This Time, Bauer Has a Chance to Win : Basketball: St. Margaret’s coach used to follow the Harlem Globetrotters all over the world. Now he enjoys staying at home with his new team.

In a small room in the new, $1.1-million gymnasium at St. Margaret’s High School, basketball coach Rick Bauer has set up shop.

Inside, Bauer has a desk, a basketball rack, a cooler filled with soft drinks and just enough room left to accommodate two people. Carpeting was just installed, which made the office look a little less like an equipment room.

Humble digs for a man who once traveled the globe to play basketball professionally.

But there are benefits. For one thing, Bauer gets to win sometimes.

Bauer has had enough of losing, quite enough. During four fun-filled and, sometimes frustrating, years, he got paid to lose . . . and lose . . . and lose.

As a member of the California Chiefs, Bauer was one of the straight men for the Harlem Globetrotters. His job was to say ‘Oops,’ and fall for every head fake and gag--a Zeppo Marx in sneakers.

It wasn’t exactly the limelight. But, hey, it was a living.

“Sure, it wasn’t the NBA but it was as close as I could get,” Bauer said. “I was a gym rat as a kid. I would do anything to continue playing.”

Bauer, a 1972 graduate of San Clemente High School, played two seasons at Saddleback College and two more at Cal Baptist, a National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics school in Riverside.

His talent was never questioned, but his height was. Bauer was a 5-foot-1 sophomore at Royal Oak High School in Simi Valley before his family moved to San Clemente. He played two years for Tritons, but was only 5-4 as a senior.

Although he did grow to 5-10 by the time he was a senior in college, he was still considered too short to play on the professional level. So after his senior season at Cal Baptist in 1976, Bauer’s playing career was over.

Or so he thought.

“The day after our last game, my dad called to tell me that a man named Art Kim had called and wanted to know if I would be interested in playing against the Harlem Globetrotters,” Bauer said.

Flabbergasted, but eager, Bauer called Kim immediately.

Kim, who had owned the defunct Anaheim Amigos of the American Basketball Assn., was the coach of the Chiefs, the team that traveled with and played against one of two Globetrotter teams. In 1976, Kim recruited a group of players fresh out of college, many of whom were from Orange County.

“Art was about 75 years old and feisty,” Bauer said. “He would scream at the referees and, if we were behind by more than 10 points at halftime, he would yell at us about having too many turnovers. It was a show, but Art really took it seriously.”

Bauer signed up. His contract: $800 a month and free lodging.

Traveling the world with the Globetrotters, living a vagabond life, was exciting for Bauer. The teams would spend three months in the United States and six months overseas.

“Talk about your road trips,” Bauer said. “A couple days in Guatemala, a couple days in El Salvador, a couple days in Panama. It got to be a blur sometimes.”

Although the pace was hectic and the playing conditions were sometimes unpleasant, the games were fun. However, it took some time before Bauer caught onto the concept.

The first and fourth quarters were showtime for the Globetrotters. The second and third quarters were for serious basketball.

However, Bauer was used to going all out to win. The idea of holding back during a game was as foreign to him as the currency of whatever country he happened to be in.

“When you’re just out of college and used to winning, it’s tough to change,” Bauer said. “I thought it was a basketball game. Sometimes I would play too hard and start diving after loose balls.”

That didn’t always sit well with the Globetrotters.

“I think they used to come after Rick because he was so competitive,” said Rick Quinn, a former Chief who played at Los Alamitos High School and San Jose State. “They’d start grabbing his jersey and would foul him a little more, anything to bug him.”

Eventually Bauer caught on. He learned when to slow down and when to play hard.

“Yeah, you learned not to steal the ball from Marcus Haynes when he was into a routine,” Bauer said. “I finally realized that the show was for the kids.”

Bauer even got caught up in the routines at times.

He began to practice with Jimmy Blacklock to refine the dribbling skit in which Blacklock would go from one side of the court to the other with Bauer chasing him. The two would work on it for hours at half speed to get the moves down.

“In the game, Jimmy would be walking the ball up court and he would whisper, ‘You ready to go?’ ” Bauer said. “And boom, we’d take off. I would chase him all over the court. He would slide and I would dive at the ball and miss. It got to be a lot of fun.”

Fun was fun, but losing wasn’t.

Even though the show was for the crowd, it was hard going out every night knowing the outcome was decided.

“Contrary to what people thought, we played well against the Globetrotters,” Bauer said. “When we played pickup games, when there was no show and no crowd, they gave us a lot of respect.”

But when there was a show and there was a crowd, things were a little different.

In 1979, the two teams came to Seattle after two weeks in North Dakota. It had been a long trip and Bauer said that everyone was a little edgy.

That night, they played in front 33,000 fans at the newly opened Seattle Kingdome.

“We came out that night and shot 95% in the first half,” Bauer said. “We were up by 12 at halftime. It was the only time I saw the Globetrotters have a closed-door meeting at the half. They came out in the third quarter and there was no messing around. We still led by four going into the fourth quarter, but I knew what was going to happen. After all, the referees traveled with the Globetrotters too.”

The Chiefs lost by four points.

The next night in Portland, Theotis Lee of the Globetrotters and Steve Fryer of the Chiefs got into a fight during the game. It took a couple minutes to restore order.

“I think that eased some tension a little,” Bauer said. “But it was weird. The crowd thought it was a routine, like the water bucket skit. They were laughing while these guys were fighting.”

Bauer never found out the reason for the fight because he left the team the next day. He had received word after the game that his father had suffered a stroke.

“My dad had always pushed me and helped me,” Bauer said. “When I was a kid, he used to drive me to gymnasiums almost every night so I could play. I had to be with him.”

Bauer did return to the Chiefs in 1981 for an eight-week trip through Europe. But the fun had gone out of it. His father was still sick, and he missed his wife and daughter.

“We would be going out to sightsee, but Rick would stay at the hotel,” said Pat Barrett, who was Bauer’s roommate. “He was always on the telephone to his wife or his dad. You could see he was suffering.”

Said Bauer: “The guys would take off to see the Eiffel Tower, but I would go to the gym. I would play a couple pickup games and I’d feel better. But I knew it was time to go home and settle down.”

Life after the Chiefs has had its ups and downs.

Bauer worked as a restaurant manager for four years and was the junior varsity coach at San Clemente. He was divorced in 1984 and his father died in 1985.

“It was time to grow up,” said Bauer, 35. “I looked into a lot of career opportunities because I wasn’t sure about teaching. Some people told me I’d make a great salesman. But going to conventions to talk about toothpaste didn’t excite me. Basketball was what I loved.”

After completing his college education, Bauer got a job at the Mission School in San Juan Capistrano, which is for grades 1-8. Last spring, he heard about the opening at St. Margaret’s and applied.

This season, St. Margaret’s, a private school in San Juan Capistrano, won four of its first five games and was ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section Small Schools poll. The team is currently 5-4.

He also teaches physical education at the school and even finds time to play basketball.

Bauer said he’s content away from basketball as well. He has remarried and said he spends as much time with his daughter as possible.

But there are a few things he does miss about his barnstorming days.

“I liked the traveling,” he said. “I would like to go back to Paris again sometime. But, this time, as a tourist.”

And, this time, as a winner.