COLLEGE BASKETBALL NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : At 5-8, Crawford Still Is Tall Order

About this business of Sam Crawford sleeping inside a car, sleeping outdoors, spending his nights feeling abandoned and alone, saying that if not for basketball he would have been suicidal . . . please, he says, let’s get this story straight.

“I never slept in a car. Never. I slept outside once-- once --but it was at my choice. My aunt forgot I was coming and locked me out. So my friend and I stayed out all night. But I wasn’t by myself. I wasn’t homeless. Man, this thing is getting so exaggerated. Going to kill myself. I like life too much to kill myself.”

Crawford is no waif. He simply looks like one. He is 5 feet 8. His baggy basketball trunks give him that droopy-drawers look that everybody seems to find so adorable. And when the not-so-big man begins dribbling between his legs, changing directions behind his back, ducking and dodging college basketball’s king-sized guys--Shaquille O’Neal has 18 inches on Sam, for example--watching him work can be big fun.

Crawford’s life has more fun in it now, too. He is an adult, 22 next month, and the hardscrabble Chicago and Los Angeles alleys and streets of his childhood are behind him. He has a wife, DeeDee, whom he credits for helping him mature into a better man. He has a coach, Neil McCarthy, who went from being confused by Sam Crawford to planting a kiss on his head in gratitude.

And he has a team, New Mexico State, that will play today, not only for the right to meet the UCLA-Louisville winner in the next round of the NCAA basketball tournament, but for the right to play for the West Regional title in Albuquerque, where, as teammate Chris Hickman says: “It’s not just going to be us against them, whoever ‘them’ is. It’s going to be us and 18,000 (New Mexicans) against them.”

For eight or nine months of the year now, Crawford makes his home now in Las Cruces, N.M., where unhappy wanderers have been known to light. Hundreds of years ago, Pueblo Indians warred constantly with nomadic tribes. Outlaw William Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, was convicted of murder there, escaped from the Mesilla Valley County courthouse and was tracked down and shot by lawman Pat Garrett, who himself was later found dead in a nearby arroyo.

Sam Crawford, a good name for a young gun, is no shooter. He is the second-leading assist man in the nation. Sometimes his coaches beg him to shoot more.

New Mexico State itself can be a wild, shoot-’em-up kind of place. The university’s fight song, “Aggies, Oh Aggies,” includes a verse that goes like this:

“And when we win this game,

“We’ll buy a keg of booze.

“And we’ll drink to the Aggies

“Till we wobble in our shoes.”

It’s OK for a stray to drift into town. On a 12-man roster, McCarthy has nine transfers from junior colleges. The school specializes in welcoming late-bloomers who needed a little more time to realize their ambitions. Sam Crawford, for instance, did all right on his Scholastic Aptitude Tests when he was attending Westchester High. He simply didn’t pass all the right classes, or attend enough of them.

“I screwed up by not going to class,” Crawford said.

He was 10 when his mother rescued him from Chicago’s housing projects and shipped him west. Yes, he did have trouble adjusting to California, where he lived with his uncle, former Laker Ron Carter, and an aunt until their marriage dissolved. Yes, he did spent too much time hanging out on the streets instead of doing something constructive.

But he also made a good friend in Norm Nixon, the former Laker who gave Crawford good advice and let him do maintenance work at an apartment building Nixon owned.

Said Crawford here Saturday: “Norm Nixon had a major impact in pulling me down, as a person and as a player. Everything was flashy before in my game. There weren’t any bounce passes. Coach McCarthy gives me the freedom to do a lot of things that other coaches wouldn’t, but he also tries to keep me under control.”

McCarthy wasn’t about to take any hot-dogging or lip from Crawford or anybody. He is a tough customer who once won his Army base’s heavyweight boxing title. But Crawford captivated the coach from the moment of his arrival. McCarthy knew that the kid’s coach at Moorpark College loved his talent but not his work habits. He knew that Crawford already had quit a small Texas college after spending one day there. He was expecting bad news.

Instead, as an assistant coach, Gar Forman, said: “I don’t know where he got the reputation. Sam has a great personality. The fans love him. His grades are good. In high school, I don’t think he applied himself.”

Crawford’s 11 assists Friday against DePaul gave him a school record for assists in a tournament game. He held the crowd captive. His 21 points led all scorers. He did everything but dunk--which he can do, but doesn’t want to because: “It takes too much energy for someone my size to jump that high.”

There is a national honor, the Naismith Award, for players under six feet. Crawford is a nominee. His life is full. DeeDee Purvis, the former El Camino College cheerleader he married, is there for him. So is Santa Monica’s William Benjamin, who serves as both backcourt partner and role model. Benjamin is studying to be a special-education teacher. Crawford now donates time as a volunteer at the Santa Monica Boys Club, and is majoring in social work.

“I’ve got meaning in my life,” Crawford says. “There’s a point to it now. My childhood wasn’t all that wonderful, but it wasn’t anywhere near the mess it’s been made out to be. I’ve got people who care about me.”

After Crawford scored the last eight points of an 86-85 victory over Fresno State nine days ago to keep New Mexico State alive in the conference tournament, McCarthy demonstrated how much he cared. He kissed Crawford on the head.

Crawford smiled at the recollection and said: “Now, make sure you got that right. He wanted to kiss me, not kill me.”