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The family and friends of Norm Hoffman may soon have a monument on campus commemorating his more than 30 years of teaching at Bakersfield College.
The longtime health professor, who was killed while riding his bike on March 14, may be memorialized with an area adjacent to the Language Arts building, just north of the new pool, according to Ron Jones, a friend of Hoffman and part-time BC instructor.
Shortly after his death, Hoffman’s family and friends started coming up with ways to pay tribute to the award-winning cyclist.
Jones worked with Kirsten and Grant Hoffman, the professor’s children, to figure out what would be best.
He said that everyone wanted to do something that Hoffman would have liked, something that celebrates the health and exercise principles he believed in.
According to Jones, the Norm Hoffman Memorial will be a place where cyclists will be able to securely hold their bikes.
A plaque, inscribed with a dedication to Hoffman, will be placed near it, with boulders and trees to beautify the area.
“It was decided that the best thing to do was to isolate one project,” Jones said. “And with the blessing of his children, we decided that needed to be at Bakersfield College. Because if you knew Norm Hoffman, you knew that he loved BC more than anything else.”
Jones, along with Kirsten Hoffman, met with BC officials earlier in the year and set up a foundation fund through the college.
“(BC) thought it was a good idea,” Jones said. “They didn’t feel like it would be a problem getting approved.”
Jones said that BC officials have been slow about moving forward with the idea, but according to Linda Quinones-Vaughan, BC’s director of administrative services and external affairs, the plan is starting to move into place.
BC officials met with the Addington Partnership, a local architectural firm, Wednesday to examine the proposed location.
On Dec. 13, a facilities naming committee will meet to decide on approval of the memorial and its features.
“I think it’s an excellent way of recognizing an individual who had years of commitment to our students, our faculty, our administration; the overall constituency of this campus,” she said. “I look forward to the committee’s review and affirmative approval.”
Hoffman taught health classes on campus and was an award-winning, nationally recognized cyclist.
In 1994, he was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare and fatal liver disease. Jones said that Hoffman was the kind of person who wouldn’t let anything get him down, especially a disease.
Jones said he hopes that the plans are finalized soon.
“We need to design the memorial site so it goes beyond Norm Hoffman, the person,” Jones said. “It’s really about what he stood for: community, health and fitness for everyone.
“If you really knew who he was, yeah, he was a world-famous athlete,” he said. “But he, on countless occasions, helped people that had various diseases, who where in all kinds of states of fitness.
“As long as people had an opportunity to exercise and be healthy then he was happy with that,” Jones said. “That was his mission in life.”
Quinones-Vaughan said BC is accepting donations for the memorial through the family’s BC foundation account.