When Aragon was founded in 1960, boys basketball was one of the few athletic teams at the school. It quickly became Aragon’s signature sport.
The school hired Eddie Diaz as its first basketball coach — a decision that quickly paid off, as Aragon would win its first league championship in school history in 1970. Diaz developed excellent players within the program, including Sidney Williams, who would go on to play for San Jose State before getting drafted into the National Basketball Association by the Portland Trail Blazers.
While it was Diaz who created a Peninsula Athletic League powerhouse, it was Ron Bolin who took the team to the next level. Bolin took over in the 1979-80 season when he replaced Pete Pontacq, who left to become the head coach at Skyline College. Bolin coached through the 1996-97 season, where he won numerous league titles for Aragon. Most notably, Aragon won the 1990 and 1994 Central Coast Section titles, with the 1988-89 and 1989-90 teams being inducted into the Aragon Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Bolin claims his Dons replicated the revolutionary up-tempo style of play that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas team was using to take over the college basketball world: “[Frosh-Soph head coach Lou Murgo and I] both agreed we wanted to run like the Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV.”
“It was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters. They would just run up and down the floor, scoring a 100 points. I think they scored 100 points [three or four] times, and it was the greatest show on the Peninsula,” says Athletic Director Steve Sell.
During Bolin’s time, the quality of play was high. Those teams were led by quality players, such as 1990 PAL Most Valuable Player Jimmie Pryor, Kenny Powell, who went on to play for Seton Hall, and current boys basketball head coach Hosea Patton.
“The 1979-80 team played in a league with nine Division I athletes. Right now, there are no Division I basketball players in our league,” explains Sell. “[Back then], there was four in just the San Mateo Union High School District: two at Aragon, one at San Mateo and one at Hillsdale.”
In 2003, Aragon pioneered a movement that has taken on a life of its own since then, when Kerry Huxford was hired as the head coach of the varsity basketball team. Huxford became only the second woman in California history to coach a boy’s basketball team.
“People thought I was crazy to hire a woman to coach the varsity boys basketball team. I received prank phone calls criticizing me for that,” says Sell. “But she was an amazing coach.”
Huxford guided her teams to back-to-back league titles in 2003 and 2004, and an appearance in the 2004 CCS championship game before going out on top after two years.
Aragon waited 10 more years after her departure before winning its next CCS championship, which they won in 2014 under head coach Sam Manu. Their run was highlighted by a 94-93 overtime defeat of Aptos in the semifinals before taking down Valley Christian 61-55 in the final. Although the Dons fell to Vanden 88-85 in the opening round of the Northern California Division III playoffs, it was a season to be proud of.
Since 1960, the Aragon basketball team has gotten a renovated gym, new uniforms and has seen numerous new coaches. But despite all the change surrounding the team, one thing has managed to stay constant year-in and year-out: from the moment the Dons take the court to the second the final buzzer sounds, the passion and electricity surrounding the red and black never seems to fade.
