Posted: Saturday, March 11, 2006 10:00 pm
Commentary
By Brooks Hatch
Corvallis Gazette-Times
You always learn something by talking with Jimmy Anderson.
Besides being one of the nicest and happiest guys in our neck of the woods, he's a walking - well, limping a wee bit, to be honest, thanks to two artificial hips - encyclopedia of Oregon State basketball, thanks to his lengthy association with the program as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
He also still attends every home game and watches practice frequently. That's where I bumped into him on Monday and during a 45-minute chat he noted that a column on OSU's prominent walk-ons over the past 30 or 40 years might be an interesting topic.
So we started trading names back and forth, and came up with a surprisingly formidable team of non-scholarship Beavers that might be unmatched in hustle and desire.
What makes a good walk-on?
Basketball talent, some upside, and generally in-state or alumni ties, Anderson said. They must be willing to commit and be willing to work as hard as possible, with no guarantee of playing time or other immediate rewards. A sense of teamwork and loyalty, and the maturity to realize that your biggest contribution might be pushing a scholarship player in practice rather than a game-winning basket or important rebound or assist.
With 13 scholarships, it's not imperative that coaches even take walk-ons. So there's no downside to telling those who don't hustle, cause problems or are otherwise disruptive to coaches to simply walk off.
College football has a lot more walk-on success stories than basketball, for obvious reasons.
Football has four times as many starting positions as basketball, as well as special teams. Virtually every starting place-kicker/punter over the past 20 years came to OSU on his own dime.
Quality basketball players rarely go unnoticed because they play hundreds of games a year, either in high school or in summer leagues. They often battle head-to-head with the best players from around the country in all-star camps.
Yet some good players sneak under the radar every year, wrangle an invitation to walk on, and eventually end up contributing.
A caveat here: There were probably tons of outstanding walk-ons in the Slats Gill coaching era, when NCAA scholarship rules weren't as arbitrary and precisely defined as they are today. So in our discussion, we stuck to the past 30 or 40 years.
And any mistakes, omissions or oversights are mine, not Jimmy's.
Our squad wouldn't capture a Pac-10 championship, but it would certainly win more than its fair share of conference games.
(Remember that current senior guard Chris Stephens, OSU's all-time leader in 3-point baskets, started as a walk-on but was awarded a scholarship before ever playing a game. So he's disqualified, and about $15,000 richer for it.)
Center: Who else but Tigard's David Lucas? The two-time Pac-10 all-star might be the most successful walk-on in conference history. He played sparingly as a freshman and sophomore, and missed part of his senior season with a toe injury, but still scored 1,019 points while shooting .523 from the field and .788 from the line.
Forward: How about Bill Sherwood, the two-year transfer from Division III Oglethorpe College who started on NCAA (1988) and NIT (1987) teams? He was one of OSU's best 3-point shooters and post passers in recent memory, and will be forever remembered fondly by Beaver Believers for his game-winning 3-pointer from the left baseline at McArthur Court on Feb. 12, 1987.
Forward: Ed Fredenburg (1965-67) predates my residency in Corvallis, but Anderson vouches for the rugged 6-foot-6 bruiser from Coos Bay and that's more than enough for me. He started for the 1966 NCAA team that won the AAWU championship and knocked off Houston in the NCAA tourney.
Forward: Those who watched Ralph Miller's brilliant 1979-82 Orange Express teams swear by the shooting prowess of 6-8 Rob Holbrook of Parkrose, a key cog on the 1980, 1981 and 1982 Pac-10 champions. He would have been an even bigger weapon had the 3-point basket been in effect at the time.
Guard: It would be tough to find a more productive walk-on point guard than Pat Strickland (1992-93) of Wilson High in Portland, via Chemeketa Community College. He was little (5-9) and not a great shooter, but Anderson said Strickland had a tremendous understanding of how the game is supposed to be played.
On the bench we came up with Corvallis High's own David Brown (1992-94), Tim Hennessey (1974-76) and possibly Tony Rocklin (1994) up front. In the backcourt, the picks were Mike Markham of Riddle (1967-69); the late Todd Thomas of Eugene, (1985-87); Kevin Grant of Beaverton (1988-90), Josiah Lake (1999-2000) of Salem and Bobby Edwards (1994-1997) of Sacramento, the son of former CHS star athlete/OSU letterman Bob Edwards.
That's a 12-man team that could be augmented by Vic Remmers of Jesuit (2002-05); mighty-mite Jeff Riggs of Henley (1996-97), who transferred to Montana State for his final two seasons, or even current reserve point guard Brett Casey of Crescent Valley High, who really can't be evaluated until he's done playing.
A great team? Not at a school with OSU's storied hoops history.
But a competitive one, and a reminder that not everyone in college athletics is playing for "free."
OSU signee TNT's best
OSU women's basketball signee Julie Futch, a 5-foot-8 senior point guard at Auburn, Wash., Riverside High School, has been selected as the Tacoma New Tribune newspaper's area girls Player of the Year. The Ravens played in the state Class 4A tournament this past week.
She is a three-sport athletes who will graduate with 12 letters in soccer, basketball and track and a 3.87 grade-point average.
Brooks Hatch can be reached at brooks.hatch@lee.net