A Bumpy Ride, but a Smooth Landing : College basketball: USIU’s Kevin Bradshaw, the nation’s No. 3 scorer, has settled in after rediscovering his desire to compete.

Kevin Bradshaw was a high school basketball star in Florida. He is now U.S. International’s leading scorer, No. 3 in the nation.

But Bradshaw did not make the transition easily. The way was littered with decisions, both good and bad:

--He accepted a basketball scholarship to a small Florida college.

--He married his pregnant girlfriend.

--He dropped out of college and joined the Navy.

--His daughter was born.

--He was divorced.

Through it all, Bradshaw has plugged away, trying to do the right thing.

It was a stuffy summer day in Florida. Kevin Bradshaw, fresh on leave from the Navy, drove the 10 miles to where his ex-wife lived, outside of Gainesville.

It’s a moment that has stayed with him. He remembers the creak of the car door as he stepped onto the driveway. The aroma that wafted from inside the house.

And he remembers his first look at his daughter, Jiana Cherall, who was now nearly a year old.

“That first time was the most painful,” Bradshaw said. “I didn’t want to get upset. I would have said things that wouldn’t have helped, but I would have said them anyway.”

Bradshaw had had a year to ponder it. It had been that long since he left his basketball scholarship at Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach to marry his pregnant girlfriend and join the Navy to support his new family.

In the interim, his wife had decided she didn’t want to come to San Diego, where Bradshaw was stationed, leading to their divorce. And his child had been born.

So much had happened, so quickly.

Bradshaw was Florida high school player of the year his senior season at Buchholz High in Gainesville. He averaged a school-record 30.2 points per game. He still holds school career records for points (1,693) and rebounds (584) and season records for points (946), field goals in a game (19) and shooting percentage in a game (90.4, 19 of 21).

But then came the ill-fated decision to attend Bethune-Cookman. A child and a quick marriage.

Basketball, which had been his trademark, was set aside.

Now, he’s trying again. He left the Navy last year and is playing his junior year at U.S. International. The three years away haven’t had any apparent negative effects: Bradshaw’s 31-point average for the 9-13 Gulls is third best in the country.

He has also adapted to the academic life, finishing his first semester with a 2.9 grade point average in physical education. Bradshaw decided during his Navy hitch that he wanted to make it back to school. And if basketball was what got him there, it didn’t matter.

“For once, I was working, and when you’re working, you realize how important a degree is,” Bradshaw said.

USIU was the first school to show an interest in him. After meeting with Coach Gary Zarecky, Bradshaw decided USIU was the place for him, too, and he put his name on a letter of intent during the early signing period.

“We hit it off,” Bradshaw said. “(Zarecky) was straightforward. It’s amazing what happens when you’re surrounded by good people.”

And so Bradshaw continues his uneven odyssey.

It is difficult enough to earn a basketball scholarship out of high school, considering the thousands of kids who may have the talent but never make it to college. But it’s harder still to make it, drop out and return.

Bradshaw, who will turn 24 Monday, is attacking the basket and the classroom with a maturity gained through his experience. He kept his game sharp by playing on the All-Navy team and was named All-Armed Forces last year, joining future NBA player David Robinson. He is well on his way to setting several school records, including scoring and free throw shooting. He is one of the best in the country at the line, making 173 of 202 (.856).

Basketball was the furthest thing from Bradshaw’s mind when he joined the Navy in 1986. After joining, he left it completely for more than a year.

“I didn’t play anymore,” Bradshaw said. “I stayed away for a year. I thought ’20 years, I’ll get my retirement, get fat and have kids.’ ”

But Earl McKinney, who was stationed with Bradshaw aboard the U.S.S. McKee in San Diego, slowly got Bradshaw back into the game.

“He never knew I was a star in high school,” Bradshaw said. “He said ‘You don’t look like you can play.’ ”

When Bradshaw finally relented, they headed over to the 32nd Street Gym. Bradshaw handled the ball, pounding it to the floor and feeling it snap back in his palm. And then he took his first shot in nearly a year.

“I missed,” Bradshaw said. “It was a brick.”

He missed the basket but rediscovered the urge to play. Once again, basketball was to become an important part of Kevin Bradshaw’s life.

Bradshaw developed his game in elementary school like most do, on local courts against neighborhood kids.

One was Vernon Maxwell, with whom Bradshaw would develop a close relationship when both went on to star at Buchholz.

Maxwell, a year older, went on to play with the University of Florida and the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

Bradshaw was recruited by Florida, Florida State, Auburn and Georgia, but he shied away.

“I didn’t like the atmosphere of the big schools,” Bradshaw said. “I went to a class, and it was an auditorium with students.”

A lot of people figured Bradshaw was a shoo-in to attend Florida, in his hometown.

“Gainesville is small,” Bradshaw said. “It has just three high schools. The University of Florida is Gainesville. I don’t know what was said behind closed doors . . . everyone thought I was going to Florida.”

When other schools backed off, it became apparent to Bradshaw that if he was going to go big-time, it would be at Florida. But he says he had seen and heard too many negative things about Coach Norm Sloan’s program.

“Deep down inside, I still don’t think I should have gone to Florida,” Bradshaw said. “I haven’t seen any black athletes come out of Florida saying they were happy there. Or who graduated.

“I heard a lot of bad things, but people will talk. But it’s another thing to see the players not happy and they’re stuck.”

Bradshaw decided instead on Bethune-Cookman, a small Division I school where his freshman-sophomore high school coach was an assistant. It didn’t take long to realize he had made a mistake.

“It was just awful,” Bradshaw said. “They just weren’t big on basketball. It was just one way to get money into the program. I wasn’t happy from day one. But I thought I should try and stick out, give it my best.”

Bradshaw played there for two years and was named All-Mid-East Athletic Conference after averaging 19 points and 5.4 rebounds his sophomore year. But it wasn’t working out.

“One thing or another,” Bradshaw said. “Slowly, I started to fade away.”

What hurt perhaps most was that Bradshaw, once known throughout Gainesville, was slipping into obscurity.

“I’d be hanging with Vernon, and people would ask me what I was doing, where I was playing,” Bradshaw said. “I mean, I was only an hour and half away.”

The pressure began to mount as his grades slipped. He knew Bethune-Cookman was not for him, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Then he found out that his girlfriend was pregnant.

Bradshaw left school and went home to try and figure things out. After talking to his parents, Bradshaw decided the right thing to do was get married and join the service so he could support a family.

He chose the Navy because he didn’t have a car and went to the recruiting office closest to home.

“It was strange,” Bradshaw said. “Whenever I thought of the service, I thought of the Army, Air Force or Marines. . . . The Navy recruiting office was in a mall about a half-mile from my parent’s home.”

Bradshaw got married the day before he was to leave for basic training in San Diego. The plan was for his wife to join him a few weeks later. She never arrived.

“Other people had a big say in what happened,” Bradshaw said. “I just felt I should be with my wife.

“It upset me because she knew why I joined the Navy. I thought it was the right thing to do.”

Bradshaw joined the Navy in March of 1986, and was divorced and a father by August. Now he had to adjust both to the service and life without the reason he had joined in the first place.

All Bradshaw wanted to do was forget about what had happened . . . and forget about basketball.

“I was hurt,” Bradshaw said. “I’d pretty much thrown basketball to the side. I just wanted to concentrate on the Navy. It was hard at first. Coming from school and going into the Navy. It was like party time in school, (compared to the Navy) where somebody was telling you what to do, when to do it and how to do it.”

Bradshaw slowly adjusted. He now says joining up was the best decision he ever made.

“I was always taught to try to do everything that is right and do what I believe in,” Bradshaw said. “If you’re not happy, you don’t do the right things. I think if I hadn’t joined the Navy, I’d be somewhere doing bad things.”

Kevin Bradshaw’s life is improving, but he’s still feeling the effects of that day outside Gainesville.

It was more than a year before Bradshaw got his first leave. He went to his parents, then drove to his ex-wife’s parents’ house to see his Jiana Cherall. It was an unannounced visit.

“Opening the car door, walking up the steps, it was like everything was in slow motion,” Bradshaw said.

There’s a big difference between knowing you’re a father and feeling what it is like to be one. Bradshaw says he wasn’t entirely ready for the experience.

He picked up his daughter. And did not want to let go.

“Having my kid taken away,” Bradshaw said. “I was thinking, ‘This is my first kid and now I am going to have to leave her.’ (My ex-wife) was under the impression I was just going to show up, look at the kid and take off.”

Bradshaw soon started court proceedings to get partial custody. It was decided that the child should be exposed to both sides of the family, and she now spends every other weekend with Bradshaw’s parents.

He talks to his daughter on the phone often and visits her during the summer. But Bradshaw avoids the old hangouts when he’s home.

For all he knows, a few people in Gainesville might still be wondering whatever happened to Kevin Bradshaw. By now, they might not even recognize his name among the nation’s scoring leaders.

“Personally, I’d like them to know,” Bradshaw said. “A lot of people gave up on me.”