Mark Spinn, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Those a part of Corona del Mar High’s CIF Southern Section 3-A

basketball championship in 1981 will always vow that their collection of

Sea Kings, under Coach Jack Errion, was the best ever.

After all, five starters were equipped with Division I college ability

and some believe it was the most symbolic Errion squad with its

tightfisted man-to-man defense and half-court offense.

Last summer, the ’81 team even captured the annual Jack Errion

Memorial Classic, a CdM fund-raiser and popular day-long basketball

tournament for alumni. They did it, somehow, without Mark Spinn.

But, two decades ago, Errion’s Sea Kings could not have been without

the 6-foot-6 center and inside muscleman in their CIF 3-A title run,

which included upsetting defending champion La Quinta and 6-9 two-time

CIF 3-A and Orange County Player of the Year Johnny Rogers.

Rogers, a threat both inside and outside with a great shooting touch,

averaged 32.4 points per game that season and later played professionally

and at UC Irvine.

But Rogers bumped into a defensive roadblock in the ’81 CIF

semifinals, a memorable 48-29 CdM victory as Spinn & Co. avenged a 1980

setback against La Quinta in the CIF 3-A finals at Long Beach State.

Then a skinny 193-pounder, Spinn was the primary source in a CdM

defense that limited the entire La Quinta team, which averaged close to

80 ppg, to fewer points than Rogers averaged in the season. Spinn held

Rogers to six points.

“Jack had us so well-prepared for what we were trying to do,” Spinn

said. “We played straight man-to-man, and great man-to-man defense is

helping the other guys out. Like (Errion) would always say -- it’s help

and recover. You help out and get back to your own man.”

That night in the ’81 semifinals, CdM’s defense was as close to

perfect as Errion or any other coach could possibly imagine.

These days, Spinn can speak humbly about holding one of Orange

County’s all-time greats to a mere half dozen in a gigantic CIF

semifinal. But it is still considered one of the most unforgettable feats

in CdM’s celebrated hoops history.

Spinn, a two-time All-CIF 3-A selection who averaged 15.7 ppg his

senior year, and the rest of a solid CdM cast defeated Tustin in the ’81

CIF 3-A finals at the LA Sports Arena. It was the school’s second CIF

title under Errion, following the ’77 squad with Jack Tuz and Alex Black.

A first-team All-Orange Coast area pick by the Daily Pilot along with

teammate Jeff Pries, Spinn controlled the right side in the low post and

used strength and technique to outrebound, and generally outplay, his

competitors.

Spinn, who battled severe tendinitis throughout his career and spent

countless hours icing his knees, enjoyed a three-year varsity career

under Errion in which the Sea Kings compiled an eye-popping 65-14 record.

Spinn, Pries, Steve Moore, Mike Hess and Chris Lynch formed one of the

finest starting quintets in CdM annals, but physically Spinn was just

trying to survive.

“I was 17 and getting out of bed like Nick Nolte in the opening scene

of (the movie) ‘North Dallas 40’ (with body parts aching and cracking),”

said Spinn, who, by his junior year, had stopped trying slam dunk in

practice in an effort to alleviate pain in his knees.

Spinn, however, was so solid underneath, he earned a scholarship to

UCI and played under Coach Bill Mulligan. But Spinn’s streak of injuries

escalated and, after two knee operations, a stress fracture in his shin

and two concussions, he told Mulligan to give his scholarship to someone

else.

In his third practice as a freshman, Spinn took a charge from UCI

All-American Kevin Magee and landed square on his head. Three days later,

Spinn woke up.

“I was trying to show the coaches that this kid from Corona del Mar

could play defense,” said Spinn, who would’ve made Errion proud but

suffered his first concussion.

After the injuries got the best of Spinn, he transferred to UCLA,

where he planned to major in English and let his body heal. Later, he

played intramural basketball and helped his squad capture the 1983-84

UCLA intramural championship.

By the spring of ‘84, Spinn’s enthusiasm for the game returned,

inspiring a comeback. In a formal practice for walk-on players the

following autumn, where two of 15 players would secure roster spots on

Coach Walt Hazzard’s Bruins, Spinn got hurt again.

It was another knee injury and a few days later Spinn was back on the

operating table.

“Now,” Spinn said, “if I play (basketball) for a half-hour, I do my

Nick Nolte imitation for two weeks. So I don’t do it anymore and I don’t

play in the alumni tournament.”

Spinn, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, is

an executive recruiter for an Irvine marketing communications firm. A

former Los Angeles Times sportswriter, Spinn, 38, is single and lives in

Aliso Viejo.