Paul Akin, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

At the most crucial times, Paul Akin was often asked to control the

basketball or take the last-second shot.

“Anytime it was close, in the clutch or under pressure, we’d go to him

with the ball to set things up or shoot,” the late Jack Errion, Corona

del Mar High’s former hoops coach, once said of the playmaking point

guard.

Considered the ultimate team player in his prep and collegiate days on

the hardwood, the 6-foot-2 Akin was the core of the Sea Kings’ CIF

Southern Section 3-A championship squad in 1977 and the stabilizing

factor on Orange Coast College’s state title team in 1979.

“(Akin) was a winner ... and still is. He got things done,” said Tandy

Gillis, who coached him at CdM for one year and Orange Coast for two

years, including the memorable state championship season.

In two seasons at CdM, Akin, Jack Tuz and the late Alex Black led the

program to a combined record of 50-6.

In the 1975-76 campaign, when Akin was a junior, the Century League

champion Sea Kings went 25-0 in the regular season, but lost to Muir in

the first round of the CIF playoffs.

“I think the hardest part about the next year was keeping it together,

knowing we were expected to win and keeping the team as a unit,” said

Akin, who averaged 10.7 points and 5.2 assists per game in 1976-77, when

the Sea Kings finished 25-5 and won their first CIF basketball

championship.

Akin played under Paul Orris (CdM’s current and longtime varsity coach)

on a league championship CdM freshmen team in 1973-74, then played on a

Sea King junior varsity squad the following year that lost no more than

twice.

In four years, it’s conceivable that Akin was a star on Corona del Mar

basketball teams that combined to win nearly 100 games, while losing less

than 10.

“(Akin) directed the team,” Errion said, shortly after the Sea Kings’ CIF

title run in ’77.

Akin and fellow point guard Ray Orgill cracked Gillis’ starting lineup

midway through the ’78 campaign at OCC and set the building blocks for

the next season, when the Pirates also featured Pete Neumann, Brian

McCormick and Steve Timmons (a future two-time Olympic gold medalist in

volleyball).

“These are the greatest kids I’ve ever had the pleasure of coaching.

There will never, never be another group like them,” Gillis said after

the Pirates defeated Saddleback, 75-67, in overtime in the state

championship game at Cal State Fullerton on March 17, 1979.

The Cinderella Pirates, who finished 27-5, almost won the state title

game in regulation, but Akin’s shot at the buzzer was disallowed because

time had expired, forcing overtime.

“That fired us up,” Akin said of the near buzzer-beating shot. “Then, we

clobbered them in overtime (15-7).”

One of Akin’s career highlights was an alley-oop to Timmons in the waning

seconds. “(Timmons) slam dunked it, and it was just perfect,” Akin said.

“It was so cool. I vividly remember that picture.”

Orgill was OCC’s leading scorer that season, averaging about 14.5 points

per game, while Neumann, Timmons and Akin scored in double figures.

McCormick averaged about eight points a game.

“We just had a bunch of guys who played hard every day,” Akin said.

“Nobody cared if you had two points or 20. It was one of those unique

teams where (scoring averages) didn’t matter.”

Akin, who averaged 3.8 assists a game in 1978-79, said it was the

“ultimate team” that season. “All 12 guys were all rooting for each other

and playing for each other,” Akin said. “I don’t know if there will ever

be another team like that one again.”

After OCC, Akin accepted a scholarship to San Francisco State and started

for two years, leading the Gators to the NCAA Division II playoffs in

1980. Later, Akin played on a collegiate traveling team and toured New

Zealand.

“My game was 60% defense and the rest was team work and being a captain

type,” Akin said.

Today, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame has

three boys and coaches their baseball and basketball teams.

Akin, 41, still plays hoops on a 40-and-over team for the Olympic Club

basketball team in San Francisco. Naturally, he’s the captain and point

guard.

Akin owns two companies -- a construction company and a distribution firm

in the Bay area -- and lives in Orinda with his family: His wife of 13

years, Christy, and boys Clark, 11, Zac, 10, and Troy, 7.

“I try to have as much fun as I possibly can,” Akin said of his youth

coaching and adult-league playing.

Akin said he attributes his solid upbringing to his mother, Barbara, who

raised him as a single parent.