Newport Beach: 80-year-old holds court on the hardwood

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. Three days after marking his 80th birthday, Ralph Deppisch took the court Tuesday morning and won all three games of pickup basketball he played against three different combinations of opponents. A birthday cake was waiting for him afterward, though at 7 a.m. he planned to take it home. The doughnut box the other players went after emptied faster.

Deppisch is one of the originators of a half-court three-on-three game at the Newport Beach Athletic Club that has run for nearly 25 years. He arrives Tuesday and Friday mornings from his home near Newport Harbor High School to the gym across the bay. He turned 80 on Oct. 17. Most of the other players are in their late 50s or early 60s.

The games began in the early 2000s, Deppisch said, starting with games of Horse against UC Irvine men's tennis coach Mike Saunders, whom Deppisch calls "Colonel Saunders." The Morris brothers, Steve and Darren, then showed up for two-on-two, and the format grew from there. "We would play for a $20 Peet's Coffee card," Deppisch said. "We believe we won more than they did. They may not agree, but I think we did. That was our trophy."

Steve Morris, who stands 6-foot-7 and played basketball at Corona del Mar High under the late coach Jack Errion, handles the scheduling. "I think history shows that you guys were very competitive," he said of Deppisch's side of the wager. Saunders, who has played alongside Deppisch for years, offered his own assessment: "He's an unbelievable basketball player. He's like Larry Bird with a little more finesse and grace, I would say."

Deppisch stands 6-foot-3, grew up in New England and attended Manhattan College. He started playing basketball in the second grade and favors a left-handed hook shot. Robert Morris, another Corona del Mar alumnus, said Deppisch made 80% of his shots in a Friday game, including a left-handed hook that a 6-foot-10 player could not stop. "It was one of my better days," Deppisch replied.

Kelley Crosby, a member of the three-on-three group, calls Deppisch "The Godfather." He described Deppisch's current role: "Occasionally when somebody gets sick or rolls an ankle, they'll yell upstairs, 'Ralph, we need you.'" Crosby said Deppisch will come down from the treadmill and score on them. "Everybody will be like, 'Wow, he still has it.'"

Deppisch grades his own play a soft B. "I can hold my own," he said. "I did enough that they invited me back." The Newport Beach Athletic Club has been run as a family business for 55 years by John Bazacas and now his son, Tom. "It's great to have an environment for these guys to all be friends and work out," Tom Bazacas said. "Everybody respects him," Crosby said. "He's just got a heart of gold, and he's brought a lot of people together. He's a very good man."