For 27 years, Bill Kalivas guided the Bakersfield College wrestling program to its greatest success, finishing 208-65-2 under his leadership.

During his tenure at BC, he coached 20 academic All-Americans, 15 state champions, 38 state finalists, 75 junior college All-Americans, 122 state placers, 69 Western State Conference championships and five WSC team championships while being named WSC coach of the year five times.

In 2003-04, he was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association California Coach of the Year and in 2005 received the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s Bob Bubb Coaching Excellence Award, given for his 25 years of service to the sport of wrestling.

Outside of local wrestling, Kalivas also spent years at the national level with the USA Veterans Inaugural National Freestyle Wrestling Championships and served as an executive board member for the California Community College Coaches Association and was a 2012 inductee into the California Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.

Kalivas began his coaching career as an assistant at Cal State Bakersfield in 1976, the year the Roadrunners won the first NCAA College Division National Championship in program history.

After CSUB, he coached at UNLV and internationally before returning to Bakersfield as a grad assistant for the ’Runners from 1981-84. He then moved to BC as an assistant for two years before taking over the program.

As a wrestler, Kalivas graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1970, where he won his league title. At Pierce College, he was a conference champion and California JC All-American before transferring to CSUB, where he was the team captain and academic All-American in 1973-74.