PLAYING FOR CLIPPERS SHOULD BE EASY COMPARED TO CHILDHOOD : Norman Finds Right Track on Wrong Side of Town

Rookie forward Ken Norman of the Clippers could just as easily have been a drug addict or a criminal as a pro basketball player.

The kids in Norman’s old neighborhood on Chicago’s tough West Side are as likely to look up to the pimps and drug dealers who roam the area as they are to Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls.

Many areas of the West Side of Chicago look like a war zone, with a murder rate to match. Bad Bad Leroy Brown would get mugged there.

For Norman, as for any youngster, it wasn’t easy growing up there.

“When I was real young, there were four of us that ran together,” Norman recalled. “Out of the four, one’s dead, one’s in jail for a double murder, one’s just kind of out there and then there’s me.

“It was tough. But I was always strong enough to say no to drugs and gangs because I wanted to go to college. I listened to my mother. She’s a beautiful woman.”

Norman, 23, is the 7th oldest in a family of 12 children, who range in age from 40 to 18. Norman’s half brother, Bobby Duckworth (Duckworth is his mother’s maiden name), was a wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers and the Rams. Duckworth is now in law school.

Norman, raised by his mother, Annie, was 7 when his father, Mose, died.

“I come from a poor family,” Norman said. “Half the kids were raised by my mom and half were raised by my grandparents. But we always had food and place to live. My mom was a day worker until she had to quit because of high blood pressure.”

Some players buy fancy cars and clothes after they sign their first pro contracts. But when Norman signed a lucrative multi-year contract with the Clippers last week, he began to pay his mother back.

“I’m in the process of buying her a new house,” Norman said. “It’s going to be in one of the Chicago suburbs.”

To which Norman’s mother, Annie, said from her home in Chicago: “I did what I could to support my family. I did day work in people’s homes and I worked in factories. There were so many kids that my family tried to help me out with the kids.

“Ken was on the quiet side as a kid. He loved playing ball. He slept with a ball. That was his life. That was all he wanted.”

Mrs. Norman said she’s eager to move.

“We’ve got an old house that I’ve lived in for 37 years,” she said. “I want to move as quickly as I can. I’m on disability and I want to live some place quiet. I’ve also got arthritis and the new house will be warmer for me.”

Mark Coomes, an Illinois assistant who coached Norman for five years in junior college and college, said: “He would do that (buy his mother a house). Kids who come from that area of Chicago come up real hard. Considering everything he was exposed to--drugs, crime and murders--he’s an exceptionally fine person.”

Norman may have always wanted to play ball, but it wasn’t always the basket variety.

“My first dream was to be a baseball player when I was a kid. Baseball was my first love,” he said. “I was a Cubs’ fan and I used to cry when they lost.

“But I got into basketball after I started growing. I was only 5-11 when I entered high school. But I was 6-2 as a sophomore and 6-6 by the time I graduated.”

An honorable mention prep All-American, Norman led Crane High in Chicago to a 26-6 record in 1982 and a spot in the state tournament.

Heavily recruited, Norman made a verbal commitment to attend the University of Wisconsin but changed his mind after the coach who had recruited him, Bill Cofield, was fired.

“I wanted to play in the Big Ten, and the University of Illinois was only two hours away from home,” Norman said. “I really wanted to get away from home because I wanted to grow up and become a man. I didn’t want to be so dependant on my mother.”

After attending Wabash Valley Junior College in Mt. Carmel, Ill., because he didn’t have good enough grades in high school to meet four-year college entrance requirements, Norman enrolled at Illinois as a sophomore.

“When I got to Illinois, I was playing two to three minutes a game,” he said. “But I told my friends that if I ever got an opportunity to start, that they’d never get me out of the lineup.”

Norman got his chance after two starters got hurt, and he went on to become one of the top players, leading the Illini in scoring the last 12 games of his sophomore season.

He averaged 16.4 points as a junior and 20.7 last season en route to earning All-Big Ten honors.

Nicknamed the Snake because of the way he slithers through opponents for rebounds, Norman led the Big Ten in rebounding last season, averaging 9.8 a game.

He finished his college career with the best field goal percentage in school history (.609). He also wound up as the school’s seventh all-time scorer (1,382 points).

Norman, 6 feet 8 inches and 215 pounds, was the 19th player selected in the National Basketball Assn. draft last June. He was expected to go sooner, but some NBA scouts felt he was too small to play power forward and too big to have the quickness needed by a small forward.

“People thought he played inside in college,” Coomes said. “But his senior year, he was on the perimeter 25-40% of the time. In the Indiana game, when we beat them and handed them their last loss of the season, he took them outside. I don’t think he’ll have any trouble.

“He worked very hard at Illinois on his strength, ballhandling and shooting. His dedication proved that he’s a worthy first-round pick.”

Gene Shue, the Clippers’ new coach, said: “There’s no question that he had to play that position (power forward) in college because he was their big player. But I feel he can play small forward for us.”

Norman said has no regrets about joining the Clippers, who finished with the third-worst record in NBA history last season, 12-70.

“To be honest, the Clippers were my first choice,” Norman said. “They had three No. 1 picks and I felt I wouldn’t be under as much pressure to perform because they had two other players drafted ahead of me.

“A few years down the road, hopefully, people can say that the Clippers only won 12 games one year and now they won the world championship. I want to be a part of that rebuilding process.”

The Clippers also selected forward-guard Reggie Williams of Georgetown with the 4th pick and forward-center Joe Wolf of North Carolina with the 13th pick. Norman was the first of the three rookies to join the club, signing a contract last weekend. Wolf signed Monday and joined the club Tuesday. Williams remains unsigned, but club officials said they hope to sign him in the next few days.

Clipper Notes

The Clippers open their 1987-88 exhibition season tonight against the Utah Jazz at Cedar City, Utah. The Clippers will start a lineup of three rookies, Tod Murphy, Norris Coleman, Steve Ledesma, and two veterans, Darnell Valentine and Quintin Dailey. Murphy played at UC Irvine. The Clippers play the Golden State Warriors in Santa Barbara Thursday night and Saturday night at the Sports Arena in their only home exhibition game. They play the Sacramento Kings Sunday night at Yuba College in Marysville, Calif.