The season was mythical. So much so that many of the school and county boys basketball records that 1987-88 Simi Valley Pioneers set remain at or near the top of the all-time lists. Averaging 87.4 points per game, Simi Valley scored 2,765 points, and incredibly had 24.6 assists per game. Coach Bob Hawking was the program’s maestro.
It would be Hawking’s final season at Simi Valley. And he made the most of it. After losing in the 1986 CIF-Southern Section Division 4A championship game and the 1987 quarterfinals in overtime, Simi Valley broke out the offense in spectacular form.
Seven times the Pioneers scored 100 or more points. Don MacLean set the still-existing Ventura County season scoring record with 1,008 points, which led the state. He would own the career record of 2,343 points for 31 years. Hawking’s son, Butch, set the county season assists record with 271. Simi Valley raced to the 4A section title, closing it out with a 70-64 overtime win over Capistrano Valley in the final. In the state playoffs, Simi Valley was eliminated in the second round. In the season ending ranking, Simi Valley was ranked No. 3 on the state list.
Beginning with the 1981-82 season, Simi Valley won five Marmonte League titles in a seven-year stretch. Over Hawking’s last three seasons, Simi Valley was 81-9 and ranked in the top 10 teams by CalHiSports.com. All six of Simi Valley’s losses over the last two seasons were to state champions.Thirty-five former players and assistant coaches became head coaches on different levels. In 2007, Hawking was elected to the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball coaches Hall of Fame.
Hawking left Simi Valley after the 1988 season to become an assistant at Pepperdine. He also coached at UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton before accepting a job as head coach at Fullerton. He also coached at Anaheim High from 2000-04.
Hawking was a former president of the Ventura County Basketball Association, and coached the South team in several Ventura County All-Star games. In 2013, the KWNK Tip Off Classic tornament was changed to the Bob Hawkins Tip Off Classic.
Bob and his wife Jeannie reside in South Lake Tahoe, California. Their children were winners as well. Air Force Academy grad Butch was a basketball captain, Kristin was a two-time CIF champion and Arizona State grad. Quinn was a high scoring high school player and graduated from UCLA.