Lewis Doesn’t Let Troubles Stand in His Way

Rashone Lewis has shown that he can stay with something until it is accomplished. But he also knows a little something about the alternative--walking away.

In the past three years, Lewis, a sophomore at Fullerton College, has had to deal with much more than the average problems of a college basketball player.

When Lewis arrived at Cal State Fullerton in 1987, he was academically ineligible. A year later, the coach who recruited him resigned.

But even at Fullerton College, things haven’t gone smoothly.

Lewis, a 6-foot-6 forward, is having a strong season, averaging 19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds. But in December, starting sophomore forward Mike Goff collapsed at his house and died. The cause of death has not been determined.

The day of Goff’s death, starting guard Donell Henderson left the team because of poor conduct on the court. Henderson was unaware of Goff’s death at the time.

As a result, Lewis has had to shoulder much of the team’s offensive burden.

“We’re hanging in there,” said Lewis of Fullerton (9-13 overall, 0-3 Orange Empire Conference), which has lost five of six games. “But it’s been really hard for everyone. Sure, I’m doing pretty well, but what does that mean? The team is what’s important.”

Off and on the court, the loss of Goff has taken its toll on Fullerton and Coach Roger See. “We all miss him a lot,” See said. “It was the first time a lot of our players have had to deal with death.

“We all felt the loss personally. Now we’re feeling the loss on the court as well. A lot of the burden has fallen to Rashone and he has done pretty well. He’s our only player averaging in double figures.”

Lewis’ troubles started at Cal State Fullerton when he was a freshman in 1987. He was academically ineligible after coming out of Verbum Dei High School. He became eligible one year later, but then Coach George McQuarn resigned, and was succeeded by current Coach John Sneed.

Lewis played sparingly in 24 games, averaging 1.3 points and two rebounds. He left the team before the end of the season, upset about his lack of playing time.

“I just got totally frustrated,” Lewis said. “I didn’t want to be around the campus anymore. . . . But I don’t blame Coach Sneed. He had a lot of pressure on him to win and he did what he thought he had to do.”

Lewis stopped going to his four classes as well, but he still was surprised he had received an F in each one. He thought he had withdrawn from his classes.

So Lewis went back to each teacher and officially was withdrawn from each class.

Then Lewis took 15 units of core classes this summer at two colleges so he could be eligible at Fullerton College. Attending classes and studying kept Lewis busy from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. four days a week for six weeks. Two days before the start of the season, Lewis had all his paper work in order so he could play for Fullerton.

“He did a lot of leg work just to play,” See said. “There were times when it looked like he might not make it, but he kept telling me that he would handle it, and he did.”

Hamelin goes big time: Bob Hamelin, the former Rancho Santiago standout, has made his first appearance on a major league baseball card this month as a rookie in the 1990 set of Upper Deck cards.

Hamelin, an Irvine High School graduate, played at UCLA for a season, then at Rancho Santiago in 1988 before becoming the second-round pick of the Kansas City Royals in June.

There’s one interesting omission in Hamelin’s biography on the back of the card. According to the card, “Bob spent only two years with the Bruins then was drafted . . . “

In other words, there is no mention of his time at Rancho Santiago.

Considering that Hamelin set state records with 31 home runs and 107 RBIs, and batted .521 with 95 runs scored in 48 games, it might have been worth a mention.

But it’s not the first time Hamelin has had trouble with a baseball card.

On his first card when he was at Eugene, his name was spelled “Hamblin” on the front of the card.

Community College Notes

Saddleback offensive lineman Mark Esposito, who was going to attend the University of Hawaii, has changed his mind and instead will go to Cal State Long Beach . . . Saddleback defensive back Robby Smith and offensive lineman/linebacker Steve Jones have agreed to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. . . . The men’s state basketball championships will be at UC Irvine this season, March 8-10. The women will play for the state title at College of the Sequoias March 1-3.