Tony Madau, a four-sports star at El Dorado High in the early 1970s who went on to star in football at the University of Nevada and play in the NFL, died of leukemia last week. He was 66.

Madau was the Register’s Orange County Athlete of the Year in 1972. He lettered in baseball, basketball, football and track and field as a junior and senior after being a three-sports letterman in his freshman and sophomore years.

Former El Dorado baseball and basketball assistant coach Iran Novick, who coached several eventual Major League Baseball players at El Dorado and Foothill high schools, called Madau the best high school athlete he’s seen. Madau was added to the El Dorado Athletics Wall of Fame in 1998.

Madau scored a team-high 18 points for the Golden Hawks in the CIF-SS AA Division championship game in which they lost to Los Angeles Murphy 69-59. He was the Orange County high jump champion and runner-up in the high jump at the CIF State Championships.

He played football at Fullerton College, Cal State Fullerton and the University of Nevada when it was known as Nevada-Reno. Madau was an award-winning athlete in football and track at Nevada.

After a brief NFL career with the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, Madau settled in Reno with his wife Cindra and their two daughters. He worked for Pepsi Cola as a sales manager.

No services information was available Monday.