When Kebu Stewart first arrived in Bakersfield, he noticed what was missing. The skyscrapers. The crowds. The noise. The constant motion of New York City, where he grew up, seemed to have disappeared somewhere on the way to California.

“It did not look like New York City, I’m like wait a minute, where’s the buildings? Where’s the people? Where’s the action?” Stewart said.

What Stewart found instead was a basketball program ready for an injection of talent and energy and a community willing to treat him like he belonged. Two years later, he had helped lead Cal State Bakersfield to a national championship, rewritten the Roadrunner record book, and become the only player in program history selected in the NBA Draft.

On Sept. 26, 2026, Stewart will return to Bakersfield for another kind of welcome. He will be inducted into the CSUB Athletics Hall of Fame as part of its second-ever class, an honor that recognizes Stewart as one of the most dominant players in the history of Cal State Bakersfield men's basketball.

Stewart arrived at CSUB after transferring from UNLV, where he had become the first person ever to be named Big West Player of the Year as a freshman. He could have treated the move to Division II as a step backward. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to keep playing and to build something new.

“When I first got to the team, those guys embraced me from day one,” Stewart said. “I think they were very excited … that they had a Division I player from UNLV coming on their team to help them win another championship.”

The partnership produced historic results. In the two seasons Stewart spent in Bakersfield, CSUB went 55-8. The Roadrunners won the 1997 NCAA Division II National Championship – the program’s third national title in the decade – and Stewart was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player before earning NCAA Division II Player of the Year honors.

His individual numbers were just as striking. During the 1996-97 season, Stewart averaged school records of 21.5 points and 13.4 rebounds per game. His career averages of 20.5 points and 12.2 rebounds remain CSUB records nearly three decades later. He was a dominant force in the paint, but the story of that championship team was never just about what Stewart could do alone.

“The chemistry, everybody was on the same page. It was selfless basketball, we had one common goal: to win a championship,” Stewart said. “There was no egos, nobody had their own agenda, and our culture was very strong, and everybody knew their roles.”

Opponents knew the first priority was stopping Stewart. They put two defenders on him, sometimes more, and built their game plans around making someone else beat them. Stewart never treated the attention as an insult or an excuse. He treated it as part of the responsibility that came with being the team’s best player.

“Everybody keyed on me, we got to stop Kebu Stewart. We stop him, we got a chance,” Stewart said. “But you know what? Guys on our team knew that, they prepared themselves mentally for that. And they stepped up.”

Pat Douglass, CSUB’s Head Coach at the time, remembers Stewart as an athlete with unmatched physical presence.

“He was a physical specimen, nothing like I had coached before, especially inside the paint,” Douglass said. “At our level, no one could guard him with one-on-one. They had to put two players on him.”

But Douglass also understood that a star player could either separate himself from a team or make the team stronger. Stewart chose the second path. He accepted the defensive attention, trusted his teammates, and continued to do the work that made his dominance dependable.

“He really wanted to win the championship, meant a lot to him to win the national championship and so he had to sacrifice, give up himself, because they put two players on him,” Douglass said. “The other players had to step up, which they did. We had a good team.”

Todd Lee was a young assistant coach on that 1997 staff. Nearly 30 years later, Lee is in his first season as the Head Coach at Cal State Bakersfield, carrying responsibility for the same program that helped shape his own coaching life. His view of Stewart has not changed with time.

“Kebu was just a dominant force and it made our lives a lot easier,” Lee said.

Lee noticed that Stewart’s value went beyond the nights when he scored 20 points or grabbed 20 rebounds. Some players can shoot their way into a great game. Others can score in bursts. Lee recognized that Stewart’s biggest impact was consistency.

“The reason why I knew he was a pro is because some guys are good three-point shooters, but they’re going to have an off night. There’s some guys that can score, but then they don’t. Kebu did the same thing every night and you can’t put a price on that,” Lee said.

“He was the best player in the gym every night, Lee continued. “That’s a lot to carry, there’s a lot of pressure, but Kebu never backed down from that. If your best player isn’t your hardest worker or your most competitive person, you don’t have a very good team.”

That example stayed with Lee. Stewart’s two seasons helped restore CSUB to the level of dominance its history demanded, a legacy Lee now carries forward as head coach.

“To be part of a championship program that won so many championships, that was the best in the country at the Division II level. It changed my life, really,” Lee said. “I take great pride in our program.”

The characteristic that helped Stewart revitalize the CSUB program, his work ethic, was never complicated. It was physical, repetitive, and personal. He described himself as a “hard hat, blue-collar guy,” a player who lived in the trenches and measured his value in rebounds, screens, contact, and the possessions that demanded more effort than elegance.

“I was in the gym twice a day working on my game, working on my free throws, working on jump hooks, working on my footspeed,” Stewart said. “That’s all I did. I was married to basketball.”

The approach carried Stewart beyond Bakersfield. The Philadelphia 76ers selected him in the second round of the 1997 NBA Draft, 35th overall. He played in Philadelphia, later signed with the Dallas Mavericks and continued his career for a decade in the NBA, the Continental Basketball Association, and overseas.

He became the first `Runner drafted by an NBA team and remains the only player in program history to reach that milestone.

After playing, Stewart stayed connected to basketball. He coached at the high school level and now serves as an assistant coach at Occidental College in Los Angeles, continuing to pass along the lessons that helped him become a champion and a professional.

Through every stop, Stewart says the central challenge was the same: adjust, endure, and keep moving.

“I’m proud of just the person who I am today because I think that all of those journeys and different stops made me who I am today,” Stewart said. “It’s all about adjusting, being resilient.”

That resilience is part of what Stewart remembers most about CSUB. He remembers the coaches who pushed him, including Douglass, whom he credits with helping him become a better man. He remembers teammates who accepted him from the first day. He remembers a Bakersfield community that made a Brooklyn native feel like family.

“That community and how they embraced us was unbelievable,” Stewart said. “Bakersfield, I mean, small family-oriented town … When I first got there, I just think that they accepted me like I was already there, like I was family.”

That welcome will celebrate the records, the championship, and the draft selection, along with the less visible work: twice-daily practices, battles in the paint, and the burden that comes with being the best player in the gym.

Kebu Stewart came to Bakersfield looking for a new beginning. He left as a national champion, a record-holder, and an NBA player. He also left behind a standard that still matters to the Roadrunner program: talent may open the door, but a blue-collar commitment is what drives a team to a championship.

~GoRunners.com~