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Sequoias' Sunkist Stadium to Host 2000 Hyundai-California
Community College Football Championship
The Commission on Athletics has awarded the 2000 Hyundai-California Community College State Football Championship Presented by Blue Diamond Growers to the College of Sequoias, which will stage the game at Visalia's historic Sunkist Stadium on December 9, COA Commissioner Dr. Joanne A. Fortunato announced Monday (March 13).
"We're extremely pleased to be going to Visalia with our football championship," said Fortunato, "and we're confident that the selection of Sunkist Stadium will provide an excellent showcase for our premier event."
The Visalia Area Sports Association has taken the leadership role in planning for the event, and many of Visalia's leading clubs, like the Elks, Kiwanis and Rotary, will team together with the college to help support the event, said COS President Dr. Kamiran S. Badrkahn.
"We're excited about the opportunity to host this outstanding sporting event," he said. "We believe the entire city will get behind this effort."
Stan Simpson, president of the Visalia Area Sports Association, said that it is fitting for the state championship game to be brought to his city.
"College of the Sequoias was established in the 1920s when it was known as Visalia Junior College, making it one of the oldest and historically significant colleges in the state," said Simpson, chairman and chief executive officer of Buckman Mitchell Insurance in Visalia. "The college has always had a strong athletic tradition and the city follows very much in the spirit of that tradiiton. Very few people know this, but Visalia is in the exact center of the state, which also makes it the appropriate location.
"This game will mean a lot to the city in terms of economic vitality," Simpson added. "We expect that community involvement in the game will be very high. We're excited."
Built in the 1930s on the site of the former college campus — now Redwood High School — Mineral King Bowl was remodeled in 1968. It became Sunkist Stadium, named for Sunkist Growers, in 1991, when the company installed an all-weather track around the perimeter of the football field and made a number of other significant improvements. The stadium seats 7,500 spectators — expandable to more than 10,000 with portable endzone seating — and features a two-level press box.
The Visalia Elks Club is also the home of the California Community Colleges Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
The state football championship is in its fourth year since being revived in 1997 after an absence of 25 years. City College of San Francisco defeated Alan Hancock College in the 1999 renewal at Fresno City College.
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