A reflection on 90 years of basketball at MCHS Part II: The Hobby era

Contributed by
Trace DeSandres
Former teacher, coach and
athletic director

From 1930 through 1964, Mariposa County High School (MCHS) employed 15 varsity basketball coaches. Those 33 seasons were filled with many challenges. With the single exception of Coach Don Hixon, no teacher/coach stayed at MCHS for more than three seasons.

The depression and World War II two certainly had a negative effect on sports in general, but the single biggest factor for the lack of success during that period of MCHS history was not having a gymnasium. Playing on a dirt court during the winter led to limited practices and of course, no home court for competition.

Every school that the Grizzlies played against, including Raymond and Le Grand, had a gymnasium. Because of this disadvantage, Mariposa’s basketball program had very little success. During a period of time during the 1940s, the Mariposa team used the Le Grand Bulldogs’ gym as its home court.

After the current gymnasium was opened for the 1951 season, MCHS increased the number of games played, and attained much-needed continuity with coaches Hixon and Vern Peter.

Still, Mariposa lagged behind the other schools in the area. After the 1963-64 season, Mariposa had captured eight football championships and four baseball pennants. To date the Grizzlies had just one winning basketball season and the lone 1941 championship.

All of the school’s basketball woes were about to be altered forever. In August of 1964, Principal Carson Wilcox hired Loyd Hobby to teach Biology and become Mariposa’s 16th varsity basketball coach.

Coach Hobby and his wife Bonnie were poised to move to Valdez, Alaska where he had been hired as a teacher and varsity basketball coach. On the Wednesday he was hired, the town of Valdez was destroyed by an earthquake and an ensuing tsunami on that Friday.

In the blink of an eye, coach Hobby did not have a job. A few days later he got a phone call from his older brother Al (who was currently coaching at Summerville High School) informing him of a teaching job and varsity basketball opening in a little town named Mariposa.

Coach Hobby had grown up and played basketball in Sonora, while wife Bonnie had attended nearby Summerville High School. Al told his younger brother that Mariposa reminded him of Sonora when they were growing up. Coach Hobby applied for the job and came to Mariposa for an interview with Wilcox.

When he pulled into town, Hobby stopped at the local market (Jack’s Market). After a short conversation with the store owner, Coach Hobby was asked what he was doing in Mariposa. When he explained that he was interviewing for a teaching and varsity basketball coaching position, the owner replied, “That is a big mistake. We have never done well in basketball.”

After the interview with Wilcox, Hobby was shown around the campus and the relatively new gymnasium. He initially thought it was a nice practice gym. Wilcox informed him that was the only gym, but in a few short years Mariposa would have a new state-of-the-art facility. That never occurred.

Hobby accepted the job with the intention of staying for one year, two at the most. Now 60 years later, the Loyd Hobby Gym is still the only facility MCHS has ever had.

In his first season as head coach, Mariposa posted a 13-8 season. This was the first time a Mariposa team had recorded more than nine wins in a season. With almost all of his players returning, Hobby’s second season was historic as Mariposa racked up an incredible 18 hardcourt victories while losing only three contests.

The Grizzlies rolled up an 11-1 record in league play to capture the league championship, the first since that feat was accomplished by the Grizzlies in 1941. During that amazing season, Mariposa scored 119 points against Our Lady of Mercy (Merced). The 119 points was a state record at that point in time.

During the 1968-69 season, Mariposa matched the win total of the ‘65-66 team winning 18 games while losing only four. Hobby’s 1971-72 team gave him his first of six 20-plus win seasons.

Unfortunately, this amazing team lost twice in league play to Ripon Christian, which went 31-0 while winning the small school California High School state championship. In 1982-83 and ‘83-84 coach Hobby’s teams went 40-11 overall and 22-2 in league to claim two straight league titles.

Coach Hobby stepped away from basketball for three seasons, from 1984 to 1987, and returned to the helm for the 1987-88 season. Hobby held the reins of the basketball program for another nine seasons.

He retired in 1998 after teaching for 34 years, and after a remarkable 30 seasons as head varsity basketball coach. Between 1990 and 1997 his teams were 145-53. He led his charges to an amazing 83-15 record with three consecutive league championships (1994-1996). His 1995-96 team posted a record of 26-4. That was the most victories of all time in a single season, and that team advanced to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semi-finals.

Through 30 seasons as head basketball coach, Hobby’s teams won 453 games, seven championships and made 10 playoff appearances. After his retirement in 1998, Hobby remained as the MCHS athletic director, a position he held for 46 years.

In 1996 Hobby was honored by being named Athletic Director of the Year for the State of California. Along with Coach Ed Vegely, Hobby was inducted into the Grizzly Hall of Fame in 1999. He was also inducted into the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)-Sac Joaquin Hall of Fame in 2010.
To mark the stamp Coach Hobby has impressed upon the MCHS basketball program, on Feb. 24, 1999, the MCHS gym was renamed the Loyd Hobby Gymnasium.

For a guy who intended to stay for a year, 60 years later things turned out pretty well for the Mariposa County community, Mariposa County High School and most assuredly Mariposa Grizzly basketball.