The Mark Acres Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Friday, May 6th, 2005
You
were born on November 15th, 1962 in Inglewood, California. Please share some of
the memories from your childhood, and also some of the events in your life that
led you to the basketball court.
I
was a Laker fan growing up – we’ve got the Lakers in town here – and they were
always very competitive. And it always seemed to come down to the Celtics and
Lakers for the NBA Championship, so it was kind of interesting that I landed in
Boston. My father was also a coach. He was a high school coach, and later a
college coach. So that’s pretty much how I got into basketball.
You
played your high school ball at Palos Verdes. What are some of the memories
that stand out after all these years?
Oh
boy, that’s a lot of water under the bridge [laughs]. I just remember that
it was a good childhood, a good school with good kids, and not a whole lot
of problems. It was primarily an academically-minded school. I just have
very good memories of my time there.
In 1981,
you were selected to the McDonald's All-America Team. What did this mean to
you then, and what does it mean to you now?
It
was an honor. Being chosen for that puts you in about the top twenty-five
players or so in the entire country. It was very special to be selected,
even though a few were left off that probably should have been there. I
still cherish it today – I still have my McDonald’s All-America ring, and
some booklets from the games.
