CGB Hall of Fame Round 2: Jamal Boykin vs Kevin Johnson

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Two of Cal's fiercest basketball warriors square off in the afternoon second matchup. One was pure talent and skills, the other filled with hustle and drive. The winner goes onto the face the Aaron Rodgers-Sean Lampley victor. The decisions only get tougher in the CGB Hall of Fame!

Cast your votes by noon on Friday!

Boykin is a favorite Bear of many, someone who you always see strolling around Berkeley with a big grin on his face and high fiving and chatting with any interested fan or individual. Here are some of the memories we collected of Jamal after his senior season ended.

Boykin has really grown on me this year. I always feel bad for him being left out of the "Big Three" but with his charisma, I’m sure he doesn’t mind it at all. After games at Haas, its always entertaining to watch him walk out of the team’s locker room, clad in Lettermans, high fiving Cal fans and stopping to talk to anyone who greets him. He truly stands out as one of the friendliest athletes I’ve ever met and I am going to miss his energy in our games. ~CaliforniaBone

He always had passion, but the game finally slowed down for him this year. Last year, he had the footwork and moves, but would blow the shot. Really a steadying influence on both ends. Considering that he was overmatched in the post every night, you could make an argument that he was the team MVP. If we had real big men, I wonder if he would have developed his game as an actual small forward instead of dedicating himself to being an undersized post. ~Kodiak

What will people miss the most about Jamal: 

the 15 foot jumper. double digit rebounds from a 6’7" guy. Clever post moves. ~LeonPowe

how he BRINGS IT every game. His PUMPED UP face and infectious energy. Most excited player even when he’s on the bench. ~nickle

"His PUMPED UP face and infectious energy". He’s always the first guy to run to the bench, and always the first off it to great teammates. ~Ed Yevelev

always has his teammates’ backs, tremendous games down the stretch, good fella ~Thoroughbred

The footwork and pump-fakes on his post-up moves.  ~Kodiak

hustle, enthusiasm and toughness ~geebear

I can not think of a better student athlete and representative of the team and university. He out played most of his opponents on offense and defense, despite giving up inches and pounds vs most of them. A true ambassador and leader. HEART. ~No.8

Here's the Oski-friendly summary of one of the most exciting points to ever play ball at Harmon.

Despite excelling at two sports in high school, Johnson decided to play basketball exclusively at the collegiate level, and accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the University of California at Berkeley . Playing all four seasons, Johnson ended his college basketball career in 1987 as the school's all-time leader in assists, steals, and scoring (since eclipsed by   Lamond Murray). He was also the first player in the Pac-10 Conference to post a "triple-double" in the statistics, and he was named to the Pac-10's all-conference First Team in both his junior and senior seasons, averaging 17.2 points and 5.0 assists in his final basketball season. His number 11 is retired.

California Pete's favorite lineup while at Cal involved Johnson running point, mainly because they ended a long streak of misery to UCLA.

11 – Kevin Johnson
22 – Chris Washington
33 – Eddie Javius
44 – Leonard Taylor
5 – Dave Butler

I still don’t know why Butler didn’t change his # to 55. It’s a toss-up for me between KJ and Jason Kidd as far as the most entertaining player I’ve seen wear the Blue and Gold.

JoshinPortland:  Best player on that team. Glorious day in a packed Kips watching UCLA go down for the first time in my lifetime.

Here's the only Cal footage I could find of KJ, from the 1987 NBA Draft (starting at about 3 minutes in).

The announcers were surprised he was drafted so high at 7th. I was surprised too. He should've been drafted 3rd.

Now the mayor of Sactown, KJ still reps the Gold and Blue as often as he can. Here he is at Cal's Pac-10 championship celebration, as ebullient as can be.