‘A Man of Service’: Bernard Hicks, Santa Barbara Youth Mentor and Radio Voice, Dies at 73

Longtime Basketball Coach and KCSB Deejay Passed Away on May 16

Bernard Hicks worked 14 years as the athletics director at Santa Barbara’s Westside Boys & Girls Club, where he also ran the club’s computer skills programs. | Credit: Paul Wellman File Photo

This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

Maybe he taught you to play basketball or maybe you listened to his KCSB radio show, Ital Soundz, on Sundays. Bernard Hicks was a dedicated mentor and coach, a smooth-talking deejay and radio host dialed into the worlds of reggae and African music, and a loving husband and father to his family. For half a century, Hicks brought good into the Santa Barbara community. He died on Friday, May 16, at the age of 73.

“He was a man of service not only for his family but for the community as well,” his youngest son, Jelani Hicks, told the Independent.

Born and raised in New York City, Hicks came west for school and sport. He attended Hartnell Junior College in Salinas, where he played basketball. There, Hicks met his wife, Lilly. In the ’70s, the couple moved to Santa Barbara and Hicks attended UCSB, where he started volunteering for the radio station, KCSB.

The Hickses grew in Santa Barbara. His son Jelani said that through his life, he showed a deep love for his family. Hicks first got involved in coaching youth basketball when he brought his children to the Goleta Boys & Girls Club to teach them to play. Jelani says he coached all five of his children over the years.

At the Goleta Boys & Girls Club, Hicks met Sal Roderiguez, the unit director at the time and later the CEO. Roderiguez says he saw Hicks’s skills instructing on the court and convinced him to coach basketball. From there, Hicks spent roughly the next 50 years coaching kids.

“It was one of the best hires I’ve ever made in my life,” Roderiguez said.

Hicks was a frequent volunteer at the Goleta Boys & Girls Club before he was hired as the athletics director at Santa Barbara’s Westside Boys & Girls Club. Later, Hicks would coach at the Eastside Boys & Girls Club (which rebranded as The Club in 2024). He was coaching the Santa Barbara Legends, a team of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders, the week he passed.

Bernard Hicks coached kids at Boys & Girls Clubs around Goleta and Santa Barbara for more than half a century. | Credit: Paul Wellman File Photo

Roderigeuz, who played basketball and coached alongside Hicks, said he was a fair coach who did his work because he cared.

“He’d go out of his way to help kids,” Roderiguez said, adding that Hicks stepped into a mentor and parental role with athletes who needed support, especially kids from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Jelani Hicks said that his father and mother both provided a welcoming home and support system for kids without stable family lives.

In addition to his roles at the Boys & Girls Clubs, Hicks coached at Dos Pueblos and San Marcos High School, as well as for the Dreamchasers — a girls’ basketball program started by Jelani Hicks.

“He means so much to this community in so many different ways,” said Mark Alvarado, longtime friend and executive director of The Club.

Alvarado said he befriended Hicks at KCSB radio in 1989. He said when he got the job at the Eastside Boys & Girls Club, Hicks was the first person he called.

Hicks, he said, had a peace and integrity about him.

“When you come from a different community and you come into S.B., you bring in different knowledge of the world, and Bernard shared it humbly,” Alvarado said.

Along with his coaching legacy, Hicks made a name for himself in the world of radio. He started volunteering at KCSB in the 1970s. For decades, he hosted Ital Soundz, a mix of reggae and African styles, using the on-air name Bernard Hitz.

Winston, also known by his on-air name Cool Ruler on radio station KJEE, said Hick’s years in the reggae world has given him a long legacy.

“He [belongs on] the Rushmore of deejaying reggae music — a high mountain to climb,” he said.

Winston met Hicks at KCSB in 1977, but had listened to his radio show as a young man. They became friends after attending a concert together in Long Beach and remained close friends until Hicks’s death. Winston said that along with his deejay skills, Hicks was a loving person who was always smiling.

Hicks also helped with KCSB’s fund drives and did workshops on how to deejay and be live on air. KCSB advisor and host Ted Coe said he was an approachable, captivating storyteller and listener — and he excelled at speaking live.

“He was so good at it. He had an amazing radio voice,” he said.

Hicks even got a shout-out from the famous ska and reggae musician Jimmy Cliff after local artists who grew up listening to Hicks’s show had a chance to tour with Cliff.

Coe said his dedication to the radio was incredible, with Hicks volunteering his time every week for more than four decades.

Hicks gave himself to his community. Jelani Hicks said he was also a family man who took pride in his children and grandchildren.

Along with his wife, Lilly, Hicks leaves behind five children, Maurice Hicks, Aisha Hicks Smiley, Khary Hicks, Noni Hicks, and Jelani Hicks; six grandchildren, Isaiah Hicks, Isaac Hicks Smiley, Julian Hicks, Malila Hicks Smiley, Amelia Hicks Smiley, and Ephraim Hicks Smiley; and one great-grandson, Josiah Hicks.

Hicks’s family is currently planning a celebration of life open to the community to celebrate him.