Darrall Imhoff - College

College

Imhoff attended Alhambra High School, Alhambra, California. After making the team as a walk-on, at the University of California, Berkeley, Imhoff was a two-time All-American and was the top rebounder on the 1959 NCAA championship team and hit the winning basket with just seventeen seconds to go. He was the leading scorer and rebounder on the 1960 NCAA runner-up Berkeley team and was a part of the gold medal-winning 1960 Olympic basketball team.

As a collegian, Imhoff was feared as a shot blocker, and was a respected rebounder who was the hub around which coach Pete Newell built his NCAA champion University of California team. The Golden Bears edged Jerry West's West Virginia University team in 1959, with Imhoff rated by some the best college player in the country. In 1960, leading the nation's top-rated defense from his center spot, the 6'10 235-pounder led Cal back to the NCAA Finals before losing to Jerry Lucas and Ohio State. He was a two-time First Team All-American and a member of Berkeley's Nu Chapter of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.

Imhoff was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 and enshrined into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor in 2005. His jersey at Cal (No. 40) was retired during a game between Cal and Stanford at Haas Pavilion on February 14, 2009.