THE LAST DETAIL : End of Navy Hitch Is on the Horizon for San Antonio Spurs’ David Robinson

From his head to his high tops, David Robinson is unique.

Unique because the former All-American center at Navy will collect $26 million from the San Antonio Spurs over the next eight years, the third-highest salary in basketball history, but he nonetheless continues to make collect phone calls.

Unique because he spends his free time studying theology and Spanish.

Unique because his most pressing concern today isn’t whether he will develop a stronger post-up game but whether he will ever learn to improvise on the piano.

“I’m trying to spruce up the music, go from sharps to flats instinctively,” he said.

So, for all the uniqueness that Robinson packs into his 7-foot, 226-pound body, one figures he would be spoiled by the Navy while serving his two-year, postgraduation commitment. One figures he would be coddled by the Spurs while learning pro basketball at his own pace.

One figures wrong.

Very soon, David Robinson will get back to what he does best, if not most often--playing basketball. And he says he will do it better than ever because of what he has endured over the last 23 months.

“I definitely got special treatment in the Navy, but not the way you are thinking,” Robinson said.

“They would really go out of their way to make things more difficult for me just so that people would know that I wasn’t special, that everyone was equal. It really isn’t fair, but fair isn’t really a word they use much there.”

An example: Before his active-duty commitment began, Robinson submitted 15 places where he would like to be stationed, places he said would have been most conducive to his basketball training. That wasn’t at all unusual. In fact, most ensigns submit a similar list and the Navy usually tries to accommodate.

Robinson said the Navy didn’t try all that hard in his case.

He was eventually sent to St. Mary’s, Ga., “a one-road town” where he spent 13 of his 23 months. The 10 other months were spent either preparing for or playing in the All-Navy Games, the Pan American Games or the Olympics.

“I had never been to Georgia,” Robinson said, adding that St. Mary’s was neither on his list nor his mind. “I didn’t even want to go.”

So much for preferential treatment.

Robinson emphasizes that his hitch in the Navy was enjoyable, even though the locale forced him to work out alone. He said he learned a lot working nine-hour days as a civil engineer, and that working out by himself increased his stamina as well as his will.

“One of the best lessons I learned over the last two years is how to motivate myself,” he said. “I couldn’t train by myself before. I could train, but not by taking myself all the way to the next level, until I was numb.”

Robinson’s official title was assistant resident officer in charge of construction and among his duties was, perhaps fittingly, negotiating contracts. The main thrust of his work, though, included supervision of waterfront construction and electrical distribution.

“I had fun,” Robinson said. “They put me to work. We went through giant mounds of paper work, making sure the bidders had safety plans, environmental plans, insurance plans. There were always papers to write and reports to do.

“It was definitely a challenge, but I love challenges, no matter what they are. I always want to expand my horizons and that’s how I approach basketball.”

Now Robinson moves on to a greater challenge. His employer is no longer the U.S. government, but the Spurs. His commander now is Larry Brown.

“Man, Coach Brown is always on me,” Robinson said. “You can go out and score 40 points and he’ll be furious about 1,000 other things. A lot of people can’t understand someone yelling at them all the time, but I need that. I don’t need someone to pat me on the back.”

For now, Bob Bass, the Spurs’ director of player personnel, will do the back-patting. After seeing Robinson at a Spur rookie camp and a summer league at at Loyola Marymount, Bass did nothing but rave about Robinson.

“I’ve never seen a guy with that speed and quickness at that size,” Bass said. “I don’t know who to compare him to because there is nobody like him. He’s like a forward, but he blocks shots and rebounds so well that we can’t move him too far away from the basket.”

Robinson was especially impressive in the pro league, which featured several NBA players. The Spurs left the league after five games because Robinson had already shown them everything they needed to see. He scored 36 points the night the Spurs decided to leave.

Overall, he averaged 25.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.2 blocks, playing only about 25 minutes a game. His rebounding average was disappointing on paper, but Robinson isn’t worried.

“Rebounding was a secondary thing,” he said. “I already know I can do that, so I didn’t focus on it. I concentrated on running the floor and posting up. I know when I concentrate on rebounding that I’ll get 15 a game.

“I’ve got to bring my whole game around. I don’t want to be just another rebounder because I have the potential to be much, much better than that. I’m a good player right now, but if I approach the game as if there is always something to learn, I can always keep climbing.”