After 44 years of pacing near the bench, carrying a towel, and wearing those red vests, Judge Memorial Catholic High School basketball coach Jim Yerkovich has announced his retirement. He still has one more opportunity to coach his Bulldogs, as Judge will participate in the 50th Anniversary of the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament (ACIT) to be held later this month in Maryland. His players and assistant coaches are glad for one more opportunity to learn from the winningest coach in Utah, outside of one named Jerry Sloan.

While times, fashion and people have changed these past decades, for the most part, the heart and soul of Coach Yerk and the Judge basketball program remains the same. His philosophy of “We” is a strong as ever, and has had as much an impact on this last group of student-athletes as it had on the first.

“Playing for Coach Yerkovich was awesome. He has so much knowledge, so much experience, I learned so much from him on so many levels,” said senior Zach Myaer, co-captain on the 2009-2010 team. “We heard rumors throughout the year that this season was going to be his last, but we never had any pressure from Coach or from the assistants about that. He just wanted us to play our game, and have our experience. Even though we didn’t win the title for him we made a really good run at it, and I’m proud of that. I loved playing basketball for him, and for Judge. The whole experience was about us coming together as a team, and really being a community. I’ll always have that with me.”

His fellow co-captain was in complete agreement.

“I will carry so much with me from my experience playing for Coach Yerkovich. I did learn a lot about basketball, but he taught so much more than that,” remarked Basil Vetas, Bulldogs co-captain. “It was about the team, about the opportunities, about the experience. And it wasn’t something he said once a day or once a week, we heard about it three or four times a practice. I know that I’m part of something, part of the history of the ‘We’ tradition, and that’s pretty cool. For Coach Yerkovich, it was about us belonging as a group, about growing as a team. Coach really led by example, he wanted all of the coaches in the program to do that, and he wanted Zach and me to do that as captains.”

If you know anything about Coach Yerkovich, you know that winning has always been very secondary in his philosophy of “We.” This straightforward but powerful concept has also been extended to the team motto: “the best potential of ME is WE.”

“Having played for Coach since 1985 and coached with him for over 20 years, I can personally attest to his unwavering commitment to this core belief,” said Dan Del Porto ’85. “He wants his team to play the right way, but more importantly he wants them to live the right way. Coach Yerkovich will readily admit that if the kids do not become better people through the experience of being involved in our basketball program than we are not doing our jobs as coaches. This has and always will be the number one priority for him.”

Known as a technician, as a patient and knowledgeable coach, Coach Yerkovich has been praised as even-tempered both in practice and at games.

“It was awesome having Coach work with my son Stallon,” said Danny Saldivar, whose son graduated in 2009, and is now at Northern Arizona University. “He taught Stallon a lot, certainly about how to carry a team and how to be a leader. That’s a legend teaching our kids; what more could a parent ask?

And Jeff Myaer, now in his 18th year as a coach, his sixth at Judge, spoke of Coach Yerkovich as a parent and a fellow coach. Myaer’s sons – Jaxson, a 2007 graduate now playing at Utah State; and Zach, senior co-captain on this current team – both played for Yerkovich.

“Coach Yerkovich has been a great to my boys. He has always been very, very positive with them and with all the players,” said Myaer. “His ‘WE’ philosophy has had an influence on my coaching as well. That philosophy makes athletics a lot more meaningful. The ‘WE’ philosophy gives players and coaches a level perspective on wins and losses. Coach also tries to teach life lessons whenever he gets the chance. There are so many things that are going to be hard to live up to as a coach; that’s been his impact.”

When Yerkovich started coaching at Judge Memorial, there was a Democrat in the White House, an unpopular war was underway, health care issues were front and center, and Coach had a full head of hair. Fast-forward 44 years, and it is Barack Obama, not Lyndon Johnson; it is Iraq and Afghanistan, not Vietnam; it is health care reform, not Medicare; and there is still a full head of hair, it’s just a bit grayer now.

“What Coach Yerkovich did this past 44 years is special because he has built a program that is about something other than basketball,” said 16-year assistant coach Jeff Baird. “He has used basketball as a vehicle to teach people about community and commitment, rather than an end in and of itself, which is the norm with most coaches. What he has done will last at Judge beyond his retirement because what he has devoted himself to is fundamental and essential to what it means to lead a decent human life.”

As a teacher, administrator and coach, Yerkovich groomed hundreds of student-athletes for success. Over 50 players have gone on to the collegiate level at schools such as Dartmouth, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northern Arizona University, Rice, Stanford, Wake Forest, Washington State, Weber State, UC Santa Barbara, Utah State and Utah.

“Jim’s influence on our school, our faculty, our coaches and our community is enormous,” said Rick Bartman, Judge Memorial principal. “His players have been successful in so many arenas – law, medicine, education, business, and politics. They are also generous, compassionate, grounded human beings. Jim’s legacy is not the wins, the championships, the records, the years. And make no mistake, all of that is incredibly impressive. Jim’s legacy is the lives he’s touched, the difference he’s made.”

Retirement will bring a new lifestyle to Yerkovich. While he has coached at Judge for 44 years, he also spent three years as a player. That’s nearly a half century of Bulldog basketball. When asked what he would miss the most, he was quick with his response. “It’s the people – the players, certainly, and also the coaches I’ve had the honor to coach with over the years. The friendships and the community, I’ll miss that most.”

It’s cliché to say it’s an end of an era, but in this case, the cliché is fitting.

“In a day and age when coaches make it a few seasons and leave the profession completely, he remained 44 years,” said James Cordova ’88, Judge’s head football coach. “Jim held his kids to the highest standards, and I was always impressed with his ability to get the best out of his athletes. His dedication and commitment were unparallel. He has my congratulations on a long and storied career.”

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The bullet points

• Judge Memorial boys’ basketball head coach, 1966 to 2010
• Authored "WE: A Model for Coaching and Christian Living" in 2003
• Taught calculus at Judge Memorial for 25 years and served as an administrator for 17 years
• Coached the West team in the 1981 McDonald's All-America game that lost 96-95 to the Michael Jordan-led East team
• Coached the 1989 Utah AAU select team that beat a touring Soviet Union national team, 104-85
• Coached the 1990 Utah AAU select team that beat a touring Soviet Union national team, 121-96
• Earned dozens of honors over four decades, including the Utah Sports Professional of the Year at the Utah Chapter MS Dinner of Champions (2006)
• U.S. Western Sectional Coach of the Year (2007)
• Honored by National Catholic Education Association for Outstanding Contributions to Secondary Catholic Education in the field of sports and Catholic values (2007)
• Grew up in Rock Springs, Wyoming
• Attended Judge beginning his sophomore year; graduated from Judge in 1961
• Graduated cum laude from the University of San Francisco in 1965 with a B.S. in mathematics
• Earned an M.A. in Educational Psychology from the University of Utah in 1969
• Recipient of the University of San Francisco’s Charles L. Harney award as the Outstanding Student-Athlete in the class of 1965
• Married to wife, Betty (19 years)
• Three children: Noel, Mary Chris and John
• Three step-children: Matthew, Chris and Jackie

By the numbers

• 634: Amassed 634 wins, more than any high school or college coach in state history
• 50: Sent 50 players on to Division I college basketball
• 44: Coached 44 seasons at Judge Memorial, more seasons than any prep coach in state history
• 38: Led his teams to 38 state tournaments
• 16: Led his team to 16 region championships
• 13: Invited to the prestigious national Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament 13 times
• 9: Teams played in nine state championship games
• 6: Compiled six runner-up finishes (1970, 1973, 1985, 1989, 2003, 2010)
• 3: Won three Class 3A state championships (1980, 2006, 2008)

State Championship Finishes

• Judge Memorial has reached the Final Four of the state tourney 16 times in 38 tournaments
• 3: First place finishes – 1980, 2006 and 2008
• 6: Second place finishes – 1970, 1973, 1985, 1989, 2003 and 2010
• 3: Third place finishes – 1984, 1988, 2007
• 4: Fourth place finishes