Darrall Imhoff, one of the greatest Golden Bears of all-time who helped Cal to the 1959 NCAA men's basketball championship, won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1960 Olympics and earned induction into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame, passed away Friday night in Bend, Oregon. He was 78.
 
A standout for the Bears from 1958-60, Imhoff was named a second-team All-American as a junior and a first-team All-American his senior year. He was also a two-time first-team all-conference selection and was selected Cal's Most Valuable Player as a senior in 1960.
  Imhoff, a 6-10 center from San Gabriel, Calif., was a part of three conference championship squads that advanced to the NCAA Tournament under head coach Pete Newell. The 1958 team reached the regional final, where it lost in overtime to Seattle, before going to the Final Four the next two years.
 
During Cal's magical run in 1959, Imhoff averaged 11.5 ppg and paced the Bears with 11.0 rpg. He had 22 points and 16 rebounds in the national semifinal against Oscar Robertson's Cincinnati club, and he scored the winning bucket with just 17 seconds left in the championship game, lifting Cal to a 71-70 victory over West Virginia.
 
The next season, Imhoff took the Bears back to the Final Four, including a second straight semifinal win over Cincinnati when he poured in 25 points and snared 11 boards. However, Ohio State ended Cal's dreams of back-to-back crowns the following night.
 
During his three seasons on the varsity roster, Imhoff helped the Bears to a combined 72-15 record (19-9 in 1958, 25-4 in 1959 and 28-2 in 1960). He set a school record with 371 rebounds during the 1960 season (now No. 2) when he grabbed 12.4 rpg and poured in a team-best 13.7 ppg.
 
Following his final season as a Golden Bear, Imhoff played as a member of the 1960 Olympic team, coached by Newell, that rolled to the gold medal in Rome. Widely considered the greatest amateur team ever, the roster included 10 future NBA players and was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
 
Imhoff was chosen with the third overall pick of the 1960 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. He spent 12 years in the league with All-Star appearances in 1966 and '67. In addition to the Knicks, he played for the Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Cincinnati Royals and Portland Trail Blazers. He averaged 7.2 ppg and 7.6 rpg per game in his career.
 
Imhoff was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 and enshrined into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor in 2005. On Feb. 14, 2009, he became the fourth Cal men's basketball player to have his jersey retired with a special ceremony on Newell Court at Haas Pavilion that included many of his teammates participating in a 50th-year celebration of the '59 NCAA title.

Darrall Imhoff Year-by-Year at California
 

Year	G	FG-A	PCT	FT-A	PCT	REB	AVG	PTS	AVG
1958	16	6-17	.353	2-5	.400	23	1.4	14	0.9
1959	29	134-316	.424	61-114	.535	318	11.0	329	11.5
1960	30	154-346	.445	102-162	.629	371	12.4	410	13.7
Totals	75	294-679	.433	165-281	.587	712	9.5	753	10.0