City’s new parks chief to oversee programs he benefited from as kid
Rick Anthony’s new job comes with a lot of old memories.
The 55-year-old grew up in Bakersfield, and graduated from South High and Bakersfield College, before spending the next 30 years on the East Coast. He joined the Air Force after college, and later settled in Maryland, where he ran his own business, married and raised four kids, and for the last decade has led the recreation and parks department for Anne Arendal County, a community of about 500,000 on the Chesapeake Bay.
Now, as Bakersfield’s new director of recreation and parks, life has come full circle.
“I feel like all my life kind of led
up to this,” said Anthony, whose first day with the city was earlier this month.
GREAT MEMORIES
Anthony grew up across the street from South High and credited the childhood memories and formative experiences from that time period for his success as an adult. He recalled days spent playing on the South High campus, which was unfenced and open at the time, riding bikes down the school corridors and playing football on the front lawn with friends. He also spent time at Planz Park, where he learned to swim and attended a drop-in summer recreation program.
“Those were great memories I had growing up. When I look back at where my life is now, that experience was so instrumental,” Anthony said.
Anthony always planned to return to Bakersfield one day but a battle with throat cancer one year ago and the COVID-19 pandemic shifted his perspective, he said. (He is now fully recovered from the treatment.)
As luck would have it, Dianne Hoover, the former head of Bakersfield’s Recreation and Parks, was retiring at the end of 2020, so a position with the city opened up and Anthony threw his hat in the ring.
In moving back to Bakersfield, he also is part of a homecoming of Black men who grew up in Bakersfield, went on to success elsewhere and are now returning to give back and improve their hometown.
His BC football teammates Michael Stewart, who went on to play in the NFL, is now head football coach at Bakersfield High, and R. Todd Littlejohn, who went on to coach at the college level, recently became BC’s head football coach.
There was no intentional effort for them all to return home later in their careers and within a few years of each other but Littlejohn said he suspects they all felt a similar desire to come back and share what they had learned and focus on helping the younger generation.
“There’s so much out there to learn and bring back and implement,” said Littlejohn, who lived all over the country working as an assistant college football coach before returning to Bakersfield a year ago.
“It was tough, there were challenges through it all. We had to work our butts off,” Littlejohn said of the three men’s collective experiences. “But we can identify with young people, what they’re going through now.”
Anthony said he’s eager to collaborate with his old friends in his new job.
“We’re all excited ... and the fact that we’re all African-American in this time and age, it’s really inspiring. We certainly all have a passion for sports and kids and we’ve talked about collaborating and coming together to do some things,” Anthony said.
Another old friend is Lyle Martin, a retired Bakersfield Police Department chief. The pair were best friends in high school and played football together.
“I thought that was a very good hire on the part of the city,” Martin said.
Anthony’s family has history in Bakersfield and a record of community involvement, Martin said. His father, Bernard Anthony, was a pastor and former president of the NAACP in Bakersfield and his uncles, Ralph and Oscar Anthony, are also involved in activism and community efforts.
Martin said he looks forward to collaborating with Anthony on mentorship programs for kids and activities with the Police Activities League, which he’s still involved in. Despite his years away from Bakersfield, Martin said Anthony still understands the culture and community, which will help him in his job.
“He has a way of looking at a situation where he is very creative in problem solving. I remember that as a kid and now as an adult,” Martin said.
NEW CHALLENGES, VISIONS
Among his successes in Maryland, Anthony said he brought together three splintered recreation programs, eventually combining them into one organizations that is now thriving with plenty of volunteers and funding. He also highlighted his work with coastal communities to open beach and water access to inland residents, and said he prides himself on listening to people, building community trust and making change within organizations.
He acknowledges he’ll face unique challenges in Bakersfield that he didn’t encounter on the
East Coast. The homeless situation is one. Drought and potential water shortages that could impact spray park operation and irrigation of landscaping and green space is another.
Anthony was chosen for the position from about 10 candidates in a nationwide search, said Bakersfield City Manager Christian Clegg.
“Rick stood out. He has a very interesting background in that he worked in the private sector and worked as a public servant for last 10 years,” Clegg said.
Anthony’s career with the county government in Maryland began as an officer for the county jail. He then served in several other positions before taking over the helm of the recreation and parks office, according to the Capital Gazette newspaper, which covers Anne Arundel County. He
also had a side gig trimming trees early in his career and eventually became a certified arborist and owned and operated a tree service for many years.
Clegg said Anthony’s first major task will be to oversee a $10 million expenditure of Measure N funds to address years of deferred maintenance to facilities and parks.
After that, Clegg looks forward to having a fresh set of eyes assess the entire department, its operations and programs, with an eye toward leveraging community centers and aquatics.
“Bakersfield’s parks are second to none, but some other programming the city hasn’t been able to invest in, historically,” Clegg said.
Recalling his youth when the high school campus was like a playground, Anthony said a longterm vision may be to open up
schools after hours for recreation programs as a way to utilize existing facilities to expand opportunities for kids without having to spend money on new buildings. It was something he oversaw in his department in Maryland.
“We programmed every single school in the county. After 3 p.m. they became ours as community centers,” he said.
In the near-term, Anthony said he’s focused on getting to know his employees and the department. He said he’s already impressed with the passion and work ethic of the staff, whose workload over the years has increased while resources and staffing remained relatively flat.
Drawing on lessons he learned form his days playing football at BC, he said: “Nothing happens without a team. You’ve got to have a great team.”