GRAND TERRACE > The number of awards has grown but the good vibrations remain.

The 55th annual Ken Hubbs awards were handed out Monday night at Grand Terrace High, with another award honoring the late Keith Hubbs added this year.

Grand Terrace’s Alycia Flores wins the girls 2019 athlete of the year award during the 55th annual Ken Hubbs Ken Hubbs Awards Banquet at Grand Terrace High School on Monday May 20, 2019. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)

Cajon High football star Jayden Daniels, Grand Terrace softball whiz Alycia Flores and San Gorgonio water polo and swimming standout Ashley Alvarado were the top honorees.

Daniels and Flores were the overall Ken Hubbs boys and girls winners, respectively. Alvarado nabbed the new Keith Hubbs Award, which goes to an athlete of high character.

The event mostly honors the late Ken Hubbs, a multi-sport star at Colton High who was also the student body president. He earned National League Rookie of the Year honors and won a Gold Glove with the Chicago Cubs in 1962, before dying in a plane crash in Utah in 1964.e overall Ken Hubbs boys and girls winners, respectively. Alvarado nabbed the new Keith Hubbs Award, which goes to an athlete of high character.

Also honored at the banquet attended by several hundred were the 50 school winners — 25 boys, 25 girls — from schools in the greater San Bernardino area. School winners were previously published.

Daniels starred at quarterback for four years at Cajon, throwing 

for a CIF Southern Section-record 14,007 yards and 170 touchdowns during a glittering career. He also rushed for 3,635 yards and 41 touchdowns.

He led the Cowboys to league, section and Southern California titles and a state Division II-AA title-game appearance as a junior. As a senior, he led them to another Citrus Belt League championship.

Daniels was named an Under Armour All-American and played in the UA All-American Game Jan. 4 in Orlando, where he threw two touchdown passes. Daniels was also rated as the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the nation in the 247 Sports Composite rankings.

“It feels great,” Daniels said. “It’s nice to have Cajon go back-to-back after Jeremiah Martin won it last year. It wasn’t something I dreamed about as a kid, but after last season, coach (Nick) Rogers told me I’d have a chance to follow in Jeremiah’s footsteps.”

Daniels, after signing with Arizona State University in December, has already been attending classes at ASU and had a 3.2 first-semester grade-point average after compiling a 3.92 at Cajon.

Flores, the girls’ winner, led Grand Terrace to its fourth consecutive league title and a 25-4-1 overall record this season with a remarkable effort at the plate and in the field.

She hit .468 as a senior with 13 home runs, 21 extra-base hits in all, 29 runs batted in and 46 runs scored.

An all-league first-team performer for four years at Grand Terrace, Alycia and her sister Eliyah Flores helped the Titans to a section title in 2016.

Eliyah Flores is a sophomore already playing on scholarship at Oklahoma, and Alycia will join her in Norman in the fall as the second Flores girl to play for the Sooners.

“It’s a great blessing,” Flores said of winning the Hubbs. “It is part of God’s plan and it’s nice to know He had my back, along with my parents, sisters, coaches and everyone else.”

Regarding the Ken Hubbs legacy, she said, “It’s inspirational to me as I head to Oklahoma in terms of becoming more of a leader and a better person on and off the field.”

Alycia will also play for Mexico in the Junior National World Cup in August. She has a 3.56 GPA.

Alvarado takes home the new Keith Hubbs award after starring in aquatics at San Gorgonio and excelling in several other activities at the San Bernardino city school.

She was the San Andreas League Most Valuable Player for water polo as a junior and All-SAL first team as a junior.

As a swimmer she was the Sunkist League champ in the 100-meter butterfly as a senior and qualified for the sectionals in both the 100 and 50 butterfly.

Away from the pool, Alvarado managed a 4.81 grade-point average in grades 10-12 and was the Salutatorian for her class and a scholar-athlete for four years.

Alvarado also learned with two months left in school that the yearbook committee was struggling. She pitched in with her writing and editing skills to help get the project back on track.

Alvarado will attend UC Santa Barbara in the fall, having turned down an academic scholarship to Cal.

“It’s such a honor,” Alvarado said. “Mr. Bill Webb (former Bloomington High athletic director and a member of the Hubbs board of directors) told me what a great guy Keith Hubbs was, and to win an award named after him is more than I can ask for.”

Receiving a bouquet of flowers from the Hubbs committee was Pacific High athletic director Carmel Brand, named the state’s athletic director of the year by the California State Athletic Directors Association.

Past Hubbs winners include Ronnie Lott, Mark Collins (who spoke at the event), Greg Colbrunn, Charles Johnson, Ryan Nece, Ryan Hall, Allen Bradford and Alex Mattison, among others.


2019 Individual School Winners