After transfer from Santa Clara, he made mark at Cal
Mark McNamara, who went to high school in San Jose, played at Santa Clara and Cal, and spent eight seasons in the NBA, died because of heart failure Monday. He was 60.
He had dealt with heart and other physical issues for several years.
After graduating from Del Mar High in San Jose in 1977, McNamara played two seasons with future NBA forward Kurt Rambis at Santa Clara before transferring to Cal.
A 6foot11 center, McNamara averaged 19.6 points and 11.6 rebounds and shot 66.2% from the floor in his two seasons with the Bears. He tops the school career chart in fieldgoal percentage, is second in scoring average and third in rebound average.
As a senior in 198182, McNamara led the Pac10 in scoring (22 points per game), fieldgoal percentage (70.2) and rebounds (12.6 per game).
Only three other men in conference history have pulled off that triple: UCLA’s Lew Alcindor (Kareem AbdulJabbar) did it in 196768 and ’6869. The Bruins’ Bill Walton (197172) and Arizona State’s Ike Diogu (200405) also accomplished that feat.
UPI named McNamara a thirdteam AllAmerican in 1982.
“I’m most proud of the fact I was a thirdteam AllAmerican,” McNamara said in a 2004 “Where Are They Now?” feature in The Chronicle. “I wasn’t much for individual awards, but, for some reason, that was a feelgood thing for me.”
The Philadelphia 76ers selected McNamara in the first round of the 1982 draft. He was part of the Sixers’ NBA title team the ensuing season.
He later played for the Spurs, Kings (in Kansas City), the Sixers again, the Lakers and the Magic. He averaged 3.5 points and three rebounds in his NBA career.
After his playing days, McNamara worked as a coach and a scout before a bout with encephalitis forced him to alter his career path. He became part of the Dodge Ridge ski patrol. For the past several years, he lived in Alaska and worked for the Twin Lions Productions video company.
McNamara was inducted into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.