Massenburg Is a Real Success Story

These have been three upside-down years for Maryland’s Tony Massenburg.

Since joining the Terrapin basketball program, he suffered through the hurricane of innuendo that followed the death of Len Bias. Then he was forced to sit out his sophomore year on academic suspension, a sojourn that was extended through the first semester last year so he could get his grades up to the satisfaction of Coach Bob Wade.

Even after Maryland’s successful season last year, his dreams of playing for a Top 10 school were dashed among the debris following the exit of six Maryland players through transfer, academic ineligibility, red-shirting and suspension.

“It hasn’t been quiet,” Massenburg said. “I think my freshman year was probably the quietest in terms of things going on.”

Yet, here he is, after three years of turmoil, the Terrapins’ leading scorer who has also been honored for making the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, which salutes student-athletes with a grade-point average of 3.0 or better.

“Tony has done a remarkable job,” Wade said. “When I came here he was on academic suspension. He’s worked hard in the classroom and he’s done an excellent job trying to perfect himself as a basketball player. . . . He could’ve given up a long time ago but he hung in there and he’s gotten his priorities in order.”

It hasn’t been easy for this 6-foot-9 junior from Sussex, Va.

“After the death of my teammate (Len Bias) things sort of got turned upside down,” Massenburg said. “I was right in the middle of it and I did a lot of suffering because of the things that were going on and the probing that was taking place.”

Massenburg said he found himself accused of being on drugs, selling drugs, and of being a college dropout when he was forced to red-shirt the 1986-87 season after academic difficulties left him on academic suspension. He declined to discuss the incident.

“There were a lot of people saying, ‘He’ll never play for Maryland again. He’s washed up. He’ll never playing any more,”’ Massenburg said.

“I had some terrible things said about me the year I didn’t play. I went back home and some rumors got spread around that I was selling drugs and that I had flunked out of school. . . . I was still very much in school and very much into basketball. I just wasn’t playing on the team that year.”

So, while the Terps were struggling through a season that saw them go winless in 14 Atlantic Coast Conference games, Massenburg was helpless.

“Between my freshman year and my sophomore year I really improved a lot,” he said. “I could see where I could help the team. Sitting down really hurt.”

It’s a hurt that Massenburg has turned into something positive.

“The first year I sat out really did me a lot of good,” Massenburg said. “I didn’t want to. I was forced to. But, in reality, it really helped me. . . . I learned a lot. I grew up a lot as a person. If I hadn’t already learned how to face adversity, I learned how to face it then. I sort of found myself.”

In spite of that progress, Wade forced Massenburg to sit out the first seven games of last season to concentrate on his studies. When he finally did get back into a Terrapin uniform, it was an auspicious return.

Twenty pounds heavier and stronger from working with weights, Massenburg dominated inside, scoring 25 points and leading Maryland to an 82-77 victory over South Carolina.

“That was like a dream,” Massenburg said of that game. “I had worked in the gym a lot by myself and prayed that I would come back and make an impact and do the things I was capable of doing.”

Massenburg wound averaging 10.1 points for the Terps, who finished 18-13 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA post-season tournament with lineup sporting only two seniors.

“Last year had me thinking, ‘It’s finally over. We’re finally going to get on track. We’re going to win. We’re going to present a positive image on the University of Maryland once again,’ ” Massenburg said.

It wasn’t to be. Freshman sensation Brian Williams transferred to Arizona. Two other players also transferred. Guard Rudy Archer was ruled academically ineligible, guard Teyon McCoy decided to red-shirt this season, and Rodney Walker was suspended from the team.

The Terps went the entire month of January without a win, losing nine games, seven in the ACC.

Massenburg’s four years at Maryland have robbed him of any naivete that goes with youth.

“In a way I’m glad it happened to me because it gave me a feel for what the real world is like real early,” Massenburg said. “There were some points where I didn’t think anybody was on our side, that Maryland was this black cloud over college basketball.”

Regardless, Massenburg has stuck it out. “I would just like to be remembered as a guy who took some hard knocks at the University of Maryland and made the best of it.”