In addition to overall State Coach of the Year Mike Centrullo from Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista, we have additional state coaching honors for the 2022 season going to Andy Meza from Alvarez of Salinas (medium schools) and Jeff Day of Caruthers (small schools).
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Cal-Hi Sports Insider Blog
Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.
More State Softball Coaches of the Year
More Baseball Coaches of Year
In addition to overall State Coach of the Year Benji Medure of Huntington Beach, we have additional state coaching honors for the 2022 season heading out to Tony Nieto from Tesoro of Las Flores (medium schools) and Kurt Takahashi from Bradshaw Christian of Sacramento (small schools).
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More Baseball State Teams of Year
In addition to overall No. 1 and State Team of the Year Concord De La Salle, others that can say they are mythical state champions for 2022 are McClatchy of Sacramento (D2), Tesoro of Las Flores (D3), Estancia of Costa Mesa (D4) and St. Bernard’s of Eureka (D5). Read more…
More Softball State Teams of the Year
In addition to overall No. 1 and Division 1 No. 1 St. Francis of Mountain View, others that can say they are mythical state champions for 2022 are Otay Ranch of Chula Vista (Division 2), Sutter (D3), Monterey (D4) and Big Valley Christian of Modesto (D5). Read more…
NBA Final Alums 2022
After a year in 2021 in which the Phoenix Suns did not have a player from a California high school, both the Golden State Warriors & Boston Celtics for 2022 each have at least one. The Warriors, of course, have a player who is headed to the Hall of Fame and who was inspirational in his comeback from two devastating injuries. All three of the players for 2022 were seen in high school by Cal-Hi Sports, but not surprising since two were in CIF state finals and the other was in a NorCal final.
FOR AN UPDATED LOOK AT OUR ALL-TIME NBA ALUMNI LIST, CLICK HERE.
Malik Fitts (Damien, La Verne)
When the current NBA season began, Malik may not have envisioned being on a roster for a team in the NBA Finals. However, he got a shot with the Celtics on a 10-day contract in February, signed another 10-day contract after that and got one for two years back on March 15. Malik probably won’t play much during the NBA Finals, but he’s there and he’s made it into the league. At Damien in 2015, he averaged 16 ppg and eight rebounds per game as the Spartans won their first CIF state title with a 70-57 triumph over Campolindo of Moraga in D3. Fitts had nine points in that game. He later went to a prep school and then South Florida for college.
Klay Thompson (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM)
Regarded as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, Thompson is playing in his sixth NBA Final, which puts him on the all-time list, but is only half of the total of California’s Bill Russell (Oakland McClymonds). The rest of the list includes Michael Cooper of Pasadena with eight, KC Jones of San Francisco Commerce with eight, Dennis Johnson of Compton Dominguez with six and Kurt Rambis of Cupertino with six. That fifth NBA Finals appearance for Thompson is one he’d like to forget as he suffered a torn achilles injury that caused him to miss the 2020 season. He then missed the 2021 season with a torn ACL. At Santa Margarita, Thompson had one of the best CIF state finals performances ever with 37 points and seven three-pointers when the Eagles (30-2) defeated Sacramento, 72-55, in the 2008 D3 championship.
Juan Toscano-Anderson (Castro Valley)
He wasn’t with the Warriors when they last played in the NBA Finals in 2019, but has made many in the Bay Area happy with his rise to be on the roster and a key contributor. Known as Juan Anderson at Castro Valley, he was the team’s second leading scorer in 2011 for a group that seemed poised to get to the 2011 CIF D1 state title, but lost in the NorCal final to a De La Salle (Concord) squad that the Trojans had defeated only a few weeks earlier. Anderson had 17 points in a NorCal playoff win over Bishop O’Dowd. He averaged 17.4 ppg. Teammate Roderick Bobbitt was the team’s leading scorer at more than 19 ppg.
100-Meter Dash Sprint History
Thanks to junior Rodrick Pleasant of Gardena Serra clocking his sensational state record time of 10.14 seconds (legal wind reading) from last week’s CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, which broke a reported state record of 10.25 set in 1985 by Henry Thomas of Hawthorne, we were inspired to look up some our own historical files from track and field.
We couldn’t do this for any records set prior to 2008, which is the last time we extensively went through and updated our own track and field lists in the last published Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book & Almanac.
Current track and field high school coverage obviously is now done by others we greatly respect and admire, such as Rich Gonzalez of Prep Track Cal (we used to work with him when DyeStat.com and Cal-Hi Sports were both part of ESPN from 2008 to 2012) and Erik Boal (who still does some free-lance work for us today and is the current editor of DyeStat.com).
We didn’t see Rodrick play football for Serra because he was hurt early in the 2021 season. He did play in the CIF D1-A state final vs Liberty of Bakersfield but was limited by injury again and had one kick return for 16 yards. Photo: Twitter.com.
We did progressive records in our record books for boys and girls track under the direction of the late Nelson Tennis, founder of Cal-Hi Sports. Here’s some history on both the 100-yard dash (which in the early years was the more popular distance for high school track sprinting) and 100-meter dash.
The first one reported with a 9.9-second timing in the 100-yard dash is Cliff Gantt of Los Angeles Poly from 1926. That record was tied later that season by Dick Wehner of Brawley. The record was lowered to 9.5 in 1928 by Frank Wycoff of Glendale, who also ran a 9.8 in 1927 as a junior. Wycoff was a sensation at the 1927 and 1928 CIF state meets as he took four individual titles (100-220-LJ).
The state record was lowered to 9.4 in the 100-yard dash in 1954 by James Jackson of Alameda. It stayed there until 1978 when Tony Pitts of Santa Ana Valley ran a 9.3 time. Among those who tied it at 9.4 were future world record holder and gold medalist Jim Hines of Oakland McClymonds (1964) and NFL receiving star Mel Gray from Santa Rosa Montgomery 1967.
For automatic timing, there was a 9.44 clocking in 1979 by Michael Sanford of Pasadena with state records also recognized at 9.61 by David Russell of San Diego Patrick Henry (1977) and Ron Brown of Baldwin Park (1979). There also was a wind-aided hand-time of 9.2 in 1963 by John House of Pasadena Muir.
Finally, here is a list of progressive records in the 100-meter dash with the current record set last week by Gardena Serra’s Rodrick Pleasant now included. These wouldn’t include anything from the 2022 CIF state championships.
Hand-Timing
10.4 – Vernon Blenkiron, Compton, 1921 (110 yards)
10.4 – Eddie Morris, Huntington Beach, 1940
10.4 – Preston Griffin, Compton Centennial, 1959
10.4 – Hubie Watson, Los Angeles Jordan, 1960
10.2 – Billy Gaines, San Jose, 1968
10.2 – Michael Sanford, Pasadena, 1979
Automatic-Timing
10.39 – Ken Robinson, Berkeley, 1981
10.39 – Ray Brown, Pasadena Muir, 1984
10.27 – Henry Thomas, Hawthorne, 1984 (Jr.)
10.25 – Henry Thomas, Hawthorne, 1985
10.25 – Domani Jackson, Santa Ana Mater Dei, 2021 (Jr.)
10.14 – Rodrick Pleasant, Gardena Serra, 2022 (Jr.)
Wind-Aided Hand-Timing
10.0 – Henry Thomas, Hawthorne, 1985
Wind-Aided Automatic-Timing
10.24 – Ken Robinson, Berkeley, 1981
10.17 – Quincy Watts, Woodland Hills Taft, 1987 (Jr.)
10.16 – Rodrick Pleasant, Gardena Serra, 2022 (Jr.
All-State Girls BB Patch List
Our all-state hoops patch for this year is now available to order at BillyTees.com. Patches also come with a certificate to further recognize the achievement.
For those just wanting to check to see about a particular player on this year’s All-State Underclass Team for girls basketball without being a subscriber, here is a simple alphabetical list. If you want the full presentation and are not Gold Club, please check out getting a membership today.
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All-State Boys BB Patch List
Our all-state hoops patch for this year is now available to order at BillyTees.com. Patches also come with a certificate to further recognize the achievement.
For those just wanting to check to see about a particular player on this year’s All-State Underclass Team for boys basketball without being a subscriber, here is a simple alphabetical list. If you want the full presentation and are not Gold Club, please check out getting a membership today.
Read more…
Best Tactical Games To Play At Home
Playing video games is truly a great way to take a break from the day-to-day stress of life. But not all video games are actually created equal. If you’re looking for a truly immersive gaming experience, you need to check out the best tactical games available. These games put you in control of complex situations and require quick thinking and strategic planning to prevail. So, if you’re ready to test your skills, read on for our list of the best tactical games to play at home.
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Best Cali NBA College Grads of All Time
Some of the NBA’s best players of all time studied and honed their basketball skills in California. The following are arguably the top college graduates from the Golden State who have gone on to find success in the pro league.
Kawhi Leonard led M.L. King to CIF Southern Section title in 2009. Photo: Scott Kurtz.
Kawhi Leonard
Born in Los Angeles, Kawhi played his high school basketball at Canyon Springs and Martin Luther King before going to study at San Diego State University between 2009 and 2011. During that time, he was named an All-American. However, he decided not to not at college for his last two years, opting instead to join the NBA draft in 2011.
Kawhi was chosen by the Indiana Pacers as the 15th pick but was traded to the San Antonio Spurs, with whom he won an NBA Championship in 2015 and was named as the MVP in the Finals. After this, he joined the Toronto Raptors, where he helped them collect their first-ever championship, and again picked up the Finals MVP award.
Forging a reputation as one of the best NBA players of all time, Leonard won titles such as the Defensive Player of the Year as well as earning a place in the league’s 75th Anniversary Team. He moved back to Los Angeles in 2019 when decided to sign for the Clippers as a free agent.
The Clippers had an underwhelming regular season and according to the odds on Bovada website, Kawhi obviously is not among the favorites to become the MVP this year with his injured status.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Although he was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York rather than California, Kareem went to college at UCLA and is fondly remembered as possibly the finest Bruin ever. He was already over 7-foot tall when he joined the college team and was put straight into the freshman team in his first year.
Playing under his original name of Lew Alcindor, the player made an immediate impact by helping the freshman team beat the UCLA varsity squad for the first time in history. He picked up 31 points and 21 rebounds in that memorable victory. The freshman team went on to rack up a 21-0 record as it blew away the opponents.
Kareem’s first varsity game saw him labeled a superstar after he scored 56 points against USC to break the UCLA record for a single game. He then scored an average of 29 points as they set a 30-0 record on the way to a national championship. He was so good in the college scene that the dunk was banned to try and stop him from scoring so much.
His long career has given him some outstanding records, both in college basketball and in the NBA. His most productive spell came with the LA Lakers, where Kareem won five NBA championships. He is still the league’s all-time leading scorer and also leads the way in terms of total career wins.
Bill Walton
Born in La Mesa and a graduate of Helix High School, Walton followed Alcindor to UCLA, where he played between 1971 and 1974. Regarded as one of the best centers to play college basketball, he was part of coach John Wooden’s remarkable winning spell where the Bruins were virtually unstoppable.
Bill won three national college player of the year awards in a row and won the NCAA championship in 1972 and 1973 as the team put together an 88-game winning streak that ran until a loss to Notre Dame in 1974. He is thought of as one of the best college players of all time, with a string of awards and records added to the fact that UCLA retired his number 32.
Walton joined the Portland Trail Blazers as the first pick in the 1974 draft and had an amazing NBA career with them and the Boston Celtics. He also had a spell with the Clippers, who were known as the San Diego Clippers in those days. However, injuries stopped Walton from being as influential there as he should have been.
Bill Cartwright
One of the best players to turn out for the University of San Francisco, Bill Cartwright was born in Lodi and went to Elk Grove High School before joining the San Francisco Dons. He helped them to become the nation’s top college team for a spell with an 80% winning record, and it’s worth remembering that this was one of the tallest college basketball teams in the history of the sport.
Bill picked up a couple of conference titles and four appearances in post-season games. He also still retains the record for all-time scoring and field goals for the college. The Dons built an outstanding team around him, and Cartwright responded with an average of 19.1 points.
The former Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year for 1974 and 1975 joined the New York Knicks as third pick in the 1979 draft but injuries limited his impact there. After signing with the Chicago Bulls and joining superstar Michael Jordan, the center helped them win three consecutive championships and go down in history as another of the best college graduates to come out of California and join the NBA.
