Madkins, Hobby highlight SJS Hall of Fame
Gerald Madkins won basketball section titles at Merced High. He played at UCLA and eventually made it to the NBA.
The former Bears great can add another basketball honor to his resumé.
Madkins will be inducted into the Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in October.
Madkins and longtime Mariposa coach Loyd Hobby will be part of the second Hall of Fame class, which was officially announced this week.
"No doubt about it, he was the best basketball player I coached," said former Merced coach Vince Clemons, who was inducted into the section Hall of Fame two years ago. "It was his heart, his mentality and his intelligence. I had other kids who were physically gifted, but Gerald was by far the best basketball player."
Madkins graduated from Merced in 1987. He led the Bears to section titles in 1986 and 1987, leading the state in scoring both years. Madkins is currently the vice president of basketball operations for the New Orleans Hornets.
Clemons has many Madkins memories, but one sticks out.
"We were playing Fairfield at Arco and Gerald had four fouls," Clemons said. "Gerald had four fouls, and we were up one point with 30 seconds left.
"A kid from Fairfield was driving down the lane and Gerald took the charge. He would have been out of the game if the call went the other way, but that's the kind of defensive player he was. He had to take it. His senior year we lost three games and all three games he fouled out."
Hobby thought one of his friends was playing a prank on him when he heard the news on Friday.
"It's quite a surprise," Hobby said. "It's going to be a fun night of reminiscing about 48 years that I spent at our little podunk school that we enjoyed so much.
"I've had thousands of youngsters who I've developed relationships with and stayed in contact with all over the country."
Hobby taught at Mariposa for 48 years. He coached basketball for 45 years. He also spent time coaching football, baseball and golf.
He served as athletic director from 1999-2010 and was named Athletic Director of the Year in 1995 for the state of California.
"Until this news, that was the highlight of my career," Hobby said.
Madkins and Hobby are part of the section's second Hall of Fame class. They will be honored at a dinner ceremony Oct. 14.
Many of the top swimmers in the county will be competing this afternoon at the Central California Conference Championships at Golden Valley.
The varsity finals begin at 1 p.m.
There's a good chance the finals will be dominated by the Merced boys and girls teams.
Both Bears teams went undefeated in duel meets this year.
The Merced boys are looking for their fourth straight league title. The girls are trying to win their third in a row.
The girls are led by Alison Miller, Charis Hoppe and Kelsey McCabe.
The Bears boys have gotten big contributions from Kaleb Jones, Brett Fogelberg and Josh Fluetsch.
Other top swimmers to watch include Connor Hoppe (Golden Valley) and Patrick Koenig (GV), Mekayla Coughran (Atwater), Miranda Knobloch (Atwater), Bryce Firestine (Atwater), Noelle Farrar (Buhach) and Ian Callahan (Buhach).
This story was originally published April 28, 2012 at 2:28 AM with the headline "Madkins, Hobby highlight SJS Hall of Fame."