COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘89-90 : USC MVP Coleman Has Family Support That’s Mind-Goggling

About those prescription goggles that Ronnie Coleman wears:

No, the USC junior power forward doesn’t idolize Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the retired Laker center.

Coleman developed a cataract in his left eye after being hit by a rock when he was 7.

“I was having a slingshot fight and I was reloading, and all of a sudden it was like, whop!” Coleman said. “I was crying and guys were coming up to me saying, ‘Man, your eye is out. It’s turning blue.’ ”

He was hospitalized for a week, and doctors put a patch over his left eye. They also prescribed glasses, which he refused to wear.

Coleman had no problems with his vision until last season. During USC’s game against Cal State Long Beach, Coleman’s older sister, Sandy, noticed that he was shooting air balls on five-foot shots.

Coleman went to a doctor, who told him that he had become so dependent on his good eye, he was closing his bad one. The doctor prescribed therapy, and Coleman also got those goggles.

He refused to wear the goggles until a confrontation with his sister.

“I told Ronnie that I’d never speak to him again unless he was wearing the goggles when he walked on the court,” Sandy Coleman said. “And then I gave him a big sister-to-little brother look.”

Coleman became a deadeye after putting on the goggles, scoring a career-high 26 points against Stanford, making 11 of 13 shots.

The Trojans’ most valuable player the last two seasons, Coleman averaged a team-high 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds a game in 1988-89.

“We depend on Ronnie Coleman,” USC Coach George Raveling said. “We’ve got to get the ball in his hands as frequently as possible. Each year since he’s been here, his scoring has improved and his rebounding has improved. That’s the thing that makes me most pleased about Ronnie--he continues to improve statistically.”

Coleman is determined to improve again this season.

The 6-foot-6 Coleman lost 20 pounds last summer, dropping from 235 to 215, to improve his mobility. He gave up fried chicken, hamburgers and pizza and rode an exercise bike.

The Trojans finished last in the Pacific 10 in Coleman’s first two seasons at USC, and set a school record by losing 22 games last season. Is Coleman frustrated?

“Losing gets old and it gets frustrating,” he said, “especially when you see that you were right there and made that little mistake at the end that could have helped you win.”

But Coleman remains optimistic. “I can see us finishing first (in the Pac-10) this season,” Coleman said. “I think we’re better than UCLA and Arizona.”

Sandy Coleman bounded from her seat and raced to the court. She began screaming at an official who had made a call against USC’s basketball team.

“Traveling?” Coleman said. “You call that traveling? Open your eyes.”

She continued her taunts as she followed the official down the sideline, her booming voice echoing throughout the empty arena.

Ronnie Coleman waved his hand in an attempt to quiet his sister, but she seemed to get louder.

“I get so excited when Ronnie’s playing that it’s hard for me to contain myself,” she said. “I can’t help it.”

Sandy Coleman has become USC’s No. 1 fan over the last two seasons, following the Trojans to every home game since her brother started playing.

What does Raveling think of Coleman’s sister?

“God bless her,” Raveling said. “Every athlete should have a sister who loves him as much as she does and is as enthusiastic.

“She’s not an everyday fan. She knows the game. She’s probably Ronnie’s most critical fan. She’s more critical of Ronnie’s play than I am.”

And, of course, she’s also critical of officials.

At a recent scrimmage, she shouted at officials from a seat in the balcony of the USC men’s gym. The officials gave her mock technicals.

Is Coleman embarrassed by his sister?

“She started coming to games when I was in high school, and it used to bother me,” he said. “But I got used to it.

“Sometimes people kid me by saying that my sister has more emotion than I do and does a better job than the cheerleaders.”

A former high school and college basketball player, Sandy Coleman also gives her brother tips on improving his game.

“I used to play him all the time,” she said. “That’s how he got so good. But when Ronnie started beating me, that’s when I stopped playing. He was ruining my reputation.”

Now she settles for just watching him. She idolizes her brother.

The USC media guide, with Coleman as the cover boy, is displayed on her desk at work.

“People are always coming up to me and asking if I know someone on the team,” she said. “And then I tell them that my brother is the guy on the cover. I just have to pinch myself.

“If anybody could describe to God what they wanted in a little brother, they’d come up with Ronnie.”

Ronnie Coleman has one regret: that his father, Ronald, didn’t live to see him play basketball at USC.

Coleman was 13 when his father died of liver cancer in 1982 at 41.

How does a 13-year-old handle losing his father?

“He didn’t tell me until a month before he died,” Coleman said. “But I knew what was happening to him. His eyeballs got yellow and he was losing weight.”

Coleman’s mother, Margaret, said her son matured quickly after her husband died.

“When his father was alive, he used to tell Ronnie that when he wasn’t around he was the man of the house and he had to take care of his mother and sisters,” she said. “And believe me, he did take care of us. He’d screen every male that came through the door.

“Sometimes his sisters got kind of mad at him, but I had to tell the girls that they had to remember what his father told him and respect it.”

Sandy Coleman said: “A death is the kind of thing that can either make or break a family. We came closer together as a family.”

Coleman’s father helped shape his son’s athletic career, coaching youth basketball games and taking him to practice. Coleman’s mother assumed her husband’s duties.

“I told Ronnie that I can’t get out and help coach like his father did,” Margaret Coleman said. “But I told him that I can be there and I’ve been there ever since.

“I got numb sitting on all those gym benches. He played in two leagues, and by the time I got to work on Monday I’d be numb. But it paid off because it’s paying for his education.”

Coleman’s involvement in sports had another positive effect, keeping him out of the street gangs that dominate the Compton neighborhood where he grew up.

Coleman’s mother told her children that if they became involved in a gang, she would turn them in to the police. And they never tested her.

Coleman joined a team instead of a gang.

“I still wonder how he never got involved in (gangs) because he grew up in the middle of it,” Margaret Coleman said. “And I knew he knew those guys (gang members) and he knew what was going on. But he never got involved.

“In fact, Ronnie used to run from trouble. If something was happening or going to happen, he wouldn’t hesitate to run home.”

After her children left home, Margaret Coleman sold her house and moved to a condominium in Inglewood because she didn’t feel safe in Compton. “It got to the point where I couldn’t sleep at night because I would wake up and hear gunshots,” she said. “I got so paranoid that I ended up selling (the house).”

After she bought her new condo, Ronnie moved back in with her, leaving his campus apartment.

“Didn’t he tell you he moved in with me?” she asked. “He’s the perfect roommate because he’s never home.”