John Paye, Menlo's 1983 state championship team to celebrate the little school that could
Their shorts were short. Their socks were high. And their star player shot his free throws underhanded.
Together, they were the 1983 Menlo School basketball team. And they made history.
The Knights, on March 20, 1983, edged Santa Clara High of Oxnard 53-51 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The victory earned the tiny school (fewer than 400 students then) its only state boys’ basketball title.
The team will reunite at halftime of Friday’s 7 p.m. game against visiting Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton. The 40th reunion party continues following the game at the Roma Italian Restaurant in Menlo Park.
Menlo's Eric Reveno (55) goes for a lay-in as Matt Halprin (22) and John Paye (10 look on.
For members of that ’83 team, the state title was beyond their wildest imagination. To begin with, they often battled schools with five times their enrollment.
“It was totally unexpected,” said former Menlo star John Paye who scored 27 points in the title game. “We beat Jefferson (of Daly City) and then we went to practice, and they told us that if we won three more games, we’d play for the state title. We were like, ‘No way.’”
Just getting by Jefferson was monumental. Jeff came into the game 28-0 and oozed talent.
“They had an unbreakable press,” said Paye who is now the school’s celebrated girls’ basketball coach (four state titles and more than 400 wins). “We were not expected to win. The game was at Skyline College, and it was packed. We beat Jefferson and the next thing we knew we were at the LA Sports Arena.
First some background. Menlo was coached by Al Klein, who lost 55 of his first 61 games as the Knight coach. Included was a 31-game losing streak in the old South Peninsula Athletic League play.
But by 1983 Menlo was formidable, tying for the Peninsula Athletic League title with Woodside. Paye and 6-foot-7 junior center Eric Reveno led the way.
Paye and Reveno later played basketball together at Stanford where Paye was also the starting quarterback on the football team. The two-sport star was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in 1987 and was on the team for two years, nabbing a Super Bowl ring his second year.
John Paye was in good company on a Super Bowl team with the San Francisoc 49ers in the late 1980s. He is flanked by John Montana (16), Steve Young and the late Bill Walsh.
Besides Paye, standouts such as Drew Ferrando, Brian Portiva, and Matt Halprin led ’83 Knights.
Supporting the squad and providing comic relief were the Menlo Knightmares. Ah, the Knightmares. They were a troop of hip-shaking, gyrating, prancing Menlo students – all boys – who performed choreographed dances at halftime. Mid-performance they’d whip off their T-shirts to reveal bare torsos spelling out, ‘KNIGHTMARES.’
Menlo followed the 11-point win against Jeff with a five-point victory against Aptos in the Central Coast Section title game.
“The game was played at a pretty packed Independence High and the crowd was heavily involved,” recalled former Aptos player Matt Walters. “Menlo had their Knightmares, but Aptos traveled well. It was a great environment.”
Next up was Anderson High in the NorCal Division 2 opener at the University of Pacific. The Knights rolled 60-50 behind Reveno.
“It was my 17th birthday,” Reveno told paloaltonline.com in 2003. “After the game the crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and I think I got all-tournament. That was the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
Finally, Menlo reached the summit of California schoolboy basketball – the state title game in Los Angeles against Santa Clara-Oxnard and its star 6-6 forward Joe Wallace.
Menlo (31-3) led by seven in the fourth quarter, then Santa Clara behind Wallace made a late charge. But Paye swished two of his patented underhand free throws with 14 second left to clinch the game.
The players moshed. The Knightmares exulted. And Klein left the court with the venue’s two basketball nets dangling from his neck.
Said Klein to paloaltoonline.com, “I think the first time it hit me was a year or two later when I saw (the movie) ‘Hoosiers’ and thought, ‘Hey, we did that.’”
Friday night the Knights will gather. And remember. Should be a party.
John Murphy is a San Francisco native and the sports editor for the Century Media Group of Southern California. Contact him with human-interest story ideas at berdooman@gmail.com. Twitter: @PrepDawg2.
All photos below courtesy of Menlo School/John Paye
Former Menlo School and Stanford big man Eric Reveno is now an assistant coach at Oregon State.
Al Klein stressed fundamentals and utilized the for-corner delay that was popular in the pre-shot 1980s.
Al Klein, Menlo's young coach in 1983, als had success at several other San Mateo County high schools and in the college ranks.
John Paye and Drew Ferrando wore their old-school leterman jackets to a Menlo reunion five years ago
John Paye shot free throws underhand, like former Golden State Warrior great Rick Barry
Eric Reveno goes for the ball in a scrimmage
The Knights' John Paye, Eric Reveno and Dave Dove trap teammate Jervis Williams in a scrimmage
Former Menlo School three-sport star John Paye (left) and his old teammate Toi Cook pose at Levi's Stadium with the San Francisco 49er Super Bowl trophies.
