s Lutheran Church.
Just a reminder that we will be offsite this week at Bolthouse Properties. Bolthouse Properties is located in the Southwest at 11601 Bolthouse Drive, just off Buena Vista near St. John’s Lutheran Church.
Good News & Announcements
Joe Hay introduced the Ford Dimension student participants and had them list their potential college choice and majors. They also discussed their group projects. As always, it was a group of bright, energetic youth who will most certainly achieve much in life.
Steve Roach paid homage to Evelyn who returned for a visit and is celebrating her 92nd birthday this month. The club sang "Happy Birthday" to Evelyn and wished her well.
Joe Hay had wonderful news about his family's auto business. Dan and Mikie Hay are being recognized as one of seven dealerships in the country as outstanding community citizens. This is part of Ford's "Salute to Dealers" program. Congratulations to the Hay Family at being recognized for the enormous and amazing work they do in our community.
Program:
Josia Castor, Assistant Athletics Director at CSUB, introduced the guest speaker, Manny Rivera.
Rivera discussed the long, impressive history of wrestling at CSUB and in Bakersfield. He said wrestlers are very good employees as adults since they are used to winning and losing and are forced to assess their performance after every match. He believes the sport develops strong work ethics, stamina and discipline.
He praised the community for supporting CSUB since it is a self-funded program and doesn't receive university funds like some other sports. The CUSB team currently has a roster composed of students only from California and he finds that to be a strength for the team. There are four or five on the team with scholarships.
He also discussed how some wrestlers go into professional mixed-martial arts after completing their wrestling career and how the sport is declining nationwide.
Rivera was named head wrestling coach at CSU Bakersfield in July of 2016 following five years as an assistant at Big-12-member North Dakota State. He becomes just the fourth head coach in program history. In 2015, he helped coach senior 174-pounder Kurtis Julson to an eighth-place finish and 184-pound junior Hayden Zillmer to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. As a team, the Bison won the NCAA West Regional/Western Wrestling Conference championship with 70.5 points with five individual champions and one runner-up.
Rivera joined NDSU in 2011 after spending one year as an assistant coach at Virginia and two years as a graduate assistant at Minnesota. While at Virginia, he helped coach two All-America performers.
While a graduate assistant for the Gophers, he also served as the assistant director at the School of Champions, a wrestling training program for junior high and high school students. Additionally, he was a volunteer wrestling coach at Rosemead High School.
A native of El Monte, Calif., Rivera was a three-time NCAA qualifier at Minnesota and earned All-America honors as a senior after finishing seventh at 141 pounds at the NCAA Championships. He was also a starter on Minnesota’s 2007 national championship team. He finished his career with a record of 113-40 and 27 pins and was team captain as a senior.
Guests:
Jim Damian had a guest: Paul Holden
Garro Ellis had a guest: Phil Shepard
Visiting Rotarian:
Kevin McCusker, Visalia Breakfast, Community Affairs
