SAN FRANCISCO — Given an opportunity to honor a coach from his childhood, Jack Del Rio selected “all of the above.”
The Raiders boss selected his Hayward High School football coach … and his basketball coach … and his baseball coach.
How could he choose just one? Del Rio was such a multi-sport sensation as a teenager that he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays as a catcher, recruited by Pac-10 teams as a shooting guard and ultimately chose a career in football. (That part turned out OK.)
“I thought he was the best all-around high school athlete in the history of Northern California,” said Charley Kendall, the basketball coach.