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People who made Kern County what it is
Topics: people, history, Kern County
Posted by admin Fri Jul 18, 2008 15:47:53 PDT
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Who built Kern County? Who made it the unique place in America it has become? Buck Owens and Merle Haggard get their share of credit and blame, but Bakersfield and the southern San Joaquin Valley have produced plenty of other notable heroes, artists, athletes, film stars, writers, visionaries, statesmen and stateswomen over the years. Here is a sampling.

Col. Thomas Baker: Credited as the founder of Bakersfield, a town named — so the story goes — because the Ohio native made his alfalfa fields available to the horses of weary travelers passing through what became known as “Baker’s field.”

Edward Fitzgerald Beale: Best remembered for establishing Tejon Ranch south of Bakersfield. A close friend to Ulysses S. Grant, he became a hero of the Mexican War at the Battle of San Pasqual by crawling through the lines with Kit Carson to get help. Thought to be the first to bring news of the California gold strike to the East. Appointed superintendent of Indian affairs in California and Nevada in 1852. Remembered for an experiment in 1857 with camel transportation. Briefly (1876–77) the U.S. ambassador to Austria-Hungary.

Truxtun Beale: Son of Edward Fitzgerald Beale. Bakersfield’s Truxtun Avenue is named for him; he built and dedicated the Beale Memorial Clock Tower to the city of Bakersfield in memory of his mother, Mary.

Robert Beltran: Bakersfield-bred stage, film and television actor has appeared in Luis Valdez’s “Zoot Suit” (1981), Paul Bartel’s “Eating Raoul” (1982, as Raoul) and “Star Trek: Voyager” (as Commander Chakotay) among many other roles.

Frank Bidart: Born in Bakersfield from Basque stock in 1939, the renowned poet is a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle finalist. He has received the Academy of American Poet’s Wallace Stevens Award, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation Writer’s Award, the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Shelley Award of the Poetry Society of America and The Paris Review’s first Bernard F. Conners Prize.

John Brock Sr.: Ran Brocks Department Store, a downtown Bakersfield landmark, for decades. Namesake of the annual John Brock Award, honoring integrity and community service.

Floyd Burcham: Amiable founder of Floyd’s Stores was revered for his generosity, especially when it came to youth sports and baseball in general.

Jim Burke: Bought majority interest of what was then Haberfelde Ford in 1974. Under Burke’s ownership, the dealership became one of the largest single-point Ford dealerships in the nation. Burke started a long-lived student scholarship program.

Monty Byrom: Bakersfield country-blues-rock musician has written songs for Eddie Money, Barbra Streisand, David Lee Roth and others. Lead singer of ACM-nominated Big House.

Princess Nellie Calhoun: Raised in a dirt-floor cabin near Caliente, Eleanor Hulda Calhoun became a star of the Shakespearean stage and a headliner in Europe in the 1890s. In 1903 she married Serbian Prince Eugene Lazarovich. She also authored three books between 1910 and 1926.

Johnny Callison: All-star outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies and three other teams for 15 major-league seasons ending in 1973. Born in Oklahoma and grew up in Bakersfield, where he was a hometown hero as a minor-leaguer.

David Carr: Stockdale High School football star was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft. Played for the Houston Texans, the Carolina Panthers, and is now with the New York Giants.

Cesar Chavez: Led the movement of farmworkers to unionize. Continued his crusade with the United Farm Workers, headquartered in Keene, east of Bakersfield, until his death in 1993.

Henry H. Collins: Minister was elected to the Bakersfield City Council in 1953, becoming the first black man to serve in such a position in the state.

Brandon Cruz: Bakersfield-bred child actor (“The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” “The Bad News Bears”) went on to become lead singer of the bands Dr. Know and Dead Kennedys. Charter member of A Minor Consideration, a watchdog group of former child stars founded by Paul Peterson.

George Culver: Bakersfield-bred pitcher signed by the Yankees, Culver struck out 18 batters in one of his first big-league games. A starter with the Reds in 1968, he no-hit Philadelphia on July 29, walking five, to win 6-1. From 1970 on, he was a long reliever, and often led his club in appearances. Culver became a coach and manager in the Phillies’ system.

Jonathan Davis: Lead singer of the platinum-selling rock band Korn, a group of Bakersfield-bred musicians.

Marc Davis: Disney studios animator who directed “101 Dalmations” (1961), “Sleeping Beauty” (1959), “Peter Pan” (1953), “Alice in Wonderland” (1951), “Cinderella” (1950), “Song of the South” (1946) and others. Bakersfield native.

Mary Holman Dodge: First policewoman on the Bakersfield force, hired in 1941. Married to the late veteran policeman Charlie Dodge, who in 1966 won an upset victory in the race for Kern County sheriff.

Dorothy Donahoe: Democratic state legislator from Bakersfield who wrote the Donahoe Higher Education Act of 1960, which gave birth to what is now California State University, Bakersfield, the 19th member of the CSU system. CSUB’s Donahoe Hall is named in her honor. Died shortly before her signature 1960 legislation, named in her honor, was passed.

Grace Dorris: Elected to the state Assembly in 1918, one of the four women to break the legislature’s gender barrier that year. First woman to introduce a bill before the Legislature; re-elected in 1920, 1922 and 1924. Dorris, wife of influential attorney Wiley Dorris, moved to Taft and then to Bakersfield in 1913.

Jess R. Dorsey: State assemblyman (1902-1907) and Kern County district attorney (1917-1923) who was elected to the state Senate in 1942 and served until his death in 1958. Wrote legislation to protect Isabella Lake and, perhaps most famously, took on the local Klu Klux Klan.

Robert Duncan: Born in Oakland in 1919 and raised as a foster child in Bakersfield, where he grew up as Robert Edward Symmes, Duncan became one of the West’s pre-eminent poets after World War II. He was identified with several major movements in American poetry in the 1950s and ’60s.

Dr. Hans Einstein: Considered the foremost authority on Valley fever, a fungal disease that affects the lungs and, in its most serious form, can be fatal.
Annette Funicello: Former Mouseketeer and bright-eyed star of ’60s “Beach Blanket” teeny-bopper movies is retired and living part-time in Shafter.

Marshall Ganz: The son of a Bakersfield rabbi, Ganz participated in the 1964 black voter registration drive made famous by the movie “Mississippi Burning;” helped lead a headline-making protest against Mississippi’s exclusion of black delegates at the 1964 Democratic National Convention; served as an early organizer of the United Farm Workers; and was a lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Frank Gifford: Former Bakersfield High School and Bakersfield College football player who went on to athletic greatness at the University of Southern California and in the National Football League with the New York Giants, as well as sports broadcasting fame.

Merle Haggard: Born the son of a railroad man, Oildale native Haggard is considered one of country music’s premiere singers and songwriters. Recorded dozens of top 10 hits throughout the 1960s and ’70s. He was pardoned by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1972 for crimes committed in his youth, appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1974, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994.

Floyd Hall: Bakersfield High School graduate has served as chief executive officer of Kmart, Target, B. Dalton Booksellers and Singer Co.

Alfred Harrell: A former Kern County teacher and superintendent of schools who bought The Bakersfield Californian in 1897, setting up a long line of family ownership of the area’s only major daily newspaper.

Kevin Harvick: A star of the NASCAR Winston Cup auto-racing circuits. Harvick is the first Bakersfield driver to compete on a full-time basis at the highest level of stock car competition.

Gerald W. Haslam: Oildale native and retired college professor now living in Sonoma County. Author of more than 20 works of fiction and nonfiction, including “The Other California,” “Straight White Male” and the prize-winning epic, “The Great Central Valley: California’s Heartland.” Received the Bakersfield Centennial Foundation’s 1998 literature award as best writer in the city’s history.

Herb Henson: Hosted “Cousin Herb’s Trading Post,” a nightly local television show from 1953-63, dedicated to country music and its stars. Guests included Buck Owens, Bonnie Owens, Merle Haggard, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry and many more.

Dolores Huerta: Former United Farm Workers organizer, a member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Eugene V. Debs Outstanding American Award, carries on her social justice work through the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

Jimmie Icardo: Rough-hewn but well-loved Bakersfield farmer and philanthropist whose contributions to CSUB helped create the Icardo Center.

Ed Jagels: Long-serving Kern County district attorney led the crusade to oust California Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird in the 1980s; leading advocate of state’s “three strikes” laws. His office has consistently led California in per-capita prison commitments. Unflatteringly portrayed in the 1996 book “Mean Justice.”

Jack Johnson: The world’s first black heavyweight boxing champion, born in Texas in 1878. Johnson flouted taboos by buying a house in a white Bakersfield neighborhood and living openly with white women. He fought in Bakersfield only once though, losing a 20-round decision to Hank Griffin in November 1901.

Henry Jastro: German immigrant (and son-in-law of Col. Thomas Baker) who served as manager of the Kern Land Co. starting in 1890. Jastro helped organize a local power company, served as chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, helped establish the California State Fair and was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of California.

Leamon King: Considered “The World’s Fastest Human” during much of the 1950s, the Delano High School graduate won an Olympic gold medal in 1956, the same year he tied world records in the 100-yard (9.3 seconds) and 100-meter (10.1 seconds) sprints.

Pete Knight: As an Air Force pilot in the 1960s, the state senator (17th District) flew the X-15 rocket research aircraft to 4,520 mph (mach 6.7), establishing the still- unbroken world speed record in a fixed wing aircraft. He earned astronaut wings for another X-15 flight to 280,000 feet in altitude. As a legislator, he was known for drafting legislation limiting gay rights.

Jack LaLanne: Legendary fitness guru spent 10 years of his youth in Bakersfield. He was an underweight, troubled teen who dropped out of high school and was plagued by headaches. Then, at 15, he learned about nutrition.

Pauline Larwood: In 1983, became the first woman elected to the Kern County Board of Supervisors; retired in 1994. Founding member of the San Joaquin Agricultural Protection Council. Served on the Kern Community College District board of trustees.

Sam Lynn: Coca-Cola distributor who gave generously to sports organizations was instrumental in creating the California League in the 1930s and bringing full-fledged professional baseball to Bakersfield a decade later. Sam Lynn Ball Park, named in his honor, was built a year after his death in 1940.

Guy Madison: Bakersfield native Guy Madison (born Robert Ozell Moseley in 1922) appeared in 85 films, on radio, and television, finding his niche in the 1940s and starring as James Butler Hickock in the television series “Adventures of Wild Bill Hickock” (1951). He also starred in spaghetti westerns and sci-fi films in the mid-1950s.

Mayie Maitia: One of the grand dames of local Basque cuisine. Longtime owner of the Woolgrowers, a favorite restaurant in east Bakersfield, she has fed the famous (Ronald Reagan, Earl Warren, Barbra Streisand) and nonfamous alike.

George Martin: Founder and host of the Bakersfield Business Conference, an annual speakers’ festival that concluded its long run in October 2005.

Larry and Kat Martin: She is a best-selling romance author (“Midnight Sun”) who has written more than 30 books, including several translated into 12 languages. Attended East High, graduated from Bakersfield College. She met her husband, also an author, in 1981, when both were Bakersfield real estate agents. He writes western/ historical/ thriller novels (“Rush to Destiny”). Graduated from Bakersfield High, attended Bakersfield College.

Kevin McCarthy: Former aide to Congressman Bill Thomas, was Republican leader in the state Assembly, now holds down Thomas’ old job in Congress.

Brent McClanahan: Bakersfield native was a running back for the great Minnesota Vikings teams of the 1970s.

Rick Mears: A Bakersfield native and South High School alumnus, Mears won the Indy 500 race four times before retiring as a driver. Part of an esteemed local racing family that includes brother Roger and nephew Casey.

Justin Meyer: Monk-turned-winemaker (and Garces graduate, then known as Raymie) left the Christian Brothers to co-found Napa Valley’s Silver Oak Winery.

Milton “Spartacus” Miller: Legendary iconoclast, former Kern County supervisor and longtime owner/proprietor of Bakersfield’s Padre Hotel. In the most famous and long-lived of his many stunts, he erected a mock U.S. Army missile atop his eight-story hotel and suggested that it was aimed at City Hall.

Yen Ming: A leading potato farmer who established the first school for Chinese students. Later honored with the naming of Ming Avenue.

Billy Mize: Country music songwriter and steel guitar player; hosted “Trading Post” TV show after Cousin Herb’s death; won the Academy of Country Music’s “TV Personality of the Year” award three years in a row.

Sally Moore: Bakersfield High School tennis player who in 1959 reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, won the national clay court title and was ranked fourth nationally.

Charles Napier: Well-traveled character actor and voice-over specialist with the famously jutting jaw has appeared in many roles from “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (1985) to “The Blues Brothers” (1980). Lives near Caliente.

Michael R. Newman: Writer-producer for Room 9 Entertainment, the Los Angeles independent production company that brought Christopher Buckley’s “Thank You for Smoking” to the screen. Newman is from Bakersfield.

George W. Nickel: Great-grandson of water baron Henry Miller of the Miller & Lux cattle empire, built an empire of his own on water, agriculture and real estate. Pioneer in water storage.

Lyn Nofziger: Kern County Union High School graduate was a top aide to President Ronald Reagan and served in Richard Nixon’s White House. Member of the city’s pioneering Curran family. Died in 2006.

Mary Osborne: Jazz guitar great of the 1940s and ’50s, owned Bakersfield’s Osborne Guitar Co.

Buck Owens: Developed and promoted the Bakersfield Sound as its first bona fide national star. Recorded dozens of top 10 hits throughout the 1960s. Co-star of the late ’70s-early ’80s comedy-variety TV show “Hee Haw.” Owner of Buck Owens Productions (a radio group) and Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, a museum-dinner house-concert venue located on Buck Owens Boulevard. Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

Jack Palance: Actor-poet-artist lived on a ranch in Stallion Springs for 40 years. Won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the 1991 comedy “City Slickers;” Oscar nominations for “Shane” (1953) and “Sudden Fear” (1952). At least 125 television and movie credits throughout five decades.

Dennis Ralston: In 1960, the local tennis player teamed up with Mexico’s Rafael Osuna to win the doubles title at Wimbledon. Ranked the No. 1 U.S. player for three consecutive years in the 1970s.

Joey Porter: Sports Illustrated called him the “most feared player in the NFL.” The Foothill High grad helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win the 2006 Super Bowl. He now plays for the Miami Dolphins.

Bill Rintoul: Taft-bred Californian oil columnist traveled to the far corners of the earth in search of stories about the oil patch.

Dick Rutan: Co-pilot in the record non-stop flight around the world with Jeana Yeager in December 1986; a former Air Force pilot who flew 325 combat missions in the F-100 fighter jet, 100 of the missions over North Vietnam.

Dorathea “Dottie” Scatena: Bakersfield resident who was one of only 1,100 women who served in the WASPs (Women Air Force Service Pilots) during World War II. Dottie (Rexroad) Scatena served in the Civil Air Patrol locally.

Mary K. Shell: Former Bakersfield city mayor, Californian columnist and Kern County supervisor. Now a private business consultant. Married to the late former state assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate Joe Shell.

Red Simpson: Bakersfield country music singer, songwriter and TV performer of the 1960s and ’70s.

Jack Smith: Famed Los Angeles Times columnist grew up in Bakersfield, attended Bakersfield College and wrote about sports for The Bakersfield Californian.

George Lee Snider: The founder of Snider’s Cyclery. Arrived in Bakersfield in 1896 with $16 to his name. Opened a bicycle and motorcycle shop in 1904 in the Baker Street area.

Walter Stiern: Bakersfield High School graduate who went on to become a state senator. Co-authored a master plan for higher education in California, resulting in the establishment of Cal State University, Bakersfield; the campus library is named in his honor.

Robert Swift: 7-foot-1 Garces High and Bakersfield High basketball star plays for the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics.

Bill Thomas: Retired Republican congressman from Bakersfield chaired the powerful House Ways and Means committee and had the ear of President Bush. Former Bakersfield College political science instructor.

Dr. Juliet Thorner: Longtime Kern County pediatrician; one of the first members of the medical community to call the public’s attention to the prevention of child abuse. A performing arts magnet school is named after her.

Will Tibbet: Kern County deputy sheriff was killed in a famous shootout with the outlaw Jim McKinney at a Chinese joss house. The April 19, 1903, gunbattle made national headlines. Tibbet’s son, Lawrence, added an extra “t” to his last name and became famous in his own right years later.

Lawrence Tibbett: Born in Bakersfield in 1896, perhaps the best-known American operatic baritone of his time; starred in the first musical film to make full use of sound; appeared on the cover of Time magazine; made the Hollywood Walk of Fame as one of 80 charter inductees.

Luis Valdez: Valdez, born in Delano in 1940, is widely considered the father of Chicano theater. He founded El Teatro Campesino in 1965; won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award in 1969, 1972 and 1978 (for “Zoot Suit”); and won the George S. Peabody Award for Excellence in Television (for his adaptation of “Corridos”) in 1987, the same year he directed the film “La Bamba.”

Chuck Wall: Bakersfield College professor, blind, has gained widespread notoriety for his “random acts of senseless kindness” appeal for generosity and civility.

Earl Warren: East Bakersfield native widely regarded as the nation’s most influential U.S. Supreme Court justice. Served as state attorney general and, for 10 years, California governor. Directed internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, an act for which he later apologized. Thomas Dewey’s vice presidential running mate in 1948. Named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1953; wrote the opinion and delivered the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which abolished school segregation; mandated use of so-called Miranda Rights. Retired from the high court in 1969.

Charles Weldon: Bakersfield-bred actor got his start with a local, doo-wop group called the Paradons. He went on to an acting career, appearing in films like “Stir Crazy” and TV shows such as “Law and Order.” He is now the artistic director of New York’s Negro Ensemble Company. Sisters Maxine and Ann are well-regarded recording artists.

Pearl Lowery Winters: Opera star from the turn of the century to the 1920s, Winters was known as Bakersfield’s “Golden Throated Contralto.” One of Bakersfield’s most prominent African-American women in her day.

Bill Woods: Bandleader at the infamous Blackboard bar where he and his Orange Blossom Playboys gave 21-year-old Buck Owens one of his first breaks in country music. Influenced many careers, including those of Merle Haggard and Red Simpson.

Chuck Yeager: On Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager made aviation history at Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County when he broke the speed of sound. Yeager had broken several ribs just days earlier in a fall from a horse.
 

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