Valerie Cassity - Special to the Sun

The Kern Valley recently lost its unofficial spokesman when Don Legg, otherwise known as Dufus, passed unexpectedly on March 29 due to cardiac arrest brought on by brain tumors he had been unaware of. Don truly was the heart of the Kern Valley at many events as he dressed up as a gold miner and delighted audiences of all ages as a history lesson come to life.

Don was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on Jan. 31, 1951, and was raised in Geneva, NY. His love of performing began early when he landed a part in The Seven Year Itch while in grade school. Don also loved sports, and played baseball during his elementary and high school years before graduating from Geneva High School in 1969. After graduation, Don enlisted in the Air Force, where he served with the 635th Combat Support Group as a Security Policeman in Thailand for almost four years.

Don Legg, aka “Dufus” during the 2007 Whiskey Flat Days celebration, welcoming visiting flatlanders and locals alike. Legg passed away suddenly March 29 at the Veterans Hospital in Westwood, Calif.

In 1977, Don moved to the Kern Valley and began working for Guardian Mobile Homes as a carpet installer, then went on to work as a mail carrier in the early 80s before returning to carpet installation at Wimmer’s Carpet. His last job was at the golf course as a groundskeeper, which combined his love of the Kern Valley with his love of golf. Shortly after moving to the Kern Valley, Don met the love of his life, Michaelle Hall, and they would have celebrated 30 years together on May 30.

Don’s love of baseball was strong throughout his life; as a native New Yorker he was a die hard Yankee fan, and his "hero" was Mickey Mantle. He was able to use that love of baseball to bond with his stepson James, as well as encourage many other children of the Kern Valley. Don became a member of Kern River Valley Little League when James began playing baseball, starting as an assistant coach for the Tigers, a Tee Ball team, in 1983. The following year he was the assistant coach for the Tigers in the Minor Boys division, and was the Coach for the Tigers in 1985, leading the team to undefeated season. In 1986, Don moved with James up to the Major Boys Division and coached for several years after, as well as serving as Assistant Coach for the Area All-Star team in 1987. Don was Head Umpire in 1991 and President of the Kern River Valley Little League in 1992, where he used his position to institute the first Minor Girls Division and began The Minor B Boys pitching machine division.

As many people know, Don’s service to the Kern Valley did not stop with Little League. He was best known for his role as 'Dufus' the 1890s gold miner. He first donned the costume to assist 'Diamond' Lil McBurney in her first run for Whiskey Flat Mayor in the mid-1980s, and the persona was such a big hit that Don continued to perform as 'Dufus' every Whiskey Flat Days thereafter. 'Diamond' Lil didn’t win that year, but tried again in 1988, this time getting the coveted title with the help of Dufus, and many Whiskey Flat Mayoral candidates have had the wisdom to enlist his assistance since. In fact, Dufus served as the Whiskey Flat Days ambassador every year on Bakersfield Channel 17 and 29 news shows, telling Bakersfield residents about the festivities and performing skits to entice them to the annual celebration.

Don also joined the local old west comedy sketch group, The High Country Outlaws, started by Tony Julio, and when Tony moved away to Virginia in 1988, he gave control of The High Country Outlaws to Don, who ran the group until 2001. That year, there was a "Dufus’s Last Stand" postmark and Tee Shirt for The Battle of Bull Run Whiskey Flat Days celebration.

Wanting to bring more serious reenactment possibilities to the Kern Valley, Don started with the 'Spurs and Satin' reenactment group in 2004, and also did some reenactments with the group 'What a Cowboy Knows' for the Kern County Museum at Pioneer Village. Very active in his alter ego, Don was a member of the American Frontier Reenactment Guild, The West Coast Ghost Riders, Code of the West, Old West Reenactors, Legends of the West, and Jacks Posse.

In addition to reenactment groups, Don was a member of the Historical Society from 2003 until he passed, and would dress up as Dufus to entertain the tourists and teach them about the Kern Valley. He and Jim Maloof set up a gold panning class at the Museum for the Boys and Girls Club, where they taught the kids to pan and then brought them to the river to try their hands at it. He was truly a living history exhibit and one that the visitors and locals alike truly loved. 'Sometimes, when school kids came for a tour of the Museum, Dufus would sit in the miner’s cabin with his head down, not moving. The school kids would first be led to the 'out-house', open the door and be surprised to see a mannequin sitting inside. They next came to the miner’s cabin and thought Dufus was another mannequin. That is, until he suddenly woke up and gruffly asked who these intruders were. The kids loved it,' recalled Historical Society member Rod Middleworth, 'Aside from the Dufus persona, I remember a man who was honest, sincere and true to his convictions. And a darned good friend. I’ll miss him.'

In addition to his live action performances, Don was given the opportunity to perform once again onscreen through local documentary filmmaker Chuck Barbee, who first met Don in April of 2004 while working on a video for Kern River Valley Revitalization called 'Treasures of the Kern River Valley'. The concept was an old miner showing the many treasures of the valley OTHER than gold, and Barbee said that he knew that Dufus was the perfect character to tell the story as soon as he met him.

Barbee liked working with Don so much that when his next project, 'The History of Whiskey Flat Days' began filming in 2005, he asked Don to play the part of Lovely Rogers discovering the gold that led to the Big Blue Mine and Whiskey Flat.

When Barbee began shooting the storyteller sequences for 'Wild West Country' last summer, Don was once again one of the prime re-enactors, skillfully helping to tell the stories recorded so beautifully by Bob Powers. Because the first episode of 'Wild West Country' is mostly about the gold mining days, it fell to Dufus to do the majority of the storytelling.

'While Don’s passing has left a large hole, his spirit will live-on in this community. He was a living symbol of the Kern River Gold Rush, giving endless time to the preservation of the history he so dearly loved. Now he is memorialized in the films he helped to make about this area’s history. It is my hope that in these, the images of Don 'Dufus' Legg will forever be associated with the history of the valley he loved so much,' said Barbee.

There will be a "celebration of life" for Don on Sunday, April 13, at 3 p.m. at the golf course. Because Don did not have insurance, the family is struggling to cover the costs of the hospital stay, service, and burial. If anyone would like to assist them, donations can be made at Alta One Federal Credit Union in the name of Don Legg or Dufus. Also, the golf course will provide food for 100 guests for the celebration, but if anyone wishes to bring a dish of something it would be very helpful. ��Also, Don would love a Western Theme, so everyone is asked to get into the spirit of the old west to celebrate the life and time of Dufus!