Kaluz off to Brown

From Slovakia to England to America, Corona del Mar High senior Stefan Kaluz has lived in some interesting countries.

When Kaluz left his homeland of Slovakia and came to America with his parents as an 11-year-old, he never expected to stay, never mind turn into a high school boys’ basketball star.

Six years later, the 6-foot-9 Kaluz, who helped lead the Sea Kings to a CIF Southern Section Division III-A championship last year, has verbally committed to play basketball and study at Brown University, an Ivy League school.

Ryan Schachter, CdM’s second-year coach, said Kaluz, last year’s Newport-Mesa Dream Team Player of the Year, turned down scholarship offers from UC Santa Barbara, Fordham and UC Irvine.

His parents, Stefan and Milota, work as cancer researchers at UC Irvine, which is why the family came to the U.S.

Kaluz, who averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game as a center last year, said it was an easy decision to go with Brown.

Kaluz said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to study at a great academic institution and play basketball for last year’s Ivy league Coach of the Year, Craig Robinson.

In his first year, Robinson led the Bears to an 11-8 record, 6-8 in league, resulting in fifth place, and a sweep of Princeton, the other Ivy League school Kaluz was considering.

“Brown is a great fit for me because I have the freedom to take any class that I want and the coach said I was a missing piece,” said Kaluz, who has a grade-point average just above 4.0 and scored a 1,940 out of a possible 2,400 on his SAT. “I’m really excited about moving again. My parents might move to the East Coast and find work to be closer to me. But if they don’t, I’ll be OK. I’m 17 and ready to live on my own.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].