One can only imagine what the driveway basketball games were like at the Curry household in 1970s Davis.

There was Mike, popping from waaay outside. Sister Denise would work hard to go left on big brother, all the time giving as good as she got.

Meanwhile, younger brother Ryan waited patiently — “I got next!” Dad, Les Curry, would officiate or offer advice.

The games must have been spirited. If nothing else, this Curry trio learned their beloved basketball well.

• Ryan went on to a sterling hardcourt career at Chico State and has coached for the better part of four decades, currently mentoring a girls team at Meridian High in Idaho.
• Denise helped rearrange how people viewed women’s sports. The talented center/forward led Davis High to back-to-back Sac-Joaquin Section titles before becoming UCLA’s all-time leading scorer and playing Olympic and European basketball. She’s coached at Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.
• Mike has gone on to a 28-year career coaching boys basketball at Gillette High in Wyoming.
• Les was the longtime Davis High boys coach after whom the annual Les Curry Invitational Tournament is named.

Now comes word that Mike Curry has been named 2010 Coach of the Year by the National High School Coaches Association.

The 1975 DHS graduate has won 12 top-division state titles while averaging 23 wins a year. His most recent Camel (yes, Gillette’s mascot in the camel) team went 25-3, winning that 12^th crown.

“It is a very special award,” Curry reported from his home in Campbell County. “Without question, it means that I have been fortunate to coach very good players.”

Curry recalled those driveway epics…

“It was very competitive. We all got along and used the atmosphere to our benefit. I mostly remember playing with Denise and Dad. Ryan was nine years younger. Dad always maintained I never let Denise go to her right when we played one on one and that is why going to her left became her preferred direction.

“But when it came to shooting contests, Denise and Dad were difficult to beat.”

Denise talks fondly about brother Mike: “My father was certainly responsible for my indoctrination into basketball, but Mike, more so than anyone else, was responsible for my success.

“He not only allowed me to play with him and his friends, but really encouraged me to play. Athletically, I will always be indebted to Mike.”

The Currys played dogleg basketball in those East Davis ‘70s.

“Yeah, sometimes we played full court by going across the sidewalks, gutters and street in a direction (which turned) to reach the other basket in the Longenbaughs’ driveway on the cul-de-sac.”

Whatever was going on with the Curry clan, it all translated to basketball legacy.

Janice and Mike Curry have been married for 26 years and have a son Graydon, 24, and a daughter Marissa, 22.

Mike Curry last visited Davis in 2010 while visiting the area to watch his son (who was attending Montana State) run in a Sacramento Big Sky track meet. Curry also came to his sister’s DHS Blue & White Foundation Hall of Fame induction two years before.

Whatever was going on with the Curry clan, it all translated to basketball legacy.

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Mike Curry. Courtesy photo

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