Ken Bardsley, Millennium Hall of Fame

With a new lease on his basketball life, former Costa Mesa High

standout Ken Bardsley, a 6-foot-4 sharpshooter who was also the Mustangs’

tallest player, returned to familiar playground roots and became a star

at Southern California College (now Vanguard University).

Bardsley, the most prolific scorer in Costa Mesa history and a

first-team All-CIF Southern Section selection in 1982, had always played

pickup games at “The Pit” on the Vanguard campus.

But, one day, after somewhat disappointing experiences at UCI and

Orange Coast College, the talented outside shooter was invited by SCC

Coach Bill Reynolds to join a summer team that was to tour China and Hong

Kong.

“(Reynolds) resurrected a career that otherwise would’ve been dead,”

said Bardsley, who rediscovered his love for basketball at SCC, where he

was an NAIA Academic All-American in 1986.

A member of the last Mesa hoops team to defeat cross-town rival

Estancia, Bardsley was a big fish in a small pond, scoring in double

figures for over 50 straight games, spanning three seasons.

Bardsley, who averaged 20 points per game for two consecutive seasons

and ended his prep career with a school-record point total (over 1,300),

guided Coach Tim Parsel’s Mustangs to the CIF playoffs in 1982, Mesa’s

first postseason trip since 1966 under Jules Gage.

A two-time first-team All-Sea View League performer and an All-Orange

County choice his senior year, Bardsley is considered by some to be

Mesa’s best player ever. Chris Beasley (Class of ‘79) went on to achieve

collegiate stardom at Orange Coast and Arizona State (earning All-Pac 10

in ‘84), but Bardsley is believed to own the bigger prep numbers.

“Obviously, Chris Beasley was a great player, and I think he was a

late bloomer and I was an early bloomer,” Bardsley said of the former

two-sport standout who later played baseball for the Angels as a pitcher.

“What stands out (in high school) is my junior year when we beat

Corona del Mar (51-48). (The Sea Kings) were No. 1 in CIF at the time and

it was at their place.”

Bardsley, who played at Mesa alongside Jim Pelichowski, Greg Field and

Jeff Field, dropped in 33 points one night his sophomore year against

Coach Jack Errion’s Sea Kings, a CdM squad featuring Jeff Pries and Mark

Spinn, and, afterward, Errion promised it was the last time Bardsley

would score 30 against his vaunted defense. He didn’t.

Bardsley, who grew up playing on a traveling all-star team with future

Estancia stars Jeff Gardner and Steve Kraiss, was instrumental in the

Mustangs’ last victory over their longtime rivals in 1982. Mesa won,

56-53, to snap an eight-game losing streak against Estancia, covering six

years. (The current streak is 31 straight wins for Estancia.)

“Costa Mesa has never had a history of having tall people,” said

Bardsley, who, as a sophomore in 1980, was the team’s tallest starter and

averaged about 16.5 ppg.

Bardsley earned a basketball scholarship to UCI (Jeff Field went there

to play baseball), but stayed only one year under Coach Bill Mulligan. He

transferred to Orange Coast, deciding to move on after one season.

“At that point, I felt I had a good time playing basketball and that I

could hang it up,” he said. “I intended to go to business school,

anyway.”

That’s when Reynolds stepped in.

“There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t feel like I made the

right decision,” Bardsley said of Vanguard University. “I had a ball

there. All the students and faculty members knew each other really well,

and Coach Reynolds was the best coach I’d played for. Our personalities

and beliefs were the same. He brought out the best in my game -- that’s

the kind of coach he was. He didn’t make me feel afraid to make a

mistake.

“We didn’t always have the best players out there on the floor, but we

beat teams that were better than us. I just think (Reynolds) always

brought out the best in his players. We had good team work and coaching,

and we played awfully hard.”

Bardsley, who lives in Highlands Ranch, Colo., about 20 miles south of

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

celebrating the millennium.

Bardsley married his wife, Jenny, in November 1986, and the couple

moved to Colorado a month later on Christmas Day. He attended the

University of Colorado at Boulder and earned his MBA, and, today, serves

as director of finance for the Australian industrials and paint company

Orica. The couple has two children, daughter Laura, 6, and son Joshua,

almost 2.

“It’s been nice to move to a different state, we love it out here,” he

said. “It’s a fun place to live. People think the winters are really cold

in Colorado, but they’re not. The snow melts fast and there’s a lot of

sunshine.”

Bardsley loves to cycle and still plays basketball on a competitive

club team. “I shoot the ball and stay out of the way,” he said.