Bolden Fills Roles at Northridge as Court Leader and Court Jester

There was Pat Bolden, doing one of the things he does best--ragging his teammates mercilessly--when all of a sudden he became airborne.

After months of playing pincushion for Bolden’s needles, members of the Cal State Northridge basketball team had decided it was time to strike back.

Forward Ray Horwath grabbed Bolden from behind and hoisted him in the air. Several other players quickly joined in, unlacing his shoes while steering him toward the pool adjacent to the CSUN locker room.

Perhaps Bolden could use a few of those rags to dry himself after a fully clothed dip in the pool, they surmised.

Fat chance.

“When he jumped out, he was still talking,” guard Troy Dueker said. “It didn’t work.”

Bolden teases teammates with the same vigor with which he plays basketball. And with similar success.

“If Bo is quiet,” Dueker said, “then something is wrong.” This explains why he’s been a real chatterbox lately.

Bolden has led Northridge in scoring in five consecutive games, averaging 21.6 points during that span.

His play at season’s end--with starting center Todd Bowser sidelined because of an injury--has carried the Matadors into the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. playoffs--albeit with a 15-11 record, 7-7 in conference games. Northridge plays Cal State Bakersfield, the CCAA’s regular-season champion, at 8:30 tonight at the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium.

“He’s been carrying us,” Dueker said of Bolden. “Without him, we wouldn’t be practicing right now.”

Bolden’s antics off the court are bound to reduce any pressure members of the team may be feeling over the finality of what could be their next loss.

“You can call me the clown of the team, I guess,” Bolden said. “Joking with each other makes us closer. We share a lot of laughs and it makes the environment a lot more comfortable.”

Bolden has a nickname for practically all of his teammates. Guard Chuck McGavran is called “Glen Campbell” because, Bolden says, “his hair is all weathered-out.” Horwath is called “Meatloaf” after the singer. Alan Fraser is known as “Fred,” as in Flintstone, because of his rugged features.

The nicknames created by Bolden usually stem from physical characteristics. Guard Carl Cooper is a favorite target for the senior forward.

“We always joke around with Coop about his butt,” Bolden said. “We’ve talked about Coop and his butt for four years.”

Cooper’s nickname: Big booty.

Bolden even coined a moniker for himself--Bo Watts.

The Bo is short for Bolden. The Watts part has a story of its own.

Bolden went to high school at L. A. Lutheran, a private school in Burbank. “People would ask me where I lived and I’d say Inglewood, but they didn’t know where that was,” Bolden said. “So, just joking around, I’d say, ‘I’m from Watts.’ And they said, ‘Oh, Watts, ‘ like the Watts riots or something.

“So I became Bo Watts. I called myself that and it stuck with me.”

Bolden is fun-loving off the court but appears all business on the basketball floor. A gifted athlete, the 6-5 senior has learned to fill a role in his years under the direction of Coach Pete Cassidy.

Cassidy, who is in his 16th season as coach, prefers his players to be steady rather than flamboyant. A quick shot, a fancy pass or dribbling exhibition is often greeted with an icy stare by the coach.

“Coach likes to get things done the easiest way,” Dueker said. And for a while, Bolden had trouble adjusting.

Dueker who teamed with Bolden on Lutheran’s Southern Section 1-A Division championship team of 1984, said that was understandable.

“Bo has a lot of talent,” Dueker said. “He’s got all the gifts, all the tools. In pickup games, when he lets go, he’s a heckuva player.”

Often, Bolden scores on gravity-defying drives through the key, but he also possesses a sweet jump shot. He is Northridge’s top three-point shooter, having made 34 of 82 attempts.

And he could not be much more consistent. He has reached double figures in scoring in all 26 of Northridge’s games. Even so, Cassidy is of the opinion that he could--and might still--play better.

“As a coach you’re always hoping for improvement and are never really satisfied where they are,” Cassidy said. “I push Pat to a high level. I’d like him to be even better and that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what he’s done. He’ll understand that in about five years--well after he’s graduated.”

For Bolden, the end of his collegiate career is coming too quickly. It doesn’t seem so long ago that he was a freshman reserve on Northridge’s CCAA championship team of 1984-85. Since then, he has moved into fifth place on the school’s all-team scoring list with 1,062 points.

Bolden scored 20 points and grabbed 8 rebounds when Northridge upset Bakersfield, 67-61, on the road two weeks ago. It was the last game in which the Matadors had the services of a healthy Bowser, who was averaging 14.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game.

“Someone has to pick up the slack,” said Bolden, who scored a season-high 27 points Saturday in Northridge’s regular-season finale against Dominguez Hills.

Dueker, whose job it is to get the ball into scoring position, said Northridge could not bank on a better player.

“I’ll try to get the ball to him whenever I can,” Dueker said. “No matter how much they’re watching him, he’ll get open and I’ll get it there. If you play together for eight years and don’t know a guy’s moves then you’re not paying attention . . .”

Dueker never got a chance to finish the sentence. The interview was interrupted.

“Excuse us,” Bolden politely told a reporter as four teammates grabbed Dueker’s limbs. “This will only take a minute.”

Bolden was about to get a measure of revenge for the previous week’s indignity. Dueker’s shoes were unlaced and removed as the group made their way through the locker room and onto the pool deck.

Splash.

“That’s it, I’m not talking nice anymore,” Dueker said a minute later while trying to wring out his practice clothes. “What were we talking about? Getting him the ball? Well, he’s not getting it anymore.”

That was a joke, of course.