Although Jim Yerkovich grew to only 5-foot-9, he played for the Bulldogs at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. After his years as point guard in high school, he managed to earn a basketball scholarship to the University of San Francisco, where he studied Philosophy and Math and played ball — until he broke his spine in an accident that ended his playing career. Instead, he kept his scholarship by running errands for the coaches and helping out in practice. He played basketball all four years and baseball for two; he was a member of the Block Club, the Sodality Club, and the Math Club. He graduated in Mathematics in 1965.
“That fractured spine was probably the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “It got me started on my career. ”Almost immediately after graduation, Yerkovich came back to Judge. He became the school’s Head Coach at the age of 23. The winning ebbed and flowed at first, but over time, his teams piled up the wins with an almost-methodical team concept.
He was known for his “We” philosophy to coaching basketball, where he focused on the value of playing as a team rather than individually. That’s why the logo “We” is painted on the gym floor. “Togetherness is the focal point,” he said, 500 wins later. “We stress what we can do as a team. We stress the whole concept of ‘We’ instead of ‘Me.’ The best way for me to live and play is we. You have more power that way, more impact. As a we person, you find more fulfillment and success in life. Being selfish, you don’t get the completeness out of what it means to be human. We feel the best working as a team, even in a scoreboard world.”
Yerkovich could have moved on from Judge to bigger arenas, to a college gig, to something somewhere that someone might have considered more prestigious, but … he stayed. “People who get to be high school basketball coaches have a great opportunity, but also a great responsibility,” he said. “Your students want to be a part of your team. They want to be a part of a community. They want to belong. So, they listen … and they grow from there. “If I had to live my life over again, I would want it to be exactly the way it has been. Even if I had the chance to coach at UCLA, I would rather be here."
Coach Yerkovich won three 3A State Championships — 1980, 2006 and 2008, and retired in 2010. He took the Bulldogs to 38 state tournament appearances. His teams won 16 region titles and played in nine state championship games. Yerkovich coached more than 50 players who went on play Division I college basketball at programs like Wake Forest, Stanford, Utah, Utah State, Washington State and others. Added Jim Hamburge, his principal at the time: “The lessons he teaches the kids about life are more important to him than any kind of zone defense or full-court press. He’s soft-spoken, but he’s also task oriented and demanding. He expects discipline. One time he sent a player home from practice for using a profanity. He’s always asking them, ‘How can you be a better teammate?’ That’s what he cares about.”
The gym is now named the Yerkovich Gym, after legendary Judge basketball coach Jim Yerkovich, who spent 44 years coaching the boys basketball team. In that time he won 634 games. He still holds state record for most coaching wins at one school. And according to the Utah High School Activities Association, he’s second All-Time in the state in total wins (SaltLakeTribune; Bulldogpress).”
