A native San Franciscan, Kevin Restani (1951-2010) was the “heart and soul” of the OC basketball program. He joined the Club as an intermediate member in 1970, while attending Riordan High. As he honed his basketball skills, Riordan won two West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) championships. He was honored with the MVP WCAL award in his senior year.
Kevin attended the University of San Francisco (USF), where he was an all-league performer on three West Coast Conference (WCC) title teams. Kevin, nicknamed “the Duke,” was named by the Northern California Sportswriters Association as the unanimous choice for most valuable player in 1973.
After college, Cleveland selected Kevin during the third round of the 1974 NBA draft. He went on to play eight seasons in the NBA with Milwaukee, Kansas City, San Antonio, and Cleveland. During his time in the league, he featured in a famous moment when Darryl Dawkins, the Chocolate Thunder, unloaded on a monster dunk over Kevin, shattering the backboard. After the NBA, he moved to Italy where he played and coached for 11 years. Kevin met his wife, Roberta, in Italy and they returned to San Francisco to settle down.
Upon returning to San Francisco and the Club, he took an active role in the basketball program and became a mentor to the Club’s juniors. He always took time with young players to work on the fundamentals of their games. On the court, he was a member of seven national Masters and Golden Masters championship teams, as well as six in-house A-league championship teams, two B-league championship teams, and two over-35 league championship teams. He is a member of the Riordan and USF Hall of Fames.
