Elk Grove, NBA great Bill Cartwright cheers on champs: Title ‘will carry these kids forever’
Elk Grove High School’s boys basketball team are state champions. Someday, they’ll truly understand what this means.
Bill Cartwright’s sure of it.
His Elk Grove Thundering Herd teams were titans under coach Dan Risley — a perfect 30-0 in 1973-74. The following season, they only lost five times en route to winning the Northern California high school boys basketball title — years before today’s CIF state championships. Cartwright was their star, a two-time state player of the year.
The 7-foot Cartwright starred at University of San Francisco; was a top New York Knicks’ draft pick and an All-Star; and the man in the pivot for three world championships during the Chicago Bulls’ historic 1990s run.
Elk Grove High School’s most famous basketball alumnus remembers that high school championship season all those years ago and knows what Saturday’s state title will mean to this year’s Herd long after their special season.
“This is something you’ll pretty much carry around the rest of your life,” said Cartwright, now director of university initiatives at his college alma mater, University of San Francisco. “I congratulate the players, the parents who are driving them to practice. It’s so really, really special.”
The Thundering Herd (28-6) wrapped up their dream season with a 62-56 win over Foothill of Santa Ana, Saturday night at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center.
The victory was Elk Grove’s first state title in its storied history.
“I don’t know how to describe it. It’s a lot for us to navigate through,” Thundering Herd coach Dustin Monday said. “All the credit, all power goes to them for standing together and grinding through the pandemic, and to come out the other side, prepared, hungry.”
Elk Grove officials say a celebration is in the works in a city mad about its high school sports.
“We’re state champs. It’s a huge deal for the city. It’s party time,” Cartwright told The Sacramento Bee on Monday. “I had the opportunity to go to a game this year. Everyone — the principal, the support staff — it’s definitely a village that makes this happen. It’s part of Elk Grove history now.”
Monday understands that history more than most.
Monday, an Elk Grove native, was practically raised in this program, attending his first youth camps at 7, watching hundreds of Thundering Herd games at Cartwright Gym over the years before playing for the team he would inevitably coach. Monday, 36, is in his 13th season at the helm.
“The enormity of what we’ve achieved has weighed on my mind. It’s a huge achievement. My players don’t really understand. They think, ‘We’re talented, we win. What are you tripping about?,” Monday said. “It’s unbelievable — this crazy culmination. Elk Grove over the years has had our backs. Our Twitter, we got a follow from (Elk Grove Congressman) Ami Bera. It’s all weird and surreal.”
Cartwright remembers the feeling well and thinks about that phone call Saturday night after Elk Grove became champions once again.
“It’s a special thing. My high school coach, Dan Risley, called me up,” Cartwright said. “Elk Grove alums were very aware, very proud, very pleased. It’s something that will carry these kids forever.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Elk Grove, NBA great Bill Cartwright cheers on champs: Title ‘will carry these kids forever’."
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