After over 40 years, Broncos still show up on the basketball court for Head Coach Dick Garibaldi ’55. As part of the 2022-23 season, the team celebrated the life of the Hall-of-Fame coach and player, who died in May 2022, at the age of 89.
The day included a half-time ceremony and pregame event. “When you played, you played for yourself, and you played not to let Dick down,” says Kevin Eagleson ’70. Eagleson was part of one Garibaldi’s most storied teams.
It also included the Ogden brothers, Carlos ’69 and Ralph ’70, and Dennis Awtrey ’70, and ran up a 21-game winning streak. “We brought some pretty good talent but he brought it all together,” Ralph Ogden says. Coach was generous and loyal, players remembered. He was also passionate and firey. “Right before the game in the locker room, he’d say ‘lace them up, we are going to war,’” says Carlos Ogden.
As coach, Garibaldi earned three conference coach of the year awards and three Northern California coach of the year awards. But, more than anything he earned the love and respect of the men he coached, who returned to the Mission campus to swap stories and honor his life. “It was always nice to have him smiling,” says Awtrey.