Memorial services for Walt Simon, a two-time state basketball player of the year at Fullerton College, will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at Friendship Baptist Church in Yorba Linda.
Simon, the father of former Mater Dei and Arizona basketball great Miles Simon, died on Dec. 31. He was 70, and had been battling various health issues in recent weeks, according to his family.
Walt Simon scored 1,078 points at Fullerton College over the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons for an average of 27 points a game. He is in the hall of fame at his high school, Roosevelt of Los Angeles, where he was Los Angeles City player of the year as a 6-foot-3 center.
He played guard at Fullerton and also at the University of Utah, where he was All-Western Athletic Conference and WAC defensive player of the year.
In 1968, Simon was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA and the Denver Rockets of the ABA, but illness curtailed his pro basketball career. He later played professional basketball in Sweden, which is where Miles was born.
Simon was an assistant coach at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa for several years and later coached the school’s women’s team.
He also mentored many Orange County high school players.
Friendship Baptist Church is at 17145 Bastanchury Road.
