BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — There are many women who are synonymous with the continued growth in women's athletics. In Bakersfield, outgoing Bakersfield College Athletic Director Sandi Taylor has been a force for the same cause.
"I started athletics as a sophomore in high school when they passed Title Nine, so I didn't really have dreams of being an athletic director," Sandi Taylor said.
Even if it wasn't her intent, Taylor transition from player to coach to BC's athletic director and has impacted many along the way during a 30-year career with the Renegades.
It's not an easy feat to be an athletic director this day and age of, you know, 20 sports and being a woman so she did it with a lot of grace and dignity and I think at the end of the day she, you know, she could be happy with the work that she did," Casey Goodman said.
Bakersfield College Softball Coach Casey Goodman has known Taylor for more than a decade and has felt her immediate impact.
"You don't see female athletic directors a lot around the country. And so come into to Bakersfield and be able to work for one that was also the softball coach was an easy transition," Goodman said.
So, has BC's Women's Volleyball Coach Carl Ferreira.
"That's a big deal, I think, having female role models. I know I'm a male coaching a woman's sport but I'm always empowering women and Sandi was an exceptional role model for women's athletics and my team," Ferreira said.
More importantly for the school, the former softball coach herself never played favorites.
"She saw the big picture for Bakersfield College, you know she was a great advocate for our athletic program and she wanted what was best for all the program," Goodman said.
"Watching her leadership as an athletic director was very special," Ferreira said.
While Taylor is ready to walk forward into retirement, she's leaving behind a wide-open path for young women in sports.
"If that made a difference in any young girl's life or any of my players' lives and made an impact on them. That's the purpose of what we've done every day," Taylor said.
She will be officially retiring on June 25.
