Black-and-Blue Collar : Medenica Brings Work Ethic Ingrained by Father as Child in Yugoslavia to Canyons Basketball Team

For Jagos Medenica, the temptation was overwhelming.

There he was, no one between him and the basket, the ball in his hands and his feet safely planted behind the three-point line.

What’s a guy to do in such an inviting situation, especially when he has been warned to take the three-point shot only if his teammates suddenly faint or become disoriented?

Forget all that, Medenica thought. It was only a scrimmage and, besides, what could happen?

He could make the shot, that’s what. Which is what he did, which for the coaches at College of the Canyons was worse than had Medenica missed.

“He has been told specifically not to shoot the three-pointers,” Cougar Coach Lee Smelser said of the early season basket. “But now he keeps asking us when we’re going to put that play in for him.”

They try to tell Medenica, with good-natured jabs, that they will revamp the playbook when the Angels win the World Series. Still, like a certain former cowboy, Medenica remains optimistic. But maybe he shouldn’t, after what Smelser told him after that shot.

“Coach said, ‘Nice shot, Jagos. Don’t do it again,’ ” Medenica said.

Medenica, a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward from what was then Yugoslavia, knows his value to the team lies elsewhere. He fancies himself a sharpshooter and good-naturedly nags the coaches about getting the green light from long range, but adheres to his role on the floor--sweeping the boards and playing tough defense.

Going into tonight’s home game against San Diego Mesa in the first round of the Southern California regional, Medenica is averaging 6.1 rebounds and 8.1 points. He also leads the team in floor burns from diving for loose balls, a practice that forced him to don elbow pads to cushion the blows.

“Last year, I was diving so much that my elbows were swelling up,” Medenica said. “I like that style of play because it gets the team fired up.”

With Medenica’s help, the Cougars (14-16) regrouped after a five-game losing streak in January to win eight of their last nine games and claim the Western State Conference South Division title with an 8-2 record.

“He is all work,” Smelser said. “There isn’t any quitting with him. He certainly personifies the work ethic we are trying to stress in our program.”

That kind of perseverance, Medenica says, was ingrained in him from childhood by his father.

Born in Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, Medenica, 21, grew up with the notion that prosperity always finds those who work hard at whatever they do.

His father, Milutin, followed that philosophy into a successful career in their homeland’s import-export industry and his mother, Vojka, put it to good use as a protocol officer in the old government before retiring.

“My dad’s father died when he was four months old and his mom died when he was 4 (years old),” Medenica said. “He was raised by an older sister and other relatives. He learned to be disciplined and he taught me that.

“He also has a pretty good sense of humor. Everyone who knows both of us says we are alike, which is the greatest compliment I could get. I get my sensitive side from my mom.”

There have been plenty of opportunities for Medenica to expose that side in the past few years.

As an exchange student in 1990, Medenica lived with a host family in Canyon Country and played one season at Canyon High before enrolling at Canyons. But he spent his freshman season there as a medical redshirt after suffering a broken wrist that required surgery. The injury and the distance away from home shook his spirit but never broke it.

Although he missed his family and has seen only his mother--when she visited him for three weeks last year--Medenica discovered solace in the principles his father taught him.

With a sudden abundance of free time because of the injury, Medenica hit the books and completed his toughest courses. He actually graduated from Canyons last May and is taking classes that are applicable toward a business degree at a four-year school.

That accomplished, Medenica said, he will probably return home and start an import-export company with his father and older brother, Radovan. If, of course, his homeland regains any kind of normalcy.

Medenica, a Serb, said he is saddened by the civil strife and monitors the news constantly for information.

“The first thing I do in the mornings is read the paper to see what’s going on over there,” said Medenica, who between school and his job as supervisor of an ice cream parlor has little time for anything else. “The last thing I do at night is watch CNN.”

The reports and the images are never good, Medenica said.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “I think everything could be solved in a peaceful way if the politicians would stay out of it. The people would work it out, but the politicians want the power.”

When the fighting ends, Medenica said, he plans to do whatever he can to help rebuild his homeland. But tonight, his efforts will be directed at another front, one with less social impact but of equal importance to him. And one in which his role is clearly defined.

“If he keeps shooting the three-pointers, I’ll send him back to Yugoslavia right now,” Smelser said jokingly. “No ifs, ands or buts about it.”