Last Friday, St. Joseph Notre Dame High School alumni and NBA standout, Jason Kidd, earned one of Cal’s high honors. The Golden Bears inducted Kidd into their Hall of Dame. His jersey, No. 5, has also been retired at UC Berkeley. 

While Cal likes to present his time there as the beginning of his career, Alamedans know Kidd started leaving the competition way behind while playing for St. Joe’s Pilots here in town. With coach Frank LaPorte and his fellow Pilots, Kidd took two consecutive state championships in his high school career. 

In his senior year, 1992, he averaged 25 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and seven steals per game. In honor of his achievements that year, he earned a slew of distinctions including: earning the Naismith Award for the nation’s top high school player, being voted Player of the Year by PARADE and USA Today, and California Player of the Year for the second time and also a McDonald’s All-American. 

Kidd is the all-time leader in assists (1,155) and the state’s seventh-highest career scorer (2,661 points) in high school basketball. 

When he opted to play at nearby Cal it stunned the basketball community. At a particular low point in the team’s history, a 10-18 season after more than 30 years without a championship, Kidd jumped on board, and continued producing. In his first year he was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and set the record for steals by a freshman at 110. The following year, Kidd earned

Pac-10’s Player of the Year award while averaging a double-double with 16.7 points and 9.1 assists per game. 

Kidd’s NBA career has been legendary. Considered one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game, he was a first-team selection five times, Rookie of the Year and a ten-time All Star. He won the NBA Finals with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Since retirement from the New York Knicks in 2013, Kidd has been a coach, most recently as the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach.  

Last year Kidd established a basketball scholarship at Cal. 

“Cal has always been home. Growing up in the Bay Area and then being able to attend Cal, I had two of the most incredible years there and I’ve always taken pride in wearing the Cal shirt and being able to say I’m a Golden Bear,” Kidd has stated on his website. “The vision behind The Jason Kidd Scholarship endowment is to help the next youth player and family. Being able to give back to the community and to a great school like Cal is a dream come true for me and my family.”

The endowment will pave the way for young student-athletes to play basketball at Cal. Through its creation, Kidd actively returns support to the city and university sports program that helped him establish his NBA career.

To find out more, visit www.jasonkidd.com.