Son of former Hawkeye Roy Marble enrolls at West Des Moines Valley

Merrick Mackdanz-Marble, the son of Iowa basketball great Roy Marble, is enrolled at West Des Moines Valley High School.

Valley athletic director Brad Rose confirmed last Friday that Mackdanz-Marble has been a student for a few weeks.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore was on the junior varsity team at Minneapolis Washburn and then moved up to the varsity team for three games at the end of the year.

“He’s a bigger kid, and I don’t know if he’s done growing,” Washburn coach Reggie Perkins said. “If he works hard, is going to be pretty good.”

Washburn was 20-5 this season and competes in the second-largest school class in Minnesota.

Perkins said that Mackdanz-Marble left the team in good standing.

“He’s a good kid; no problems out of him,” Perkins said. “We’re disappointed he’s leaving. We don’t get many big kids here so when he left I was like, ‘Oh man’.”

Phone calls to Valley coach Jeff Horner were unreturned.

Mackdanz-Marble will likely join a talented team that includes Kale Abrahamson and Roosevelt transfer Peter Jok, both of whom were all-CIML second-teamers this season.

Roy Marble played at Iowa from 1985-89 and scored a school-record 2,116 points.