Paul Hohmann Starts Over, Again, at SCC : His Five-Year Odyssey Has Become Living History for Basketball Team

The reporter for the Southern California College campus newspaper had an unusual question for basketball player Paul Hohmann--a trivia question, and a good one:

Which SCC player was on the court for both the first and the 100th victories of Coach Bill Reynolds’ collegiate career?

Hohmann didn’t have to think very hard or look very far for the answer.

“It’s gotta be me,” was his quick response.

And Hohmann’s gotta be right. The 6-foot 7-inch center was on the Vanguard roster when Reynolds began coaching in 1981 and was still in uniform two weeks ago when Reynolds logged victory No. 100 against West Coast Christian.

It’s a neat little fact, a quirk that both Reynolds and Hohmann can smile about. But to leave it at that is an injustice.

Simple mathematics tell us that this is Reynolds’ fifth season at SCC, that 20 victories a year are entirely possible and that a college player--given a redshirt year--can remain eligible for five seasons. So, what’s so special about Hohmann?

Well . . .

--He was a junior when Reynolds recorded that first victory.

--He’s now 25 years old, playing with teammates who were in junior high when Hohmann was a freshman and for assistant coaches who were college teammates when Hohmann broke in at SCC in 1979.

--In between those two victories, Nos. 1 and 100, Hohmann has been a tight end for Orange Coast College’s football team, an orderly at Hoag Hospital, a high school basketball coach in Michigan and a student buried in his books, taking on and passing 24 units in one semester.

Is this any way to get a degree?

“People kid you,” Hohmann says. “They say, ‘Oh, I see you’re on the seven-year plan.’ On the court, every once in a while, you get, ‘Can’t keep up with the kids anymore.’

“But that’s OK. . . . I guess my personality is pretty spontaneous. I’ll get an idea and say, ‘Let’s do this.’ I’ve done a lot of things where I look back and say, ‘No way I did that.’ I thought it was funny at the time.”

In a way, Paul Hohmann is the personification of the NAIA athletic experience. At an NAIA school, education is firmly established as top priority. Athletics are simply one vehicle by which to obtain that education.

And because of the NAIA’s unique eligibility requirements, such a vehicle can travel strange routes. Unlike the NCAA, which limits an athlete’s eligibility to five consecutive years, (including a redshirt year), the NAIA allows an athlete to compete for four years-- any four years, regardless of the time frame.

Thus, the history of the NAIA is rich with stories of athletes in their 30s, of athletes with wives and children, of athletes trying to recapture the spark after burning out at NCAA institutions.

The NAIA sports program stands for second chances.

Or, in the case of Paul Hohmann, third chances.

This is Hohmann’s third go-round at SCC. He left, came back, left again and came back again.

A quick look at the travels of Hohmann:

1979-80: An all-state center at Stevenson High in Michigan, Hohmann is recruited by SCC out West and Lake Superior State back home. Tired of snow plows and plunging temperatures, Hohmann opts for SCC, where he starts for the Vanguards his entire freshman season.

1980-81: Hohmann leaves SCC for choice No. 2 and enrolls at Lake Superior State. He barely lasts half a season after quitting in protest of what he calls “massive team dissension.”

1981-82: Hohmann returns to SCC for Reynolds’ first season as the Vanguards’ coach. Hohmann, in a supporting role off the bench, helps SCC reach the finals of its district playoffs.

1982-83: Out of money and disinterested in his classes, Hohmann drops out of SCC. On a whim, he plays a season of football at Orange Coast College. “It was just something I wanted to do,” he says. “I played a little of it in high school. I figured it would help if I ever wanted to get a job in coaching.”

1983-84: After working six months as a nurses aide at Hoag Hospital, Hohmann decides to go back home. There, he is hired on by his old high school as junior varsity basketball coach.

1984-85: Hohmann decides he wants to get back to the business of getting his degree. He returns for Round 3 at SCC, but is confronted with $3,000 in unpaid fees. In order to qualify for financial aid and a partial athletic scholarship, Hohmann has to play basketball again.

Easier said than done. First, Hohmann had to shake off three years worth of rust and simply make the team. Second, he had to take a brutal course load of 24 units in one semester in order to make himself eligible for basketball.

“Everybody said I was crazy,” Hohmann said. “Twenty-four units is a load-and-a-half. I wouldn’t wish 24 units on anybody.

“But everything hinged on those 24 units. To get the financial aid and the scholarship money, I had to pass those classes. If I didn’t get the aid, I wouldn’t get my degree.”

Most students at SCC are restricted to a maximum study load of 16 units per semester. Hohmann had to receive special permission to bulk up to 24.

Included among those 24 units were courses in labor relations, microeconomics, philosophy and theology. No “Introduction to Pottery.” No “Advanced Appreciation of MTV.”

Hohmann had to pass 24 hard units in one semester. They said it couldn’t be done. Reynolds even bet it couldn’t--good-naturedly wagering a steak dinner with Hohmann.

“It was rough,” Hohmann said. “My social life then was non-existent. But I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I wanted to see what I could do with self-discipline.”

Self-discipline is a concept, Hohmann admits, that took some time to master. He hadn’t yet as a freshman at SCC, a Christian school that asks its students to abide by a code of conduct.

No drinking or drugs. No tobacco. No gambling. No dancing.

Hohmann and his spontaneous personality didn’t hit it off right away with SCC’s code of conduct.

“The rules aren’t overbearing, but when I was 18, I had some problems with it,” Hohmann said. “I still don’t think I’ll be damned to hell for having a pinch of tobacco now and then.

“But I respect them and the rules. That’s the way it is and you’re made aware of it from the start. You simply have to accept the responsibility.”

Now, Hohmann says he has accepted that responsibility--although, he concedes, he still enjoys an occasional pinch between his cheek and gum. “I just won’t do it in front of them,” he said.

This new relationship with self-discipline paid off for Hohmann. While practicing with the basketball team as a non-roster player, Hohmann also undertook 24 units during the fall semester of 1985.

He passed them all.

Then he had to pass another test: Whether or not a 25-year-old could regain basketball skills he hadn’t used in earnest since he was 21.

Reynolds called Hohmann’s on-court comeback “a reclamation project.”

“Most players don’t realize that they can’t come back after not playing competitively for two or three years and be sharp,” Reynolds said. “Paul was out of shape, he had no basketball legs. Just now, he’s starting to get his shot back and feel comfortable out on the floor.”

Hohmann said the biggest problem caused by the layoff was time’s erosion on his timing.

“I can run up and down the floor OK, but I had to get used to really playing again,” Hohmann said. “I played in some industrial leagues in Michigan, but that’s for guys who want to have some fun after they get off work.

“I had to get used to the other players and to game situations--things like cutting off the baseline and timing your jump for a rebound. For a long time, I was always a half-step too late.”

Finally, on Dec. 31 against Cal State San Bernardino, Hohmann had progressed to the point where Reynolds could actually insert him into the lineup. After more than three years, after wandering between California and Michigan, after surviving a suicidal study schedule, Hohmann was at last back on the court.

“It felt pretty good,” Hohmann says, recalling the moment. “I had a lot of support from my teammates, the fans cheered for me. I was pretty satisfied. This was what I worked my butt off for. This was my reward.”

Hohmann’s re-acclimation to college basketball has been gradual. Reynolds has limited Hohmann’s playing time, with the Senior Senior’s longest stint being 20 minutes.

Hohmann averages just 3.5 points a game--with a season-high of 11 points against Cal Baptist--but Reynolds says Hohmann’s main value to the Vanguards lies elsewhere.

“We have nice kids,” Reynolds says, “and I don’t want them to play too dirty, but we do need some aggressiveness to be competitive. Paul is big and he takes up a lot of space in the key. And he’s a physical player. In his first seven games, he took six charges.

“I’m glad he’s back. We’re so small, he finally gives us some bulk--at least in the pregame warmups.”

Accordingly, Hohmann, the Vanguards’ enforcer, is known as The Beast around SCC. He enjoys the contact on the floor, he enjoys his given assignment.

“I’m not afraid of getting bumped around,” Hohmann said. “That’s something football helped me with. I’m physical, I’m aggressive. I like that role.

“It doesn’t matter to me if I play 20 minutes, or 10 minutes, or 5 minutes. Being a starter doesn’t matter to me. I’m not playing basketball to be an All-American and get drafted. I happen to like the game of basketball and it’s enabling me to finish up getting my degree.”

Besides, Hohmann’s most important victory came the day semester grades came out in December, signaling that he was back on the team and back on scholarship. Everything else is gravy.

Speaking of gravy, what about that steak dinner Reynolds owes Hohmann?

“He paid off last week,” Hohmann said with a grin. “It tasted great.”