Friends, relatives and well-wishers gathered at the basketball courts at Girsh Park in Goleta on Friday as the park’s board of directors dedicated the courts to Mark Linehan.
Linehan, a basketball fan and president of Wynmark Company, was the developer that created the Camino Real Marketplace, and along with it, Girsh Park.
“We could think of no better way to honor Mark,” Girsh Park Executive Director Ryan Harrington said. “Every week, hundreds come to the park to put together pickup games and forget about their worries.”
“I grew up on basketball courts like this, and I wouldn’t be coaching if it wasn’t for basketball courts like this,” said UCSB head basketball coach Bob Williams, one of the speakers at the ceremony.
He presented Linehan with a basketball in honor of the occasion.
The pair unveiled a new marker at the site, commemorating the new Linehan family basketball courts.
Girsh Park was originally a 12.5-acre park when it was conceived as part of the Camino Real Marketplace in the late 1990s. The park since has become its own nonprofit entity and has more than doubled its size. It is the city’s only active recreation park, with basketball courts, baseball and softball fields, picnic areas and a children’s play area.
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