Markus Muller-Stach, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Once Markus Muller-Stach fulfilled his dream of an NCAA Division I

basketball scholarship, a cruel twist of fate forced him to give it back.

One of the greatest scorers in Corona del Mar High and Golden West

College history, Muller-Stach came along during a significant time in CdM

annals, when Paul Orris replaced Jack Errion as head coach.

Muller-Stach, Orris’ first varsity star in the 1986-87 campaign, turned

down offers from smaller colleges out of high school, because his heart

and mind were set on earning a Division I scholarship.

“I had to pay my dues ... and at the time I had decided that I wasn’t

going to walk on anywhere,” said Muller-Stach, whose dedication paid off

after two seasons at Golden West, where he is still the Rustlers’ second

all-time leading scorer with 1,275 points (behind another CdM product,

Chris Thompson).

Muller-Stach accepted a scholarship to Division I University of the

Pacific, but suffered a serious knee injury and never played for the

Tigers, eventually forfeiting his basketball scholarship.

“It never got better,” said Muller-Stach, whose body went one way and his

knee another, during a practice one day before the 1989-90 Big West Conference season, when he redshirted.

Two years ago, Muller-Stach underwent a second surgery on his knee, which

had torn cartilage and forced a bone to rub against the inside of his

knee cap.

“I was told that cartilage has very little blood supply to it, and it was

hard for it to re-grow,” he said. “(The tear) was just not in a very good

place. It was just one of those freak accidents.”

Muller-Stach, who never regained his strength in the knee, tried

everything imaginable in his comeback, including intense rehabilitation,

but physically wasn’t the same player. The long practices took its toll

and Muller-Stach, who had planned to play for a professional club team in

Germany following his UOP career, had to hang up his high-tops.

A protege of local hoops coach Tom Maramoto, Muller-Stach was a talented

6-foot-4 swingman with a great jump shot.

But, during his junior year at CdM, he was stuck behind standout Jeff

Fryer in 1985-86. It was Errion’s final season and Fryer, who later

starred at Loyola Marymount and six seasons of pro basketball in Europe,

was the only firepower necessary.

“They really didn’t need two scorers on the floor,” said Muller-Stach,

who waited patiently, then got his turn the next season and averaged 23

points per game and about 8.5 rebounds as Corona del Mar won the Sea View

League championship and reached the CIF Southern Section semifinals,

finishing 24-7 in Orris’ first varsity season, after several years as

CdM’s freshman coach.

In his senior year for the Sea Kings, Muller-Stach was voted the Sea View

League Player of the Year and first-team All-CIF, as the Sea Kings’

close-knit group of former youth all-stars blended to create a winning

combination.

“It seemed to a lot of outsiders that we came from nowhere, because we

had no returning starters (from 1985-86),” Muller-Stach said. “No one

expected us to win the league and get to the semifinals, except

ourselves. That (1986-87 season) was pretty awesome. Growing up, we had

all played together and everybody knew their roles on the team. We just

had a phenomenal year.”

NCAA Division II and III schools came knocking, along with NAIA teams.

But Muller-Stach had “a dream of a Division I scholarship” and opted

instead to play at the community college level.

Muller-Stach’s first year at GWC was also the first season for the

three-point line. “It’s so weird to think back to when they didn’t have

it,” he said.

Muller-Stach also played two years of football at CdM, but would come

home from practice and shoot baskets into the night (“That’s where my

passion was,” he said).

At Golden West, Muller-Stach led Coach Jim Greenfield’s Rustlers to a

20-12 record in 1988-89 and third-place finish in the Orange Empire

Conference, while GWC advanced to the third round of the Southern

California Regional playoffs.

An All-OEC selection, All-Southern California and all-state choice in

‘89, Muller-Stach averaged 20.2 points a game in his two-year Rustler

career, the sixth-best average in school history. Muller-Stach still

holds the Golden West career record for free-throw percentage at 88.5%

(232 of 262).

But, just as his scholarship dream came true, it came to a crashing halt

shortly thereafter for the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall

of Fame.

“You have to practice a heck of a lot more than everybody else does (to

become a top scorer),” he said, “and that’s something I can look back on

and be proud of.”

Today, Muller-Stach, who has been a stockbroker for the last five years,

works for Netsmart, a company based in Burbank. He is single and lives in

Floral Park (Santa Ana).