U.S. Olympic Basketball Trials : Big Surprise Among the Big Guys

They’ve got every star big man in American amateur basketball here for the Olympic trials: Danny Manning, the lottery prize; David Robinson, the famous ensign; Alonzo Mourning, the high school phenomenon; J.R. Reid; Danny Ferry; Dean Garrett, and . . .

Jack Haley?

You read right, Bruin faithful. Jack Haley, the surfer who never played basketball at Huntington Beach (it’s all right, he did win a letter--in badminton), whose ascension to UCLA center was once called by an alumnus the low point of the program. That’s how raw Haley was when he showed up.

“Extremely raw,” he says, forthrightly.

Then there was his general knowledge of basketball lore.

“I didn’t know Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lew Alcindor were the same person,” he says. “I heard people talking about them. I thought they were two great centers.”

But why go on? It’s a new day, obviously, and the sun is shining on Jack Haley, basketball player, at last.

Or maybe it’s more like a lightning bolt hit him. Haley wasn’t exactly sitting by the phone, waiting to be invited.

“I was extremely surprised,” he said Tuesday. “Excited. Ecstatic.

“The letter you get inviting you? I read it a couple of times. At first, I thought it was one of those things asking if you were interested in coming.

“But then Coach (John) Thompson called. When I heard his voice on my answering machine, it was very thrilling. He has this big, booming voice. It was enough to motivate me to go out there for two-a-day drills.”

A couple of things have changed since Haley left UCLA a year ago: (1) he played in Spain, where he is said to have improved immensely, and (2) the U.S. team ran short of bruisers.

Haley averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds a game for a team in Barcelona, Grupo Ifa Espanol. Also, he out-earned his old coach, Walt Hazzard, as Hazzard was wont to note. Not only did Haley earn something in the $150,000 range, they gave him a car and an apartment and did his laundry, too.

Thus provided for, he grew into a prospect.

“As you can see from a list of our big guys, we’re looking for some people who can get the ball off the boards,” said Thompson’s assistant, George Raveling. “He played well in Europe and we want to take a look at him.”

Says UCLA guard Pooh Richardson: “I’ve been playing with him. He’s 95% better than he was in the old days. I think he can compete out here now.”

Not that Haley actually expects to compete here past Saturday’s first cut. He’s not being a defeatist, but let’s get real.

But things are still looking up. Haley says the Chicago Bulls, who drafted him in the fourth round a year ago, have indicated they’ll sign him. He intends to play in the Los Angeles Summer Pro League.

“Assuming I’m not here Saturday,” he said, laughing, a bum from the neighborhood of Palos Verdes no longer.

Olympic Trials Notes

Drills began Tuesday night. They’ll cut to 32 on Saturday, play two practice games Sunday in Denver, then cut to 20. Coach John Thompson will then hold another camp at Georgetown in July to make the final cut to 12.