Bakersfield honors Seth Griffith as 2025-26 Man of the Year winner

Bakersfield did more than hand Seth Griffith a community award on April 14. The Condors used the 2025-26 IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year honor to underline how their captain has become the franchise’s standard-bearer, a player whose value shows up in the standings, in the record book and in the city around the arena.

Griffith had already reached a major benchmark on March 27, becoming the 27th player in AHL history to record 700 career points. Bakersfield says he is its franchise leader in games played, goals, assists and points, and the recognition also lands alongside a two-year extension that the club said keeps him through the 2027-28 season. In the team’s April award note, the Condors described the deal as keeping him in Condorstown through the 2028-29 season, another signal that they view him as part of the organization’s long-term identity.

His strongest case for the award came from a season of tangible community work. Griffith helped coordinate Bakersfield’s teddy bear toss deliveries in November, when his goal at 3:20 of the first period in a 7-4 win over Henderson sent 7,013 stuffed animals onto the ice. Those bears were later distributed through the United Way of Central Eastern California to more than 80 local nonprofits, a holiday-season gesture that gave the Condors’ biggest community night a reach well beyond Mechanics Bank Arena.

That pattern continued through the winter. In December, Griffith served as captain for KUZZ Cares for Kids at Christmas and helped bring gifts and holiday cheer to a family of nine in need. In January, he led a visit to the Ronald McDonald House of Bakersfield with Dignity Health, thanking families and hospital workers. By February, he was a central figure in Condors Fighting Cancer, which raised more than $35,000 for local pediatric cancer warriors.

The leaguewide piece of the honor matters, too. The AHL’s Man of the Year award is named for Yanick Dupré, the former Hershey Bears player who died in 1997 at age 24 after a 16-month battle with leukemia. Griffith is now one of 32 finalists for the Yanick Dupré Memorial Award, with representatives from IOA/American Specialty and the AHL set to choose the winner later. For Bakersfield, the case is already clear: Griffith’s impact has become both a scoreboard story and a blueprint for what a captain can mean.