Hess back to check on ‘baby’

Mike Hess has no children. But what some might consider “his baby” turns 18 today at Corona del Mar High.

And Hess, a two-time All-CIF Southern Section Division 3-A point guard for the Sea Kings in the early 1980s, took a 12-hour plane flight from his home in Madrid, Spain, to play in the 18th annual Jack Errion Memorial alumni basketball tournament that he founded.

“It’s always fun to come back,” said Hess, who has returned about every other year for the event since moving to Europe 11 years ago to play professional basketball.

“The first five or six years I ran it, I knew everyone who was in it, from watching games when I was growing up, to helping coach during the summers with [then-CdM Coach Paul Orris]. Now, I really don’t know any of the kids who played there in the last five or six years.”

Most in attendance today will know Hess, or at least know of his game, both at CdM and UC Irvine, where he played collegiately from 1985-88 after one season at the University of Texas.

Hess, who started as a sophomore point guard on the Sea Kings’ 1981 CIF 3-A championship team, spent two years at UCI as a graduate assistant coach, before playing in 1991 for ART Dusseldorf in Germany.

He played part-time in Germany for two seasons and eventually became the international director of marketing for Adidas.

He moved to Barcelona, Spain to pursue his Ph.D. in marketing management strategies, before moving to Madrid to begin a teaching career at St. Louis University’s Madrid campus.

He still teaches, but is also involved in consulting. He said he would ideally like to wind up splitting his time between Spain and the United States.

Now 41, Hess said he formed the tournament, eventually named for the late CdM coach for whom he played, hoping to bring back some of the stars that made the Sea Kings a perennial power, beginning in the late 1970s.

Robert Hess, Mike’s brother, took over as tournament director about 10 years ago.

The event, which begins today at 8 a.m. and runs through the late afternoon, is expected to have a 16-team field, Robert Hess said. Games are five-on-five, full court.

Mike Hess said he is about as prepared as he can be.

“There’s plenty of sunshine in Spain and a lot of outdoor courts. I’ll have a good time [today] as long as my legs hold up.”