Toros’ Walk-Ons Make Big Strides : Derrick Clark, Kenyatta Kalisana Happy Surprises for Coach Dave Yanai

Depending on walk-on players is not part of his coaching philosophy, says veteran Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s basketball Coach Dave Yanai. In his 12 years at the Division 2 school, he’s seen a lot of players come and go.

Two key Toro starters this year defy Yanai’s thinking: They came and stayed.

Derrick Clark, a senior guard, and Kenyatta Kalisana, a junior forward, took different routes to get to Carson, and Yanai is the first guy to admit he is glad they showed up.

“Derrick is a jewel,” Yanai said of Clark, 23, a native of Detroit.

As for Kalisana, from Daniel Murphy High School, Yanai adds: “He’s the kind of kid you can count on every day.”

Yanai figures that maybe 1 in 6 non-recruits hangs around long enough to be fitted for game uniforms. Because walk-on players receive no financial aid--unlike highly prized recruits who often receive room, board and free tuition--walk-ons quickly discover that basketball takes time away from jobs and studying.

Yanai says it’s a tribute to Clark and Kalisana that they gutted it out. Kids like that, he said, “ask no quarter.”

Yanai has since rewarded both with scholarships.

Both players tell unusual tales about how they landed starting roles at Dominguez Hills.

Clark played two seasons at Chapman College, then sat out another two years before enrolling at Dominguez Hills. A nephew of former professional player Archie Clark, he spent a year in Detroit working to save money so he could return to California.

Before he left for Detroit, Clark contacted Yanai and informed him of his intent to transfer to Dominguez Hills. Yanai passed him off.

Explained Yanai: “He said to me ‘Coach, I like what I see in your program, and that’s what I want out of collegiate basketball. I’d like to play for you, but I need to go home so I can take care of a few things.’ I said, ‘OK, Derrick,’ thinking that I had heard this before. Next year, there was Derrick; he had filed all the correct paper work and was enrolled.”

Last season, as the Toros struggled to a 13-13 record, Clark was the only player to start every game. He averaged 9.8 points and led the team in assists and steals. He is team co-captain. Better yet, insists Yanai, he is also an inspirational leader.

Kalisana came from Marymount Palos Verdes College, where he was a 2-year starter at center.

It’s also not in Yanai’s scheme of things to recruit too many community college players. He remembered Kalisana slightly from his high school days, when he was a two-time all-league selection. Still, he appeared to be just another walk-on when he approached Yanai five weeks before practice about getting a tryout.

He quickly became “the type of player everyone is happy to have,” Yanai said. “He doesn’t ask for anything. He just comes to play.”

Kalisana, 20, who said he “wasted two years” playing center at Marymount PV, almost waited too long to enroll at Dominguez Hills. He had turned down several offers to play at NAIA schools and had decided that his basketball career was probably over.

“I was going to sit out a year,” he said. “Then I tried to get into Cal State Long Beach, but it was too late to enroll there. So I came over here and found that they had a late admission program.”

It was already September, and Kalisana had not picked up a basketball since March. When he approached Yanai about a shot at the team, fall practice was a month away.

“I was out of shape,” he conceded.

When practice began, however, Kalisana quickly impressed. As early as mid-October, Yanai was predicting that he would be a starter. That didn’t surprise Marymount PV Coach Jim Masterson.

“He was the strongest player we had,” Masterson said. “He has great ability to rebound. We had to play him in the post because he was the tallest player we had.”

Still, both Masterson and Kenyatta say he did not play up to his potential there because he never adjusted to the role he was asked to play.

“He had to play with his back to the basket all the time for us,” Masterson explained. “He was not real comfortable with it.”

Kalisana, happy that now he can play forward at Dominguez Hills, agreed.

“Here it feels good,” he said.

Other factors almost steered Kalisana away from Dominguez Hills. A physical therapy major, he has always wanted to attend the University of Maryland. He applied there this year, but word of his acceptance did not reach him until a month ago, just as Cal State’s basketball season got under way.

Kalisana faced a dilemma. As a walk-on at Dominguez, he received no aid, and Maryland offered him a chance to stay in student housing. He was beginning to feel comfortable as a Toro, but there was family pressure for him to go to Maryland. The deadline for transferring there was Jan. 23, which meant he would have had to quit the team in the middle of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. race.

“Deep down, I wanted to give basketball up and get into my field,” he said.

As team members became aware of his situation, additional pressure surfaced.

“They said a few things to me,” Kalisana said.

Then, two days before Thanksgiving, about the time Kalisana had decided to announce that he was leaving, freshman Marty Ward quit the team for religious reasons. That freed up a scholarship.

Yanai, aware that Kalisana might leave, quickly awarded Ward’s scholarship to Kalisana.

Now, Kalisana said, “I think it is better that I stayed.”

He has not ruled out quitting basketball at the conclusion of this season so that he can transfer to Maryland. Only his performance this year, he says, can sway him.

“I’m blessed to have these kinds of decisions to make,” he said.

Yanai would like Kalisana to stay but would understand if he left to pursue academic concerns.

“If a kid is going to make a change, at least make it for the right reasons,” he said.

Yanai said he will recruit this spring with the idea that Kalisana may not return. But, he lamented, “he’s a fine player.”

Clark, a physical education major, has been pleased with his situation.

“This is one of the best programs I’ve encountered,” he said.

Yanai has been flooded by walk-ons lately. Currently, three players--junior forward Kevin Shaw, freshman swingman Steve Van Dyke and freshman guard Michael Bell, all on the traveling roster--are considered walk-ons. In addition, P. J. Wnek, a native of Carson and a starter at NAIA power Biola University, is attending classes at Dominguez Hills this fall and has made it known that he wants to try out next season.

It appears that Yanai has not seen the last of walk-on players.