New basketball court to bear the name of late Oak Ridge High grad

An El Dorado Hills family's wishes to have their late son remembered for his love of sports is one step closer to becoming a reality, following a recent decision by community leaders.In 2005, 19-year-old Josh Anderson was tragically killed in a car accident on El Dorado Hills Boulevard. Friends and family of the Oak Ridge High School graduate said one of his primary passions was for athletics, particularly basketball.Following his untimely death, those who knew the teen came up with a plan: to build an outdoor basketball court in his honor."We wanted to find a way to honor him that would be longstanding," mother Kelley Anderson said. "And basketball was a big part of him. When he and his friends weren't playing it, they were talking about it or they were down seeing Kings games."Originally, funding was in the bag with a list of donors, but much of those monies dried up when the recession hit. Six years later, however, CSD Director Billy Vandegrift and others in the community revived plans for the court's completion. Vandegrift said much of the urgency stemmed from the fact that Josh Anderson's father Joseph has seen his condition of stage-three brain cancer return."His father had really been pushing for this from the beginning," Vandegrift said. "And that's why we wanted to get it going again. To see his smile at the board meeting really meant a lot to me personally."Vandegrift and his board colleagues all ended up voting in favor of building the Josh Anderson Basketball Court. Although the court will surely bear the name of late athlete, plans on exactly how to carry the honor are still in the works."We'll probably come up with some sort of plaque that the family will get a chance to approve," Vandegrift said.Josh's brother Jeff said he looks forward to court's completion."It really means a lot to my parents and to our whole family," he said. "There's been a lot of effort by a lot of people to get it going and to see it come to fruition is really cool.""He was a good kid who enjoyed playing basketball," Vandegrift added. "Because of that it will be a nice representation."