Of legends and history

Nick Becker wasn’t your typical wide-eyed freshman when he entered Huntington Beach High in the fall of 2004.

Not when it came to his sport anyway.

Joining the varsity boys’ basketball team that year, Becker, now 18 and a senior, said he knew right away he could fit into the scheme of things. Not only that, but he was confident enough in himself, he said, that he felt he could leave his mark on the program.

He has been doing just that for three-plus years and in the next week or so, he’s about to leave an indelible impression in the program’s record book.

Entering a key Sea View League showdown Wednesday against El Toro, Becker — a 5-foot-10 guard and four-year starter for the Oilers — was 71 points away from becoming the school’s career scoring leader.

Becker netted a career-high 33 points Friday in a league win over Trabuco Hills to pull to within 71 points of surpassing All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez of the Kansas City Chiefs as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

Gonzalez, with 1,533 career points, has held that record for the past 14 years.

“I’m happy for the kid,” said Gonzalez, a multi-sport standout for the Oilers during the early 1990s. “Records are meant to be broken. I’ve broken a few myself this year, in fact. It’s quite an achievement for this guy. It brings back a lot of memories, getting phone calls telling me about the record that will be broken. I wish I could be there to see it happen.”

Gonzalez, who set the NFL career record this year for receptions (820) and receiving touchdowns (66) by a tight end, said Wednesday he hopes to be in attendance when Becker does set the record.

As a freshman, Becker scored 121 points. He’s increased his scoring productivity dramatically each year since, finishing with 437 points his sophomore year, 544 as a junior and was at 360 heading into Wednesday’s El Toro game, the result of which was not available as of press time.

“I was timid when I got into the program but I definitely knew from the start that I could play varsity,” Becker said. “I remember looking at the basketball records and wondered which ones I could break. I thought that I could break some of them.

“We were in the Sunset League my first two years and that was a very tough league. Los Alamitos, who had Landry Fields who is now playing at Stanford and Edison, were on top. I learned a lot those two years.”

Becker went on to earn all-league status his freshman year and was a first-team all-league member as a sophomore.

He also was a first-team pick last year, Huntington’s first year in the Sea View League and first under head coach Fabian Luna.

“This is my second year at Huntington Beach and I can say that it has been a privilege to coach Nick, and I am proud of the way that he has grown as a player,” Luna said.

“He is probably the quickest player on the court every time and he can score from anywhere. He shoots the three, has a great pull-up but also has the ability and strength to get to the basket and finish. Nick was voted as a team captain by his peers, and the role he plays is that of our leader. He is such a competitor on the court and gives everything he has to win.”

Huntington Beach first put a basketball team on the court in the early 1920s, Athletic Director Roy Miller said, and the school has a rich hoops history.

Huntington has won 21 league championships. From 1966-70, the Oilers won 44 straight league games and the best overall record for a single season is 31-2, set by the 1954-55 team, Luna said, adding the 1968-69 Oilers won what still stands as a school record 20 straight games that season.

The current Oilers carried an 11-game win streak into Wednesday’s game against El Toro and boasted a 15-2 record.

The Becker family also has a history with the school. Nick’s grandfather, Glen Becker, was a teacher and coached junior varsity basketball at Huntington. Among his players was Roy Miller, who went on to become an All-CIF player, varsity boys’ basketball coach and current athletic director.

Nick’s father, Scott, a 1981 graduate of Huntington, was an all-league player and Oilers team captain and was coached by Miller.

In addition to approaching a program milestone, Nick Becker said he is more excited about the start the Oilers have had this year.

“It’s been a great season so far,” said Becker, who also could set the school record for free-throw percentage and become one of the program’s top leaders in assists by the end of the season. “But we want more. We’ve all been playing together now for awhile and we’re starting to jell. Last year, everybody wanted to shoot and we were selfish. This year, we’re working together as a team and that has led to our success.

“It feels good to be in the same company as Tony Gonzalez because he was an incredible athlete. From what I hear, he was a basketball-first guy when he was in high school and an amazing player.”

Gonzalez played for Miller and helped lead the Oilers to a CIF runner-up finish in 1993. That season, Huntington went 29-5 with three of those losses coming to county kingpin Mater Dei and the two others to powerhouses Oak Hill Academy and Crenshaw.

While it appears he might no longer be the school’s scoring leader, Gonzalez still holds school single-season records for points (639) and field goal percentage (64%, minimum 100 attempts), Luna said.

Gonzalez went on to play football and basketball at Cal Berkeley. Since then, he has enjoyed a remarkable NFL career with the Chiefs. Gonzalez will play in his high ninth straight Pro Bowl in Honolulu on Feb. 10.