Every now and then the image of Judy Mosley anticipating and grabbing an unlikely rebound has popped into my head over the years. The only reason I can think of why this happens is continual appreciation for blue-collar hoops supremacy, performed by a true master of a craft.
Tuesday that memory was sadly rekindled in the worst way possible; the University of Hawaii all-time basketball great died at age 45 due to cancer.
She still holds the school records in career scoring and rebounding, for more than 20 years. A nice legacy, but that’s just the product. The process was something to behold.
Instinctive and hungry.
Relentless and consistent.
She was never the flashiest player on the court, never the best shooter or ballhandler or passer.
Not the highest jumper. Rarely the tallest at 6 feet 1.
But she was uniquely gifted with a magical knack for being in the right place to grab seemingly every rebound she wanted, and she wanted them all.
There has been no one more dominant around the basket at UH. I thought of her as Ms. Moses or Mosley Malone, because her playing style was like Moses Malone’s.
Mosley was simply the best at the very basics of the game: putting the ball through the hoop at short range and getting rebounds.
"She was very strong and always positioned well," said Lisa Mann, her UH teammate for three years. "She used her elbows well but not intentionally. Fundamentally."
Word of her death spread quickly through Hawaii. Judy Mosley-McAfee is survived by a husband and four children.
After graduation in 1990 she built a solid overseas pro career. Then she was the sixth pick of the first WNBA draft in 1997.
If I were to pen a list of the greatest sports performers in UH history, Mosley would make my top 20, maybe the top 10. Her effort was supreme, and she led Wahine basketball to unprecedented heights.
"A lot of people made a bigger deal about later teams," Mann said. "But she took us to the NCAAs (for the first time). People forget that she was the player that took the program to another level."
Bill Nepfel recruited her out of La Puente, Calif., and she made an instant impact as a freshman in 1987. The Wahine rode Mosley to the dance for the first time in 1989, coach Vince Goo’s second year. Her senior year, they did it again, winning a then-school-record 26 games.
Then she graduated and for the most part disappeared from Hawaii, playing pro ball, including the first year of the WNBA. Her stint with the Sacramento Monarchs lasted just one season, but no one will ever surpass Mosley’s free-throw percentage — she made all 11 she shot.
For all the noise she made filling stat sheets at UH she was soft-spoken by nature.
"Reserved but very confident," Mann said. "Kind of a loner off the court, but not aloof. Just not real social. She kept to herself. Quiet confidence and maturity.
"She wanted the ball. Not in a cocky way, but, ‘Give me the ball and I’ll take care of this.’"
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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.
