Shear Pleasure : Dottin Delights in Basketball, Cutting Hair

Two topics always seem to find their way into a conversation with Malru Dottin.

Those who have never heard the explanation of his unusual first name inevitably ask about it. And those who know about his hobby--actually, more like an unofficial job--of cutting hair generally ask, “Are you still doing the Ru-Do?”

Dottin, a junior forward at North Carolina Charlotte by way of Saddleback High, patiently answers--yet again.

The name, he said, was his father’s idea. It’s derived from the names of Civil Rights activists Malcolm X and Ruchell Magee.

Malru is not the only name in the family that makes people blink. His brother Gylan, now a senior forward/guard at the University of San Diego, got the initial dose of their father’s creativity.

“Gylan was named after a buddy I grew up with,” George Dottin once explained. “My buddy was one of two boys we used to call Big Guy and Little Guy. I combined Guy with my middle name (Andrew) and came up with Gylan.”

The haircuts, however, were Malru Dottin’s brainstorm.

“My father is from Cambridge, Mass.,” Dottin said. “When I was between the fifth and sixth grades, we went there to visit relatives. My cousins cut my brother’s hair and my hair and did a good job. I started cutting my own hair after that. All it takes is one little hand mirror and the mirror in front of me.”

Dottin, already skilled with the clippers, is just coming into his own with the 17th-ranked 49ers.

After being academically ineligible as a freshman, Dottin enjoyed a respectable sophomore season, averaging six points and five rebounds in about 17 minutes per game. But, more important, he made the Metro Conference academic honor roll with a 3.0 grade-point average.

Now Dottin is the starting power forward for the 49ers (13-3, 2-0 in conference), who play host to a conference game tonight against No. 24 Louisville. The 49ers’ losses came against College of Charleston, 68-54, in their opener in November and this month against No. 1 Duke, 104-82, and Butler, 87-84. Between the losses to Charleston and Duke, Charlotte had 11 consecutive victories, including triumphs over DePaul (68-63) and Alabama (79-74).

Dottin, 6 feet 6 and 220 pounds, has figured prominently in many of those games. In an 82-80 overtime victory over Johnson C. Smith last week, Dottin had a career- and game-high 17 rebounds. A week earlier, in an 85-75 victory at South Florida, he led the 49ers with 23 points and 14 rebounds. And against Alabama, he had a team-high 14 rebounds.

Those are outstanding numbers for anyone. But they are particularly good for a guy who was supposed to play small forward but ended up being responsible for clearing enemy bodies away from the hoop after forward Jarvis Lang broke a wrist against Cal State Long Beach in the team’s second game. Lang was the NCAA leader among freshmen last season in scoring (19.6) and rebounds (10.6).

But Dottin doesn’t care where he’s playing, as long as he’s on the floor. He averages 6.5 points and 6.9 rebounds, and has been in double figures in rebounds the last four games.

“You just have to come ready to work hard and contribute,” Dottin said. “My role on this team is to rebound and hit the boards real hard. That’s my main focus. I can get my shots when I get the ball inside. My points will come. I really don’t worry about scoring.”

Charlotte Coach Jeff Mullins, a former NBA All-Star with the Golden State Warriors, knew Dottin had enough muscle to handle the position.

“He’s our strongest player by far. He benches around 315 to 320 pounds,” said Mullins, now in his seventh season with the 49ers. “He rebounds with strength, not so much with quickness. As you know, rebounding is not usually done by the guys who are the tallest, but by the guys who get (good) position and who go after the ball. . . . He’s beginning to find a home down by the boards.”

Dottin had a nice little homestead at Saddleback, where he averaged 16.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in his senior season. He was co-most valuable player in the Sea View League and a Times’ All-County player after leading the Roadrunners to their second consecutive league title and a 27-3 record in 1988-89. The previous season, he led the team in shooting at 54% (120 of 223) and was second in rebounds to Gylan, 228 to 190.

When it was time to consider colleges, Dottin made the rounds and chose Charlotte, because he had played at basketball camps and tournaments in the East and liked the area.

“I always wanted to go East and play ball,” Dottin said. “It’s a perfect atmosphere to play ball and go to school. Out here I can concentrate better on what I have to do because it’s a slower pace. It’s a change now when I go home to Southern California and then come back to school and have to slow it all down.

“It also made me learn how to budget my time and make my own decisions. I had to really organize my priorities and follow through with what I’m supposed to do.”

On the court, he works the floor like a Star Search contestant, always looking for an edge. Off the court, he still covers the floor with hair from his hair-cutting subjects, many of them teammates.

“That’s going to be one of my professions,” said Dottin, a business major and the team-appointed barber. “It gives me something to do. I have a lot of fun with it and it helps me relax.”