COLLEGE NOTES : Hank Gathers Remembered

Hank (the Bank) Gathers, who died last Sunday, left a vault full of memories. . . .

Gathers spotted a reporter wearing Nike shoes. The Loyola Marymount team’s shoes are supplied by Reebok, which has a contract with Coach Paul Westhead. Gathers pointed to the shoes and said: “You better not let coach see those. You’re out of uniform.”

The reporter thought a minute and replied: “I’d swear I saw you in practice yesterday wearing a Nike shirt.”

Gathers grinned and put a finger to his lips, then unbuttoned his top shirt. He had a Nike T-shirt underneath.

Gathers met with the press for lunch one day before a big game. He chided one reporter for eating pizza.

“I have to eat now so I can do a bike ride later,” the reporter told him.

Gathers, gearing up for another grueling practice, said: “Man, you’re gonna go ride your bike. I have to go run a marathon.”

Gathers was expert at needling friends and teammates. He would do riotous impersonations of onetime roommate Per Stumer and his Swedish accent, or make references to Tom Peabody’s shooting touch--with Peabody nearby. Gathers was never funnier than when he acted as emcee for player awards at last spring’s team banquet. He zinged all his teammates, then introduced himself last:

“And now, the man you’ve all been waiting for, please rise. . . .”

Gathers had a serious side as well.

Two years ago, when Gathers and Bo Kimble joined the team and the Lions exploded onto the national scene, a TV network reporter taped an interview with the two in Gersten Pavilion.

After taping, he told Gathers and Kimble how much he had enjoyed talking to them. “It’s so refreshing to find some articulate young athletes,” he said.

Intended or not, the same inference occurred to everyone who heard the comment, and Gathers voiced it after the reporter left. Gathers did his impression of the reporter: “It’s so refreshing to find a couple of black guys who can speak English.”

Gathers had a special relationship with children, on the road as well as around Loyola. At several road games this year, security people had to put up barricades to keep enthusiastic autograph seekers from swamping Loyola’s locker room. Westhead says he can remember holding up the team bus more than a half-hour while Gathers signed for admirers.

Gathers had a challenge for young autograph hounds: “Who’s your favorite player?” Invariably, they’d say: “You are, Hank.” Invariably, they’d get their autograph.

Gathers made an impression on opponents as well. He liked to talk during games, sometimes telling opponents what was coming. A Pepperdine player from a few years ago tells one about the time he elbowed Gathers, who told him: “You do that again and I’ll bust your . . . face.” Gathers ate him up the rest of the game.

A reporter recently asked Gathers to sign the cover of a game program that had his picture. Gathers signed it “The Bank Man, 44, LMU,” and inscribed: “Thanks for making me bigger than life in the newspaper.”

Actually, Gathers did that all by himself.

But it was a pleasure.

Stat of the week: Bo Kimble at 35.8 points per game and Gathers at 29 formed the second-highest scoring duo in Division I history. Their combined 64.8 points is just behind the 66 points averaged by Furman’s Frank Selvy and Darrell Floyd in the 1953-54 season, when Selvy led the nation at 41.7. The only other pair that’s close is Tennessee’s Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld, whose combined scoring was 50.2 points in 1975, 50.5 in 1976 and 49.6 in 1977.

College Notes:

Junior guard Kristen Bruich of Loyola Marymount was named to the first team of All-West Coast Conference women’s basketball team. Anja Bordt of St. Mary’s was named player of the year. . . . Freshman center Yvonne Vanlandingham of Cal State Dominguez Hills was named to the All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. second team. Pomona’s Niki Bracken was named player of the year. Van Girard of Dominguez Hills was coach of the year. . . . Loyola Marymount outfielder Tony Kounas hit for the cycle in a game last weekend against the University of San Diego. He leads the Lions with three home runs. . . . On the same weekend, Loyola catcher Miah Bradbury broke Billy Bean’s school career record for doubles when he got his 62nd. The Lions play games at UC Santa Barbara at 2:30 today and 1 p.m. Saturday. . . . The Dominguez Hills baseball team plays conference games at 7 tonight and 1 p.m. Saturday at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Pitcher Armando Gomez is off to a 3-0 start for the Toros, including the staff’s first complete game. Gomez has walked only two batters in 24.2 innings. Second baseman Fred Camarena is among conference leaders with a .422 batting average and .533 slugging percentage. . . . Dominguez Hills softball pitcher Kim Park had a 29-inning streak without an earned run snapped last week.