OCC names three to alumni hall of fame
One socked 38 home runs in the major leagues. One served as a
political leader in a southern African nation. One lived the sweet
life in Orange County, stayed in community college for years -- and
became a millionaire by his early 30s.
Such are the disparate life stories of Brent Mayne, Inonge
Mbikusita-Lewanika and Paul Frank, all of whom were named this week
as inductees to Orange Coast College’s Alumni Hall of Fame. The three
will be inducted at a ceremony in the college’s Student Center Lounge
on Sept. 29.
“You can generally find three very distinct people in very
different fields who represent the breadth of graduates that this
institution produces,” said Jim Carnett, media relations director for
OCC. “This year really exemplifies that. We have a former athlete, a
well-known designer and an ambassador to the United States from
Zambia.”
Mayne, Mbikusita-Lewanika and Frank are the 61st, 62nd and 63rd
inductees to the Alumni Hall of Fame, a group that also includes
novelist Clive Cussler, Olympic gold medalist Steve Timmons,
professional sports stars Dan Quisenberry and Benny Ricardo and
former Costa Mesa mayor Mary Hornbuckle. The hall honors former OCC
students who have gone on to distinguished careers, either at home or
abroad.
The new inductees’ early lives were as different as their careers
after college. Mbikusita-Lewanika, a Zambia native, came to OCC as an
international student in the early 1960s and earned an associate’s
degree in 1962. Afterward, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees
at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a doctorate from New York University
before returning to her home country.
In subsequent years, she worked as a regional advisor for UNICEF
and served on the Zambian parliament from 1991 to 2001. Since 2001,
she has been Zambia’s ambassador to the United States while also
promoting women’s rights and education in developing countries.
Frank, who founded the design business Paul Frank Industries and
designed the famous Julius the monkey logo, attended OCC as an art
student in the 1990s. While he did not earn a degree at OCC, the
Huntington Beach native went on to become one of Orange County’s most
successful businessmen, with his logos appearing internationally on
menswear, women’s clothing, housewares and other items.
Mayne, the son of former OCC baseball coach Mike Mayne, attended
Costa Mesa High School before moving to higher education across the
street. After a year playing OCC baseball in 1987, he transferred to
Cal State Fullerton and then moved on to a major league career that
lasted 12 seasons. He played for the Kansas City Royals, the Los
Angeles Dodgers and other teams.
“He wasn’t a superstar, but he was an everyday player,” said Doug
Bennett, executive director of the Orange Coast College Foundation
and the chair of the hall of fame committee. “To play for that long
in the big leagues, that impressed us.”
Frank was not available for comment, and Mayne and
Mbikusita-Lewanika did not return calls for this story.
The last time OCC inducted members to its Alumni Hall of Fame was
in 2001. Shortly afterward, the library on campus that housed the
plaques closed due to seismic concerns; it is being rebuilt with
Measure C funds. In the next few years, OCC plans to build a new
student center to accommodate the plaques.
A six-member panel chose this year’s inductees from a list of more
than 100 nominees.
“We definitely talked about contributions to both the school and
society,” said Shana Jenkins, a student assistant in the Associated
Students office who served on the panel. “We have a lot of other
people on the list who were younger, and we know there’s a lot more
they’re going to be doing in life.
“One of the things that was a big concern in choosing these people
was that it was someone the students could look at at this point in
history and say, ‘Wow, that person graduated from OCC. That could be
me one day.’”
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