Born in Lawton Oklahoma in 1921, Aubrey attended early school in Lawton and played football at Cameron State Agricultural College where they won a state championship.

Aubrey entered the University of Colorado in 1942 and played 2 years before serving in the Army Medical Corp from 1944 to 1946.

Returning to the University of Colorado, he starred as an offensive tackle, also earning his Masters Degree and served as athletic trainer.

He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1948, but turned them down because they refused to pay the $300 cost of moving the family to Green Bay. Prior to the draft Aubrey was also contacted by the Pittsburg Steelers.

In 1953, Aubrey moved his family west to Bakersfield and was with the first group of teachers to start North High School. There he taught biology and was chairman of the science department. Additional duties included coaching varsity football with Coach Eliades, C class basketball, and diving coach on the swim team.

Other duties included Director of Student Activities, Executive Board Advisor and Key Club Advisor. Since Aubrey and his wife had no sons to play football, they encouraged their three daughters to become swimmers and they were all very successful.

Currently, Aubrey is living in an assisted living facility in Bakersfield and will not be able to attend the induction ceremony.

Christian, Scholar, Athlete, Leader, Patriot, War Hero.

Ronny Beaman, a member of the 1959 graduating class at North High, was much more than an outstanding scholar/athlete. In addition to being the center on the football team, he was also the catcher on the baseball team and still found time to serve as the student body Vice-President.

After playing baseball at Bakersfield College, he then went on to play at Pepperdine University, becoming one of the first North High athletes to play Division-I College baseball. And all this at an imposing 5’9” and 170 pounds.

In 1964 Ronny was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war. Later he would become a Green Beret and Captain in the 5th Division Special Forces. He was also an Infantry Unit Commander and an Airborne Ranger Paratrooper. He lost his life on June 27, 1969 while retrieving an Australian officer’s body that had been killed near him.

As a result of his heroic acts, Beaman was awarded multiple medals and citations. Among them the Purple Heart, 3 Bronze Star Medals, a Silver Star, the Air Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Gallantry Cross and Presidential Unit Citation. In addition, he was honored by the Vietnamese Government with the National Order of Vietnam, the US equivalent of our National Medal of Honor.

In May of 2011, North High honored Ronny with a plaque on the varsity baseball field bleachers, listing his accomplishments. In addition there is now a Ronny Beaman Memorial Scholarship Fund, with proceeds benefitting a deserving North High student. The North High Athletics Hall of Fame is so proud to honor one of its favorite sons, Ronny Beaman.

William Bruce Bimat was born in Bakersfield in 1947. At nine years of age, the family moved from the big city to Oildale where he officially became a “Dalian”. Bill’s family home was located on an oil lease off of Porterville Highway and very near North High. He attended Beardsley Elementary and Junior High before becoming a North High Star.

Bill was a skinny, 6 foot 2 inch freshman, and was referred to as Bill “The Beanpole” Bimat by his coaches. He participated in football, basketball, and track all four years lettering in all three sports. Bill still holds the North High long jump record of 23 feet 7 inches, which he set in 1965. Bill was given a dual scholarship for football and track to U.C. Berkeley when he graduated from North in 1965 at the age of 17. After playing football for Cal his freshman year, Bill followed his football coach to U.C. Santa Barbara where he played the next three seasons until his graduation in 1970.

Bill married his high school sweetheart, and fellow “Dalian”, Linda Ogelsby, in 1969. They returned to Bakersfield in 1970, and, in 1974, welcomed their first daughter Angie, followed by Katie in 1976. Of course, the girls would follow their Dad to North High. Bill would later receive his Masters in Education and his Administrative Credential from CSU Bakersfield.

In 1972, much to Bill’s delight, he was hired as a history teacher at his alma mater. He would spend his entire professional career at North as a teacher, coach, Activities Director, Counselor, Assistant Principal, and finally as the Principal of North High School until his death in 1994 at the age of 47. In 2001, the Norris School District, where Bill served as board member for a number of years, named its newest elementary school after him; an honorable tribute to a man who dedicated his life to education.

For Bill, North High was not just the place where he worked. North High was Bill’s second home. He literally spent more than half of his life on this campus, either walking the halls and running on the fields as a student-athlete, or walking the halls and running on the side-lines as a teacher-mentor. As a kid from Oildale who had attended this school, and, who was able to further his education because of the athletics program here, Bill had a unique and special connection with the kids he taught and coached. He could commiserate with the students who were struggling in class because he too had struggled in those same classes, and in some cases, even with the same teachers. He knew exactly what it was like for his students, who spent countless hours in tackling drills, or shooting baskets, or running around the track, because he had done the same thing on the same fields, courts, and tracks. This life-long connection with Oildale in general, and with North High specifically, caused him to cheer a little louder from the sidelines, help a little more in the classroom, and listen a little better in the Principal’s office.

Fred was raised in Oildale as a youngster, attending local elementary and junior high schools. After one year at Bakersfield High School, along with hundreds of other “River Rats”, he opened North High as a member of the sophomore class.

During his 3 years at North, Fred was the true high school athlete. He competed in football, basketball, baseball and track, the only four sport athlete during that time. He was a member of the first undefeated team in the history of North High, the “B” class football Comets in 1953. He was a starting end on the South Sierra League and Valley Champion 1954 Stars football team and a starting forward on the 1953-54 South Sierra League Champion basketball team. Fred was also a 3 year starter at 1st base on the varsity baseball team. He has the distinction of being the very first to receive the “Sam Lynn Trophy” for North High as its outstanding athlete. Fred’s most memorable time at North was the 1954 football game against Garces. Though decided underdogs, North defeated Garces 7 to 0 to win the South Sierra League Title.

After high school, Fred began his life long career as a businessman and convenience store owner. Shortly after graduation from high school, he married his sweetheart Donna. They have been married for 55 years, are the parents of two children and grandparents of 4. He has lived the past 49 years in Lake Isabella, where he can participate in his favorite activities of hunting and fishing. For 12 years he served on the South Fork Union School District Board. He is enjoying retirement, traveling, hunting, fishing and spending quality time with his wife.

Ray Ermigarat’s parents immigrated from France in the early 1900’s and settled on a small farm near Greenfield. After transferring from Bakersfield High School at the end of his freshman year, Ray went on to become a seven-time North High Star Letterman and a legitimate Basketball STAR. Talk to anyone about the basketball greats of North in the early years of the school, and Ray Ermigarat will be one of the first names mentioned.

His late arrival at North did not keep Ray from leaving his mark in the Star gym as he was a three year starter on the varsity basketball team his sophomore, junior and senior years. As the starting point guard, he was MVP in 1962 as well as First Team SYL in 1962 and ’63. Ray missed being the top scorer in the league by only two points both his junior and senior years. He was a member of the All Tournament Basketball team and the Kern Prep Invitational All Tourney Team in 1962, and, the Kern County High School Cage Tournament Team in 1963. In his last year of high school basketball, Ray and the rest of the North High varsity team beat BHS by a score of 48-44 to win the Kern Prep Invitational. That was the first time any other high school team besides BHS had won that tournament. The overall record for the Stars in 1962-63 was 18-3 and is probably the best league record of any North High basketball team to date.

Ray’s talents didn’t stop with basketball, however. He also played junior varsity baseball in 1961 and varsity baseball in 1962 and 1963. But, I’m sure there is one sport you might not associate with Ray Ermigarat, and, that’s cross country. He originally went out for cross county in order to get in shape for basketball but soon found out that he was pretty good at it. So good, in fact, that he placed fifth in the SYL Cross Country Championships in 1961.

Upon graduating from North in 1963, Ray entered Bakersfield College and played basketball for one year averaging 19.9 points per game and was elected to the All Metropolitan Conference Team that year. After his freshman year, he had two knee operations and sat out one year. He tried to return to the court, but his knee just wasn’t the same thus ending his basketball career forever. But, good things came out of his time at BC; that’s where Ray met his wife, Judy, to whom he’s been married for 45 years. Ray and Judy have two children and six grandchildren. Their son, Jason, graduated from West High in 1990 and Pointe Loma in 1995. Following in her Dad’s footsteps, daughter Kori graduated from North in 1992 and the University of South Carolina in 1997.

Playing for great coaches such as Tom Bailey and Joe Goode are at the top of Ray’s fondest high school memories’ list, along with being on the same team with outstanding basketball players such as George Culver, Guy Rounsaville, Larry Tolliver, Danny Moore, Roger Palmer, Larry Hudson, Jim Windes, Paul Crissman, and Barboza Teixeira. He also remembers receiving overwhelming support from the faculty and student body. Thankfully, Ray Ermigarat came to North High via Bakersfield High School to become one of the premier basketball stars this school has ever produced.