Jesuit High Standout With King-Sized Feet Has Feats to Match : Division I boys: Josh King is 6 feet 7, has size 18 shoes and shooting touch of a guard. He’s headed for Cal State Fullerton.

Josh King has heard them all, folks. Every gunboat, snow-ski, Big Foot one-liner has come his way.

Hey, Sasquatch.

Even his teammates on the Carmichael Jesuit basketball team can’t resist. It’s too easy a target.

Where do you dock those things?

When your shoe size (18) is greater than your age (17), people are going to notice. And everyone is a comedian.

Who does your shoes, Mother Hubbard?

Ah, but Cal State Fullerton Coach Brad Holland is different. Those larger-than-life stompers make him dizzy with thoughts of potential.

King, who will be a Titan next fall, is already 6 feet 7 and has the shooting touch of a guard. With feet that resemble small automobiles, Holland can imagine a 6-9, even 6-10, inside-outside player--the type that has really never been seen around the Fullerton campus.

Anticipation? Holland bubbles with it.

“We’ve already ordered his shoes,” Holland said. “We had to, it takes a long time to make them that big. I certainly hope he grows into those feet. He has a Tracy Murray-type shooting touch, and he may get even bigger. I love guys like that.”

Holland loves them even more when he has their letter of intent in hand.

King, who signed with Fullerton last fall, was a coup for the Titans. He was a possible big-time player, with big-time feet, who had yet to be placed under the recruiting microscope.

For those who missed out on King, he will be on display in the State Division I title game today at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, when Jesuit plays Los Angeles Crenshaw.

He’ll be the guy setting up outside and dropping three-pointers. Or taking the ball to the hoop. Or posting up inside.

“He’s tearing it up right now,” Jesuit Coach Hank Meyers said. “He does everything. He shoots well from the perimeter, he dribbles and shoots, and he’ll go inside and bang. He has nice hands, too.”

And his feet?

“They’re huge,” Meyers said.

Huge is also how much King has improved since last season.

A year ago, he was a cog, part of a team that reached the Northern California final. King averaged 12 points, but played in the shadow of teammates J.J. Polk (UC Santa Barbara) and Isaac Fontaine, a senior this season.

This year, King is in the limelight.

“Man, there’s a big difference in Josh this year,” said Fontaine, who plans to play at Washington State next season. “Nothing ever fazes the guy. And he loves big games. He always plays well in them.”

People have noticed. King’s popularity has grown with each playoff victory.

“I’ve just been inundated with people wanting to talk to me about Josh,” Lisa King, his mother, said. “People are calling us and saying they’ve been following Josh for years. People I hardly know are telling me he’s going to be a pro basketball player. It’s all been a little shocking.”

But King doesn’t mind and has been able to keep it in perspective. It’s his manner.

In fact, if there’s one knock on King, it’s his court demeanor. Even he thinks he needs to be more assertive.

“I’m always working on that,” King said. “I have to look at this as a job. Part of it includes being assertive. I have to remind myself to go after things aggressively.”

But that low-key approach can also work to his advantage. In the season opener, he missed badly on his first shot and was taunted by an opposing player. King didn’t say a word, but he did sink five consecutive three-pointers and had 15 points by the end of the first quarter.

“The guy stopped talking,” King said.

Said Meyers: “Josh has improved his aggressiveness this season, but he’s still maturing. He’s a sensitive, shy kid. He might get gobbled up in a big program. That’s why Fullerton’s perfect for him.”

Which is exactly the way Holland saw it. King was first brought to Holland’s attention by Titan assistant Bob Hawking, an assistant at UC Davis last season. He had seen King play a number of times last season.

“Bob was very high on him,” Holland said. “I wasn’t as impressed at first. He was kind of hidden on their team. But the more I saw Josh play, the more I liked him. He grows on you.”

King’s stats are modest. He averages 16 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting better than 40% from three-point range.

But numbers are deceiving. They are a product of too many routs, which cut down on his playing time. When asked to go the distance, King is more than capable.

He scored 27 points in a 76-68 victory over Mater Dei in the Above the Rim Tournament in December. The Monarchs were ranked fourth in the nation by USA Today at the time. Jesuit (35-1) is currently No. 5 in the USA Today ratings.

“He made a believer out of me,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “He hit a couple 15-footers, so we went out on him. Then he made a couple three-pointers, so we went out on him. By the end of the game he was making shots from 22-23 feet out. All of them were clutch.”

Shooting has always been King’s specialty.

He made that point rather clear as a sophomore. King had played on the junior varsity squad during the regular season, but was called up to the varsity for the playoffs. He left an impression in the Northern Section semifinal game.

“We were going to play in the Arco Arena (in Sacramento), and Coach kept telling us we had to get the ball inside,” Fontaine said. “He said nobody shoots well the first time in a big arena. Josh got in the game and hit three three-pointers. He proved he could shoot anywhere. He’s just a natural.”

It was in his blood.

His father, Henry King, was an All-City basketball player in San Francisco, an All-American defensive back at Utah State and played with the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and CFL Edmonton Eskimos.

His brother, Chris King, was the high school player of the year in the Sacramento area as a basketball player. He also played quarterback at University of the Pacific.

“Josh was a bleacher baby,” Lisa King said. “My husband played in recreation leagues and I took Josh to all the games. Then we went to all of Chris’ games. I think Josh has been around a basketball court since birth.”

King was always the biggest kid in his class--with the biggest feet. In fact, he was so big, his mother enrolled him in kindergarten when he was 4.

But it wasn’t just his size. King showed ability, even at an early age.

“Even back then, people would tell me, ‘Wow, it looks like Josh is going to be a basketball player,’ ” Lisa King said. “He just kept growing. It was hard to keep him in shoes.”

His skills have grown proportionally. During the summer, he attended two basketball camps and played in two summer leagues. When there wasn’t any organized basketball, he’d just shoot, for hours.

The result was a more complete player.

“He should be a junior,” Meyers said. “Man, if I had him another year, are you kidding me? Every college in the nation would be after him. Are you kidding me?”

Not at all. No one jokes about King, unless they’re talking about his feet.

“I’ve heard them all,” King said. “People ask if I can ski without skis. I get all kinds of boat references. Wherever I go, I always hear something about my feet.”

In the future, though, they may be talking about his feats.