Hartman’s Trademark Is a Grand Slam : He Emerged From His Shell and Evolved Into Big Man on Thousand Oaks Campus

From a tiny grain of sand . . .

Once painfully shy, a confident Jason Hartman begins his senior year at Thousand Oaks High a polished pearl, and the world is his oyster.

Perhaps that is why his signature move has become the slam dunk, his personal Pearl Jam, a thunderous, expressive and enormously popular symbol of Hartman’s maturation.

About the time he was first able to dunk a year ago, Hartman also began to speak with conviction, to feel comfortable in a crowd.

“That’s what a crowd loves, a great dunk,” he says. “I love packed gyms, packed standing room only. They come to see us win but they want a slam dunk.

“For me to do that, the crowd gets me so riled, I feel like I’m on Cloud 9.”

Next fall, Hartman will bring his Pearl Jam to Seattle, home of the original.

He signed a national letter of intent with the University of Washington in October, capping a full year of startling improvement.

The 6-foot-6 1/2, 235-pound forward earned Times All-Ventura County honors after a junior season in which Thousand Oaks rode a 23-game winning streak before falling in the playoff semifinals. After a respite as brief as a 20-second timeout, Hartman took the court for Team Avia, a high-profile summer team.

“Jason’s game has become more rugged because he had to survive against better players during the summer,” Thousand Oaks Coach Ed Chevalier says. “He really goes to the basket hard.”

Thunderous, expressive and enormously popular.

That was the antithesis of Hartman two years ago. Awkward, self-conscious and young (Hartman turned 17 only this week), the sophomore walked around campus with his chin tucked into his chest.

Along came Natalie Meade, bubbly, self-confident, Hartman’s first glimmer of light.

“She speaks her mind,” he says. “I’m starting to get that way. She really opened me up, changed me. I’m glad I was with her.”

They no longer date but remain close friends. “A lot of girls like him now,” Meade says. “I knew him when he was a shy guy. Everything was me. It was kind of like I got him into communicating.”

Hartman has become a leader through words as well as deeds, a player who takes seriously the title of co-captain he shares with Peter Lauer, an off-guard and fellow three-year starter.

“Being captain gives me a lot of confidence, lets other players know I’m the guy,” Hartman says. “I feel comfortable saying what’s on my mind.

“Coach Chevalier trusts me a little more, that’s why he made Peter and I captains. He wants me to be a leader and tell him what’s going on. When I see a mismatch away from the ball, for example, I can tell Coach and he will set up a play.”

More and more, plays are designed for Hartman. This is a departure from last season when he averaged 14.1 points in a lineup that spread the scoring.

Twin post players Paul and Nick Foster, who averaged 28 points between them, graduated along with talented point guard Denny LeVine. Lauer, who averaged 11.0, will have plenty of scoring opportunities, mostly from the outside.

In addition to hard drives to the hoop, Hartman displays a soft touch from the perimeter. Softer still--muted entirely, some say--is an urge to be the offensive hero.

“I really don’t set goals like having to score 30 a game,” he says. “That would be forcing it. Let it come as it may. It will be nice to score 30 and it’s going to happen. But I’d be just as happy with five points and 15 assists.”

Thunderous, expressive and enormously popular.

Thousand Oaks was all of the above last season, outclassing every Marmonte League opponent en route to the school’s best season ever. The Lancers were 26-2, 14-0 in league play, losing only a nonleague game to North Hollywood and a playoff semifinal to Huntington Beach.

Can that success be matched? The question haunts Hartman, motivates him even after he takes stock of all he has accomplished.

“I have the scholarship. Last year’s team was great. Why do I even want to play this year?,” he admits having wondered. “But I’ll tell you, I can’t wait to prove people wrong, to show everyone that Thousand Oaks consistently has a good team.”

Three league titles in a row is a fair indication that Thousand Oaks is the team to beat. Apparently, complacency will not be a concern in the quest for No. 4.

“No one gets soft with Jason on the floor,” says Paul Brandt, the Lancers’ 6-11 senior center. “He just wants to win. He’s a very competitive guy.”

Brandt, who signed with Cal State Northridge, and Hartman are only the second and third Thousand Oaks players to gain Division I basketball scholarships. Richard Carr signed early with Stanford in 1983 but never attended the school.

Not coincidentally, Brandt also played for Team Avia. Roger Milstein, Team Avia’s coach, is less concerned with winning than showcasing his players for recruiters.

Milstein, a successful Beverly Hills businessman, also boasts an impressive Rolodex that he regularly thumbs through for his players’ benefit.

It’s his idea of philanthropy.

“I credit Coach Chevalier with teaching me how to play, but Roger got me the scholarship,” Hartman says. “A lot of schools who called hadn’t even seen me play. They went on Roger’s word.”

Thunderous, expressive and enormously popular.

There it was captured on tape, Hartman soaring through the key, viciously dunking over 6-9 All-American forward J.R. Henderson in the championship of the Slam-N-Jam tournament.

Milstein quickly compiled Hartman’s summer highlights and mailed the tape to numerous colleges, where coaches--the critics who count--gave it the thumbs-up.

“After the Slam-N-Jam tournament Jason realized he could compete in Division I,” Milstein says, “and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to get better.”

Hartman’s aspirations had been less lofty because the best players Thousand Oaks turned out recently--forward Chris Loll in 1991 and the Foster twins last year--were ignored by top college programs. All three gained appointments to Air Force primarily so they could play Division I basketball.

Attending Air Force has worked out for Loll, a starter studying pre-med, but backfired on the Fosters, who returned home before school started this fall.

“I figured I’d end up at Air Force too,” Hartman says, smiling at the image of Thousand Oaks contributing the nation’s tallest fighter pilots.

Soaring, shooting, battling, Hartman can do, but he’d as soon confine his exploits to the basketball court, thank you very much. He visited Loyola Marymount before taking a trip to Washington along with Team Avia teammate Alex Lopez, a 6-11 center from Campbell Hall High who has become Hartman’s close friend.

Two days spent mostly sleepless in Seattle convinced both to become Huskies.

“We did so much up there,” Hartman says. “With Alex, we asked each other questions. I knew he’d give me straight answers.”

Hartman’s parents, Dean and Sue, were at once dumbfounded and enthralled by the attention their son received. Neither attended college and both have spent most of their lives in east Ventura County; Dean graduated from Moorpark High and Sue from Thousand Oaks.

In fact, the family, which also includes Nick, a 260-pound Thousand Oaks freshman football player, lives in the house where Sue was raised. The Hartman boys are home grown, having attended the same elementary, junior high and high school as their mother.

“Jason has a great value system, a tremendous work ethic,” Milstein says. “Everybody loves him because he always tries hard.

“Now his ability has reached the level of his effort, and, boy, is he going to be something to see.”