Fans around Memorial Stadium were buzzing about the team and appalled by what they called a low turnout for the first game of the season.
Lloyd Becker has been watching Bakersfield College football ever since he got out of the service and is excited for the upcoming season and the potential for the team.
“They’ve had some good teams, some good kids playing, so it’s fun to watch,” said Becker.
Becker has seen great teams for BC but is concerned with the low fan turnout in recent years.
“They’ve had some good teams in the past, but crowds are not as big as they used to be,” he said. “The home side would be pretty filled up some 25 or 30 years ago when I first started coming to the games.”
Tom Reyes has been watching BC football for over 25 years. He doesn’t have a whole lot of knowledge about the roster but is still confident BC will have a successful season.
I haven’t seen the stats or what the guys look like or anything about the squad this year,” he said. “But based on what they did last year and the year before I expect something big. They’ve fielded a good team, it seems, every year.”
Reyes does know about Andre Smith, who he says is the team’s most talented player he’s seen in years.
“Andre Smith is an outstanding runner out of East Bakersfield High School, came here and in his first year had a fairly decent season,” said Reyes. “He’s fast, extremely fast. Probably one of the best you’ll ever see, hopefully they won’t corner him in because they key on him pretty often.
Reyes is discouraged to see the attendance dwindle as the years have passed and blames the low fan turnout on the many high schools around the city.
“I’d like to see [attendance] be higher. I think last year they averaged 2,500 to 3,000, and that’s not bad considering,” he said, “but BC used to have a hell of a draw here before, but since the new high schools came in they pulled the fans on Friday night, they don’t want to come out to the games, and that’s too bad, because they should come out and support this team.”
BC statistics show that the attendance in 2009 averaged approximately 5,000, and has the highest fan turnout in the state.
Jack Doremus has been coming to the games for over 50 years and is also concerned about the low fan turnout at Memorial Stadium.
“It’s starting to pick up, but it’s still low from past years. I’m talking about the 50s, the 60s, the 70s-we would load the stadium up 16,000 strong,” said Doremus. “But I think it’s reinventing itself due to the fact that we have had some good teams lately, people now want to come out and watch them.
Doremus said that if the Renegades would have a stretch of successful seasons that the fan turnout would “skyrocket,” and that he is confident that Coach Jeff Chudy can achieve just that.