Family, friends remember Corona del Mar alum

Barry Faulkner

Friends and family, as well as current and former classmates and

teammates, shared warm and lasting memories Tuesday of Brad Evans, a

former Corona del Mar High basketball player who died in an Oakland house

fire Sunday morning.

A charismatic bass player and bright psychology major preparing to

graduate from UC Berkeley in May, Evans, 23, died before he could take

the world by storm.

And that is just what he would have done, said Evans’ friends and

family.

“He was one of the most self-sacrificing, altruistic people I have

ever known,” said Ryan Rekers, 22, who graduated from Corona del Mar High

School with Evans in 1996. “He really lived for the moment. He just had a

lot of fun. He lived for the moment and had a great time.”

Evans was overcome by smoke when a friend’s house where he was

sleeping caught fire about 7:15 a.m.

Evans, found in a guest bedroom, was the only one of six people in the

house who did not escape.

Brent Steele, 23, another Corona del Mar High alumnus, was injured

while fleeing the house and was in stable condition Tuesday night at

Highland Hospital in Oakland, according to hospital officials, who

declined to discuss his injuries.

Mike Bise, also a Corona del Mar High alumnus, as well as three

others, escaped the house without major injury.

Evans, who worked as a waiter at Zachary’s Pizza in Berkeley, also

played bass guitar in the rock band Fillup Phil. His brother Matt Evans

said he planned to tour the Bay Area with his band after graduation and

possibly attend law school.

“He was an amazing person who brought joy into any situation,” said

Matt Evans, who graduated from Corona del Mar High in 1993.

“He was so intelligent. He worked at a pizza place because he liked

it, not because he wanted to make a lot of money. He was driven by

happiness. He backpacked all over Europe with his friends, and he spent a

semester studying in Santiago, Chile. He packed more into 23 years than

most people experience in a lifetime.”

Megan Arganbright, a manager at Zachary’s, said Evans was a beloved

member of a close-knit restaurant staff.

“He was just one of the most amazing men I’ve met,” Arganbright said.

“He was funny and always in a good mood. He was one of the few people who

never came to work in a bad mood. We all spent a lot of time together,

both at work and outside work, and Brad was a friend to everyone,

including me. He was just a genuine person.”

Others recalled the upbeat personality that characterized Evans, who

started as a senior guard for the 1995-96 Sea Kings, helping them advance

to the CIF Southern Section Division III-A quarterfinals. He was called

up from the junior varsity squad for the the 1995 CIF varsity playoff

run, which resulted in a Division IV-AA championship. He was also

co-editor of the student newspaper at Corona del Mar High.

“We grew up playing basketball together,” said Josh Walz, one of

Evans’ teammates. “He was just a real nice guy, a great guy with a

genuine personality. He was a real comfortable person to be around.”

Darren MacDonald, another teammate who recently graduated from UC

Berkeley, called Evans “a good buddy of mine.

“He always had a smile on his face, and every time you spoke with him,

he had something special going on in his life,” MacDonald said. “And he

was always so interested in what was going on in your life. His interest

in others was always so sincere.”

Matt Evans, speaking Tuesday from his parents’ Balboa Island home,

said the family, including his father, Paul, mother Scottia and older

brother Morgan, have been moved by calls and correspondence from

well-wishers.

“It’s a testament to Brad’s character,” Matt Evans said. “My brothers

have been my best friends, and I still haven’t begun to cope with the

loss. My parents were school teachers, so we had our breaks together and

we traveled a lot as a family. I still fully expect Brad to walk in the

door.”

A memorial service is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Friday at St. Andrews

Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. In lieu of flowers, the family

requests that contributions be made to a scholarship fund being set up in

Evans’ honor. Donations may be sent to The Brad Evans Foundation, P.O.

Box 456, Balboa Island, CA 92662.