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.’”