By Rick Assad
On a crispy and clear Thursday night when the Burbank High football team defeated Burroughs 62-14 in the 77th meeting at Memorial Field in the Pacific League finale, Steven Hubbell was attired in jeans and a gray Burbank High hoodie.
Hubbell, a Burroughs graduate who is now Burbank’s principal, is neutral when it comes to pulling for one school over the other.
“It is a great game for the city and many people have emotions that run higher at this time,” he said. “I have friends on both sides of the field. As I get older, emotions are not the same because I don’t want to ruin a friendship over a game.”
Others from Hubbell’s family who have graduated from Burroughs include his mother Elena in 1961, brother Darren in 1984, son William in 2022, son Ethan in 2024, niece Ashley in 2006, niece Amanda in 2009, nephew D.J. in 2018 and nephew Steven in 2016.
Now that’s a long line of family members graduating from one high school.
Hubbell knows sometimes you have to support the players, regardless of which school they attend.
“I will never separate my feelings from Burroughs. I have too many friends there. What I can say is that I’m going to support my Bulldog athletes every time they are competing,” he said. “We make this Burroughs/Burbank rivalry bigger than it should be. I want each and every athlete to get the most out of sports and hopefully, if they are lucky, play at the next level.”
But when it comes to his sons, Hubbell, who was the Luther Burbank Middle School principal from 2022 to 2025, is going to pull for their teams.
“I am always going to be in my sons’ corner no matter where they are. At this time both my sons are playing college sports, and I wear their colors when I watch them,” he said. “When they were at Burroughs, I wore red. Now it is purple for San Francisco State University and maroon for Pasadena City College.”
Hubbell, who was Burbank’s AP of Discipline and AP of Athletics and Activities from 2017 to 2019 and Burroughs’ AP of Athletics, Guidance, and Instruction from 2019 to 2022, said it’s much better to play the longtime rivalry down the middle.
“Yes, at times I want to be neutral, but over time I want my team to win,” he said. “My team is the BHS Bulldogs now.”
Hubbell even offered some advice on how to wade through rivalries.
“I have seen many colleagues do this before and it is not as tough as many would think,” he offered. “I, like many colleagues, support the students we teach and work with daily. I’m not thinking of this as this school or that school. I’m thinking of what students I’m working with now and how I’m there for them.”
