By Dean Caparaz '90
 
A self-avowed Cal lifer in his 27th year in Cal Athletics, Gordon Bayne will continue to make a big impact on the department in a new role that he assumed this fall – Associate Athletics Director, Sports Administration.
 
Previously the head of event management at Cal, Bayne made sure that game operations for every home sports event ran smoothly, while also serving as a supervisor for several sports. Given his long track record of success, in early October, Cal's Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton announced Bayne's promotion.
 
"Gordon has been a valuable member of our department for almost three decades, earning the respect of student-athletes, coaches, staff, alumni and countless others across our campus," Knowlton said. "In this role, he will be entrusted to manage the execution of our strategic plan, work directly with head coaches and administrators across all 30 of our sports, and provide key support for our new Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. With his experience and leadership, I can think of no one better suited to take on this leadership role than Gordon Bayne."
 
Along with serving as the lead sports administrator for each Cal team, the Berkeley native has joined the Director's Cabinet, a collection of key Cal Athletics staffers who comprise the advisory group for Knowlton. Additionally, Bayne will continue to supervise the beach volleyball, field hockey and softball teams and will supervise men's water polo, as well.
 
"I really want to thank Jim and Jenny [Simon-O'Neill, Cal's Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director] for this opportunity," Bayne said. "It's different, for sure. I'd always been an operations person, worked in the trenches, got my hands dirty and worked with pretty much everybody in the department to make sure gameday goes as well as possible for our teams, our student-athletes and our fans. After such a long time doing that, I'm out of my comfort zone a little bit in this role. But I accept the challenge. I've always had an interest in working directly with our teams in addition to our student-athletes. It's going to be fun."
 
"Working on the strategic plan and implementing things that the entire department had a hand in coming up with is super important to me," he added. "Working with the new Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is also really exciting because I want to make sure that all of the staff and the student-athletes feel like they belong at Cal."
 
Bayne continues to volunteer as a Golden Bear Ambassador during the pandemic as teams gear up to return to competition. Along with other IA volunteers, Bayne cleans and disinfects equipment, schedules other volunteers, and ensures that student-athletes and staff adhere to Cal's safety protocols.
 
He will continue in at least one aspect of event management, as Bayne will stay involved in football gameday operations, which is how he got his start at Cal 27 years ago.
 
"One of my most favorite things to do is be involved with the teams and help them compete," he said. "That's one of the things I didn't want to give up, and they have graciously allowed me to continue on in that role."
 
After leaving the Bay Area to complete a bachelor's degree from Hampton University and a master's from Temple, Bayne returned to the East Bay in the early 1990s. A chance meeting with a Cal Athletics official at the RSF led to Bayne working football gamedays, handing out radios and assigning tasks to students.
 
In event management, Bayne often seemed to be everywhere at once on gamedays – working at a men's water polo game the morning before heading up the hill for a football game that afternoon, or working a home softball game on the east side of campus while making sure to check in at a tennis tournament and a soccer match that same day.
 
His work has meant long days, nights and weekends away from home. While he may be able to spend more time with his family now that he's changed jobs, Bayne will still be on campus much of the time.
 
"I'm sure my family will be happy that hopefully I'll get a little more time with them on the weekends," he said. "But I still want to help out to make sure gamedays are successful. I expect I won't have to be the first one to be there and the last one to leave. But I definitely will be there for the meat of the events."
 
Bayne's family – including wife, Tamara, a Cal alumna – has spent its share of time on campus, seeing Bayne in action and cheering on various teams. His growing brood – daughter Kiara is now 23 and son Marcus is 15 – isn't around as often anymore, but the Baynes' association with Cal remains a family affair.
 
"We're still a Cal family, still root on the Bears and still root for me to get home at a decent hour," he said. "We bleed Blue & Gold. It's kind of home for all of us."