MJC basketball coach Girardi inducted into Merced High Hall of Fame

Don Bragonier, a member of Merced High’s Class of 1962, told the story about going to a football game while he attended Cal Western in San Diego. As he watched his team take on the University of Puget Sound, over and over again he heard the same name announced the P.A. system: Al Roberts.

Bragonier remembered an underclassman named Al Roberts from his days in Merced. He checked the program and, sure enough, it was the same Al Roberts with whom he went to school. Bragonier sought out Roberts after that game and that old Bears took a few minutes to catch up.

At Saturday night’s third annual Merced High Hall of Fame induction dinner, Bragonier, father 2017 inductee Jake Bragonier (tennis, ’93), bumped into Roberts, another 2017 inductee, in the Merced County Fairgrounds’ Yosemite Hall.

“I asked him, ‘Do you remember the last time we saw each other?’” said Bragonier. “He said, ‘Yeah, it was about 50 years ago in a locker room in San Diego.’”

That’s one story.

About a thousand others were shared Saturday as past and present Bears, many wearing the orange blazers signifying Hall of Fame membership, came together to induct 17 new members in the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.

Among the 17 inducted this year was Modesto Junior College men’s and women’s basketball coach Mike Girardi, who played on Vince Clemons’ first Merced High team.

Clemons, a 2015 Hall of Fame inductee, won his first 78 Central California Conference games and built the Bears into a Sac-Joaquin Section dynasty. Girardi’s club was responsible for the first 15 wins in the streak and helped lay the foundation for future success.

“It’s a great honor, I’m proud to be from Merced High, said Girardi. “I got to play for Coach Clemons my senior year. It was a special year playing with John Sykes and we had a lot of success and a lot of fun.”

A three-year varsity starter, Girardi played all five positions during his tenure and won two Central California Conference championships. As a senior, he was conference MVP, and earned all-state and all-America honors. He held the records for most points in a game, season and career when he graduated.

Though he accepted a scholarship to BYU, he returned to play at Merced College when his father, Chuck, was named head coach for one year in 1984. While at MC, the Blue Devils won the Central Valley Conference title and Girardi was a first-team selection. He played his final three years at Rice University, and professionally in the United Arab Emirates.

With about 600 guests in attendance at the Yosemite Hall at the Merced County Fairgrounds, Bears young and old came together for dinner – prime rib, potatoes au gratin, butternut squash, salad – to raise money for the Merced High Athletic Foundation, which hopes to build a sparkling, on-campus football stadium in the coming years.

“Great turnout, I love it, it was fun,” said Merced athletic director Paul Hogue. “I still advertise, I’m still worried that I’m not going to get 600-plus people here, but it always ends up, the last three years, 600-plus.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2017 at 6:27 PM with the headline "MJC basketball coach Girardi inducted into Merced High Hall of Fame."