The Zags are headed back to the Sweet 16. The first squad to make it that far in the NCAA Tournament was the 1999 men’s basketball team, who then continued to the Elite 8.
We decided to check back in with some of the ’99 squad to see what they are up to now.
Axel Dench: 1996-1999
Axel Dench currently resides in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. After leaving Spokane, Dench played professional basketball for 10 years and still plays semi-professionally.
Dench is now married with two children; 9-year-old Xavier and 5-year-old Elka. He works as a strategist in the brand and advertising space.
A few years back, Dench played a Wookiee in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
“It really was a ‘being in the right place at the right time’ scenario. The casting agency was looking for guys over 6’10,” and were calling the basketballs clubs in NSW, the state where the film was being made in Sydney. I was given the name of someone to meet at Fox Studios and drove up for an interview. This person happened to be a distant cousin of mine who, upon confirmation I was tall enough, told me to leave it with her and she’d get me a great role. The role ended up being Merumeru, Chief of the Wookiee army, who found its way into both the trailer for the film, and had its own action figure. The costumes took 6 months to make, and upon seeing them, George Lucas rewrote the script so we’d get more screen time. We filmed our scenes across a week and had an absolute blast,” said Dench.
Dench’s message to the team: “I’ve always measured each squad against who we had back in the day, in those same positions. Looking at this year’s team, it’s easily the deepest and most well-rounded the school has ever put together, and if anyone is going to better the ’99 team’s record of reaching the Elite 8 round, I hope (and expect) that this group will be the ones to do that. Enjoy every minute of the ride and, if luck falls my way, I might make it to Phoenix to see you raise the trophy in person!"
Richie Frahm:
Richie Frahm left Gonzaga and continued to play ball in the NBA, Europe and Asia. Frahm played in the Phillippines, Turkey and then had stints with the Sonics, Bobcats and Trail Blazers.
Frahm now resides in Spokane where he works as a broker for Choice Realty. He is married to his wife Joanie and loves to hit the trails on his bicycle.
Mike Nilson:
Mike Nilson is another player from the 1999 team that stayed in Spokane after spending time playing ball oversees. Nilson played basketball in Duesseldof, Germany with another member of the ’99 team, Ryan Floyd. He said he still plays every Sunday with a group of old Zags.
Nilson now lives on the South Hill with his family. He married his college sweet heart, Rhiannon, and has three beautiful children: Carter Blue (9), Ella Grey (7) and Memphis Black (4).
Nilson is a licensed sports nutritionist and co-owner of U District PT: The exclusive strength and conditioning providers for Gonzaga Athletics. Nilson said he spends most of his day as a strength coach for the Zags.
Nilson’s message to the team: Don’t give up!
Casey Calvary:
Casey Calvary was one of the heroes from the Cinderella Elite Eight team. He played basketball in Europe for almost six years. Now he is the Vice President of Sales at Kinetic Orthopedics in Spokane
Mark Spink:
Mark Spink is now a senior manager of Internal Audit Services for KinderCare Education in the Portland area.