The Improbable Dream : Three Black High School Basketball Standouts Take a Realistic View of Their Chances of Reaching the NBA

Nevada Las Vegas sent Nathan Ware his first recruiting letter when he was 14. He didn’t know whether to frame it or bronze it.

Three years and a hundred letters later, Ware remains young enough to dream, but old enough to know what happens if you wish too hard. He has seen friends die young, others sent to jail, still others become parents in their teens or retreat to the world of gang banging.

For Ware, rated one of the best high school forwards in California, a college scholarship is a near lock. The NBA? A pipe dream. Or so says the Lynwood High star.

Still, you wonder if Ware ever lets his mind play a game of what-ifs:

What if he reaches the NBA?

What if he beats the odds?

What if he is the special one ?

Black educators, such as Northeastern University’s Richard Lapchick, have been trying to persuade young blacks that athletics aren’t the only way to gain

status and financial stability.

But is the message hitting home?

A smile comes over the face of Ed Gray Sr. whenever anyone talks about his only son.

From the dozens of college recruiting letters he receives each week, to the all-star basketball teams he played on this past summer, Ed Gray Jr. makes his father proud.

As family grand plans go, the younger Gray is right on schedule. A senior at Riverside North High, Gray is getting good grades, working hard in sports and counting the days until he gets a college scholarship.

Growing up in Riverside, far from the inner-city hustle of Los Angeles, Gray is climbing the ladder to success just as his father had hoped. He has stayed away from gangs, has a B average in school and is considered one of the best shooting guards in the state.

So far, Gray has met every challenge in his life. But in doing so, he might be creating a problem for himself by raising everyone’s expectations--including his own--toward an NBA career. It is a lot of pressure for someone who has not even made a college recruiting trip yet.

In the last five years, Terence Wilborn has seen his two older brothers receive athletic scholarships. Now he wants to be just like them.

Even though his favorite NBA team is the Chicago Bulls, Wilborn never envisions himself as the next Michael Jordan. Or even the next Horace Grant. He just wants to emulate his brothers, Jason and Kevin, and help repay his parents by earning an athletic scholarship.

Nothing is more important to Wilborn than earning a college education without asking for any help from his parents, who own a home in Anaheim Hills. The way Wilborn figures it, they have done enough for him already.

Wilborn is accustomed to challenges. Whether it is overcoming a difficult course at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana or being a rare three-year starter for the Monarchs’ powerhouse basketball program, Wilborn simply wants respect.

Ware, Gray and Wilborn are three promising high school senior athletes, three black teen-agers with dreams, separated by 60 miles and different environments.

Do the dreams change with the environment?

There is no clear-cut answer, but two years ago, a survey helped gauge athletes’ attitudes, and black educators used it to spread a message.

A 1990 Louis Harris poll, conducted by Lapchick, showed 43% of black high school athletes surveyed thought they would make it to the pros. Only 16% of whites questioned thought they would.

Only one in 10,000 athletes do.

Has the outlook of young blacks changed in 1992? The profiles of Ware, Gray and Wilborn can’t provide sweeping answers, but they offer insight into how the message is coming across in different areas of the Southland.

NATHAN WARE 6-7 forward, Lynwood High

Ware attends Lynwood High, where police patrols near campus are as common a sight as school buses.

With a history book dwarfed in his hand like a pocket dictionary, Ware stands out among the students as they walk in front of the school’s security guards and chained fence.

A boyish smile on a man’s body makes Ware look like an NBA-bound Theo Huxtable from the Cosby Show. Ware, 17, has a driver’s license but doesn’t own a car.

The vehicle that drives him is basketball, and so far, it has been a dependable ride. It has given him status, attention and respect.

In two seasons as a starting center for Lynwood, Ware has emerged as one of the top recruits in the state. Last season, he helped Lynwood gain the State Division I playoffs, and only two summers ago, former UCLA and NBA star Bill Walton, now a college basketball television analyst, called him one of the best big men in a nationwide all-star camp.

Scouts have said that Ware drips with potential, but they wonder whether he has enough discipline to reach it.

“He just has to learn the game a little more and let his talent develop,” said Mike Morgan, who contributes to national scouting services.

Ware laughs when people question his ability. He knows how far he has come. He knows how much more he can achieve.

“Once I started playing basketball, everything changed for me,” he said. “I realized that playing basketball was better than being in the streets. The guys I hung around with would ask me why I wasn’t kicking it with them anymore, and I would just tell them I was (playing basketball).”

At 12, Ware began to study basketball as if his life depended on it. He became a better shot blocker and rebounder. His inside post moves improved.

“Now I look back at some of my friends, and even though it hasn’t been that long, some are in jail or with babies and stuff like that,” he said. “Basketball definitely was the move for me.”

Ware has had to get used to moving. Recently, his parents separated, and he has spent time with both. He lived with his mother and older sister this past basketball season, but moved in with his father and brother across the street from school last spring.

Ware has also had to deal with the pain of losing a friend. Last January, Earnest Killum, an All-Southern Section player for Lynwood in 1989 and a budding star at Oregon State, died of a blocked carotid artery.

“I was very close to (Killum),” Ware said. “(He) was like the big brother I never had. He always called me from college and got on me about my grades and stuff like that.

“(Killum’s death) really strengthens me about life. It showed me not to get down and to look at things on the positive side. I know he’s still there for me.”

Ware claims he has learned his lessons well, and he knows all the right things to say.

He explained that the NBA is his dream, not his obsession. He talked of street reality, knowing dozens of could-have-been, should-have-been athletes who had the talent but never made it to the college or professional ranks. Ware doesn’t want to repeat the same mistakes.

“I know there are a lot of great players out there,” said Ware, who has played on the varsity at Lynwood since his freshman year. “I did pretty well against them (in the high school summer camps), but it showed me that it would be tough making it to the pros.”

But if the NBA isn’t an obsession, finding a way out is.

“I want to make money plain and simple,” said Ware, who has a 2.7 grade-point average. “I want to get into real estate because it’s competitive and it could be easy money like basketball, and I like that.”

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ED GRAY JR. 6-4 guard, Riverside North High

Ed Gray Jr. puts on his $100 basketball shoes, preparing for another summer league game. As he thinks about his future, his smile becomes as flashy as his new sneakers.

Never one to look too far ahead, Gray likes to deal with the present, and usually that means basketball.

Logic would suggest that Gray should place his concentration on something other than basketball, considering that one young black male in 153,000 will make it to the NBA, according to a 1991 study by sociologist Jay Coakley.

But logic can be difficult to accept when basketball scouts are so impressed. In less than 24 months, the word on the smooth-shooting, quick-leaping Gray has gone from sleeper to blue-chip prospect.

All of this success is not really a surprise to Gray or to his family. Ed Gray Sr. was good enough to play basketball at Cal Poly Pomona. The same might hold true for the son.

“I was never pushed into it,” the younger Gray said, “but one day I just started playing sports, and my parents have supported me ever since. In my neighborhood, we played a lot of sports, but nothing was organized. We just played.”

Back then, the NBA wasn’t a dream for Gray, but getting playing time on the local outdoor court was. Even though he was a good athlete in grade school, he was considered too short to play with the best in pickup games.

That motivated him to work harder, and with the backing of his father, Gray has put himself in position to take the next step--earning a basketball scholarship.

Gray, who also plays wide receiver on the North football team, considers himself lucky. All he has done is follow his father’s formula for success, and because of it, his basketball peers look up to him.

“Work hard and do your best in whatever you do,” is what Ed Gray Sr. told his son. It has become the younger Gray’s motto.

On a given weeknight, Gray can be found shooting jump shot after jump shot alone in a gym. His routine also includes jumping drills--the better to help his dunking.

His work ethic does not stop once he leaves the court. He has a 3.1 grade-point average and is looking ahead to taking the NCAA-required Scholastic Aptitude Test this fall.

So Gray is ready for college ball now. He has seen several players in the Riverside area earn basketball scholarships and he says he is next in line.

“I’m 50% sure that I will play Division I ball,” said Gray, who says he first dunked as a 5-foot-6 eighth grader. “My main goal has been to play and get a scholarship. I know that for me to even think about the pros, I have to be successful at a Division I school first.

“I haven’t given much thought about my future other than to play ball. My parents have always stressed to me about working hard and not let (basketball) success go to my head. I guess in college I plan to study business administration or communications. But, right now I’m undecided.”

TERENCE WILBORN 6-6 forward, Santa Ana Mater Dei High

Terence Wilborn played most of last season with a shaven head in the style of Charles Barkley. At first sight, he and several other baldheaded Mater Dei teammates attracted attention, but because of their success on the court, few of his classmates bothered to tease them about the hairdos.

Actually, fitting in is something Wilborn normally doesn’t have to worry about. He can thank his parents for that.

“I have it easy now,” said Wilborn, whose father played football at Prairie View University, and his mother was an All-American college volleyball player. “My parents have done it all for me, but I’m not the type of guy who is going to go to college and then come back and live at home.”

Wilborn and his two older brothers grew up in a large, comfortable house in Anaheim Hills. His parents own a printing shop, and his mother is a grade school teacher in Orange County. The combination of athletics and academics has worked for the Wilborns, and Terence doesn’t plan to break tradition:

--His oldest brother, Jason, was a linebacker at Cal and put a high school teaching position on hold to try out with the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent. At last check, he was still in camp.

--His other brother, Kevin, has a bright basketball future at Whittier College. The chance to start as a freshman at Whittier persuaded him to turn down offers from several nationally recognized basketball programs.

Wilborn appreciates his situation. He knows he doesn’t need the NBA as a ticket out. The distance between Anaheim Hills and the inner city became especially clear during the Los Angeles riots last spring. While stores near Ware’s home were burning, the only direct impact on Wilborn’s life was that his Scholastic Aptitude Test in Villa Park had to be rescheduled.

“I was tripping out watching that on television,” said Wilborn, who has a 3.0 grade-point average and is awaiting the results from the makeup SAT he took in June. “Just thinking that it was happening so close.”

It made Wilborn think about his future, something he has done a lot lately.

Already, Wilborn has decided that he wants to attend a small college with a lower-profile basketball program because it might help his professional chances.

“If I went to a school like Georgetown or Syracuse, I know I wouldn’t be the best player there,” he said. “My chances of reaching the NBA playing in a program like that would be slim, compared to if I went to a smaller school where I could develop and get a chance to be the man.”

There are some sociologists who say players such as Wilborn could be ignoring other talents by concentrating solely on basketball.

Harry Edwards, professor of sociology at the University of California, says that single-minded effort by young athletes creates problems.

“It’s like the lottery,” he said. “The individual opportunities are so few. For the individual who wins, it’s a hell of an investment, but to the million who put the dollar down to provide the pot, it’s a waste.”

However, Wilborn doesn’t see himself wasting his time on basketball.

“I always envision myself playing in the NBA, but it’s kind of like a fantasy,” said Wilborn, who will get his first car--a 1992 Bronco, courtesy of his parents--in September. “My first priority is to get good grades because I know that you have to have the grades to get to college before you can get to the NBA.

“I would love to make it to the NBA. But if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be a letdown. Just look at Mater Dei and see all the great teams they have had. I start to think about the fact that they have only one guy (the Clippers’ LeRon Ellis) in the pros, and that proves how hard it is to get to the pros.”

Despite their different backgrounds, Ware, Gray and Wilborn have similar views of where they are headed: Three teens on the basketball fast track.

“The kids no longer dream that they will make the NBA, but now they think that they will be the next (Ohio State’s) Jimmy Jackson or (USC’s) Harold Miner,” said Keith Young, an assistant coach at Fremont High and a veteran summer league coach. “The problem is that many are still not prepared. Their vision is cloudy. I have too many stories where they go away to college and come back because they couldn’t make it.”

No one can say whether that will happen to Ware, Gray and Wilborn. No one can say whether they are truly looking at the NBA as a longshot or simply giving lip service to an emphasis on a college education.

But it is clear from the three athletes’ words that they have heard the message--that they understand the NBA is a 1-in-153,000 chance and concentrating on a good education offers much better odds for a successful future.

Lapchick, who has spent the last nine years examining the black athlete’s role in sports, is pleased that at least his surveys are driving home the point.

“Seeing this development is good because we have been spending most of our energy trying to get the message across to the kids across the country to strike a balance between sports and academics,” he said. “What this tells me is that we are finally starting to hit home to the reality base.”

For Ware, Gray and Wilborn, the real answers might come years from now.

“I know the odds of playing in the pros are not good, but I’m having fun now,” Wilborn said. “When the time comes for me to enter the real world, I just want to be ready.”