Mature Larry Lockley Gives El Camino More the 2nd Time Around : JC basketball: He always had the ability. But when Banning High’s Larry Lockley first played for the Warriors, in 1986, his life was out of focus. A stint in the Army and a family changed that.

Larry Lockley couldn’t ride the team bus to Norwalk for El Camino’s basketball game at Cerritos. The thin and agile guard sprinted through the gym door just minutes before tip-off.

While his teammates warmed up, Lockley was at a hospital with his 21-month old daughter, Courtney, who suffered from a high fever. He also missed Monday’s practice because her condition hadn’t improved.

Lockley is El Camino’s best player and a star in the junior college ranks, but life for the 23-year-old now consists of more than basketball.

He works full time as a security guard--from midnight to 8 a.m.--and he spends his free time, what little there is, with his daughter and wife, April.

After the Warriors’ game at Pasadena, where he led his team to a 85-74 victory with 25 points, Lockley went straight to work at National Technical Systems while the rest of his teammates relaxed.

“I was exhausted,” he said, shaking his head, “but I lived through the night.”

He paused for a brief moment, tugged on his white L.A. Clippers cap and said: “I have to sacrifice a lot to play the game. I don’t think (teammates) understand that. They should appreciate this time in their lives because it will never come again. I think they take it a bit lightly.”

Lockley’s hectic schedule, which includes a 13-unit class load, makes his being the leading scorer for the Warriors that

much more surprising. Three other players--forward David Keeter, guard Frank Beatty and forward Michael Houck--average in double figures, but El Camino Coach Ron McClurkin says Lockley is one of a kind.

“He’s definitely our best player in more ways than one,” McClurkin said. “He can shoot, he can handle the ball and he’s very quick. But he’s also very mature, and he’s got a great all-around attitude. I mean, the guy has a great work ethic and he’s very unselfish.”

Amazing what two years in the armed forces can do for a young, hot-headed player whose talent, specifically his shooting ability, made him a standout among his peers at 18.

The Army didn’t convert him into a tremendous physical specimen, but it provided a major dose of maturity.

Lockley became a “real man,” according to McClurkin who says there’s a big difference between the player who earned all-conference honors at El Camino under Coach Paul Landreaux in 1986 and the one who’s on this year’s roster.

“He’s more poised and more patient,” said McClurkin, who was an assistant under Landreaux for nine years before taking over the team last season. The simple truth is that he grew up.”

Lockley says he needed such a change desperately because his life, after he graduated from Banning High School in 1984, was full of instability. That year he earned all-Pacific League honors and accepted a scholarship to the University of Texas at El Paso.

“He really didn’t blossom (in high school) until his senior year,” said Banning Coach Gary Cain, an assistant at the time. “Then he was real impressive. He was a better all-around player than people gave him credit for.”

Before choosing to play at El Paso, Lockley took recruiting trips to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, the University of Washington, Colorado State and the University of Colorado. He chose El Paso because several local high school players were on the team.

After one semester, however, Lockley returned home to Carson, homesick and depressed. That’s when he consulted former Banning teammate Mark Wade, who led El Camino to the 1985 state title and later, at UNLV, was considered one of the nation’s best running point guards.

Wade advised Lockley to play for Landreaux at El Camino, and in 1986 he did. He averaged 16 points a game and was named to several all-tournament teams, but he still wasn’t happy.

“I (had never been) put in a position where I had to work hard for anything,” Lockley said. “I was rather shocked when I came here. I was shocked at how difficult basketball could be and how demanding Coach Landreaux was. He wanted me to work hard and I didn’t want to.”

Landreaux, now head coach at St. Mary’s University, says there was never any question about Lockley’s physical ability and performance. The problem, he says, was a mental one.

“I remember him as an outstanding basketball player and an outstanding athlete,” said Landreaux, who was an assistant coach at UCLA for a year before taking over at St. Mary’s this season. “I mean, the guy had pro ability. With work, he could have played at any major institution.

“He just didn’t have his life together. He was young and unfocused. The problem with him was upstairs.”

So Lockley quit basketball, with the intention of never playing again, and spent the next three years in the Army, stationed in Boston and Germany. Last year, though, he resumed playing basketball, in an Army recreational league.

And last fall he returned to El Camino to complete an unfinished chapter in his life.

“One thing I learned in the Army,” Lockley said, “is that you don’t start something and not finish it. You don’t run away from problems.”

But Lockley may run away from basketball. He is considered a Division I prospect, but he is considering not returning to college after El Camino.

“I would consider playing in the NCAA,” he said, “but it’s not a preoccupation in my mind. It all depends. I have a family. Right now I’m focusing on finishing this.”

According to McClurkin, UNLV, Cal State Long Beach and New Mexico have shown interest in Lockley.

But for now, any coach in the five-member South Coast Conference will probably agree that Lockley is a big problem--their problem. Pasadena Coach George Terzian says that despite an abundance of talented players, Lockley is El Camino’s biggest asset.

“He’s playing extremely well,” Terzian said. “He’s a great shooter and he always plays unselfishly. I really think he’s smarter now. He takes more good shots and he penetrates into the key area better than he used to.”

That’s why the 6-foot-2, 170-pounder took over Beatty’s off guard position. Beatty, a 6-4, 190-pound sophomore from John Muir high, was a part-time starter last year who was supposed to start this year.

Lockley says starting is not a priority. If sitting on the bench will help the team win, he’ll gladly do it.

“My goals are different than before,” Lockley said. “It’s important for me to do what I can to help the team win. Before I just wanted to score a lot. I was selfish. Now whatever this man (McClurkin) asks me to do, I’ll do it, even if it’s sitting on a bench. Before, I’d say: ‘I’m not going to sit on anybody’s bench!’ ”

As the coach said, Lockley grew up, and El Camino is fortunate to have him a second time.