Steve Kinsey, Dorsey Driggs win 2021 Person of the Year honors at last weekend’s Sports Dinner
DELANO — Steve Kinsey and Dorsey Driggs, both community leaders in Delano for many years and longtime leaders in activities of the Delano Kiwanis Club, were honored as Persons of the Year for 2021 at the 57th Delano Sports Dinner.
Sponsoring Greater Delano Area Youth Foundation also honored a Person of the Year for 2022 as both years there was no dinner, and for 2023 also honored two people. Those winners will be chronicled in future Delano Ramblings.
Kinsey for 47 years has been a member of Delano Kiwanis, serving as president, vice president and secretary-treasurer, as well as being lieutenant governor from Delano for Division 33.
His community service also has included chairman of North Kern Republican committee, director of California Foundation for Health and Delano Youth Center, president/director of Greater Delano Area Youth Foundation and Delano Wine and Harvest Festival, director of Delano Harvest Holidays, founding member and vice-president of Delano Jaycees, and elder/board member of First Baptist Church of Delano and Community Bible Fellowship of Delano.
He has been recognized by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife for 47 years as a hunter safety education instructor, Man of the Year and Doc Smith Award for service by Delano Chamber of Commerce, and Kiwanis awards for community service, Kiwanian of the Year and Distinguished Service Award, as well as being inducted in 2019 to the Delano Union School District Hall of Fame and a service to the community award as battalion chief for the Kern County Fire Department by the Mojave Chamber of Commerce.
Kinsey, who said his parents taught him at an early age the importance of education, a positive attitude, strong work ethic, treating others like you would like to be treated, giving back to the community, the importance of family, and living a God-centered life, started as a Delano fire department member at an early age and at one time was Delano’s youngest-ever mayor.
Driggs, in January 1978, arrived in Delano as manager of Delano Woolworth store. He was invited to a Kiwanis meeting and thus his many years working with area youth. He was Kiwanis secretary-treasurer for many of his 45 Kiwanis years. He volunteered as a coach and referee for AYSO Soccer League in 198687, received a Kern County Superintendent of Schools Substance Program of Excellence Award in 1990, received the Mayor’s Award for community service in 1991, and in 1992 organized and chaired Delano Area Kid Fest, a project that brought youth service groups together to benefit area children.
He was recognized by Phi Delta Kappa organization as Layman of the Year in 1992-93 for his work with area youth and the Say NO to Drugs Program. He received the DeMolay Master Councilor Award from Porterville DeMolay for outstanding leadership and helping make the chapter a great success during 1992-94. In 1994, he won the Doc Smith Humanitarian award from the Delano Chamber of Commerce for work with young people and helped to organize the Committee for a Drug Free Delano.
In 1998-99, he served on Delano’s Salvation Army Committee, providing rent assistance and food baskets to needy families, and in 2003 earned the Henrietta Weill Memorial Child Guidance Clinic President’s Award for service over and above his required job assignment. He won the same award in 2005. As an intervention specialist with Delano Child Guidance Clinic, he provided mental health case management services to area youth, social skills groups in local elementary schools, and anger management groups at local high schools and middle schools in the Delano and McFarland school districts.
In 2006, he earned the Distinguished Service Award from Division 33 of the International Kiwanis Clubs in appreciation for many hours of service rendered to Delano Kiwanis; in 2010, he was the Kiwanian of the Year award winner; and in 2014, he became a Court Appointed Special Advocate for CASA of Kern County foster youth and assisted two young men through their high school years until 2019. He is now on the board of Delano Community Alliance and on the board of Delano Kiwanis Club, as well as a member of the Citizen Advisory Committee for the local state prisons.
An Exemplary Dual Enrollment Award given to Robert F. Kennedy High School is a great
honor, reports Principal Dolores Rodriguez.
“Robert F. Kennedy High School is honored and takes great pride in being one of only nine schools across California, one of four in Kern County, and one of two in our school district to be selected for the award,” said the Kennedy principal.
She added, “Certainly it is a very special honor and something to be proud of, not only on our school campus, but across our district, city and surrounding communities.
“Our guidance counselors, dual enrollment teachers, CTE director, and partner postsecondary establishments such as Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso and Cal State Bakersfield continue to work collaboratively to create an Early College Pathway to fit the unique needs of our students and pave the way for about 20 students to graduate with an A.A. degree and many with completion of nearly 30 to 45 college credits this May.
“During the 2022-2023 school year, Robert F. Kennedy students have access to over 55 combined sections of dual and/or concurrent enrollment. We are grateful for a district administration and board of trustees who consistently place our students in the forefront when making decisions that support academic excellence.”
Several members of Delano High School’s Future Business Leaders of America organi
zation won honors at the central section leadership conference, reports Craig Nieblas, adviser.
Cis Garcia and Cristian Cerda were first-place winners in entrepreneurship. Garcia, Angel Casabar, and Giselle Etrata placed second in business management. Etrata was ninth in health care administration.
Placing seventh in hospitality and event management were Yoselyn Delgado and Jonathan Aricheta. Gian Cabotaje and Jackson Munoz placed ninth in sports and entertainment management.
In The Californian on Feb. 24, I was happy to see the grand marshal recognition of
Donald Factory for the Bakersfield Black American History Parade.
Factory is a Delano High School graduate whose piano skills were recognized during and after his school days in Delano.
I am sure that Factory won other accolades at Delano High, but my memory does not recall all that he achieved in high school.
Chad Kinsey’s $800 bid for the auctioning of a barbecue grill was a highlight at Delano’s
Sports Dinner and preceded the raffling-off of prizes. The grill was constructed by Ernesto Marcial, ag mechanics instructor at Delano High and Robert F. Kennedy High, with the aid of a handful of students at Delano High.