Camp Wilson : Pepperdine Assistant Returns to Pacoima With Message for Kids

Lamar (Marty) Wilson moved from his mother’s house in Pacoima to his father’s home in Simi Valley in the summer of 1981 to avoid the trouble that often brewed on the streets of his hometown. But he has not forgotten his roots.

Wilson, an assistant basketball coach at Pepperdine and former standout at Simi Valley High, returned to his old stomping grounds earlier this week to conduct the first Marty Wilson basketball camp at Maclay Junior High.

Much of the camp--which was free for neighborhood kids--was devoted to teaching basketball fundamentals. But Wilson also took time to emphasize the importance of higher education and goal-setting, and the negative effects of gangs and drugs.

“The basic reason for this camp is that I wanted to get some kids off the streets,” said Wilson, 27. “That was the No. 1 goal. I grew up here, so I know there are a lot of gangbangers on the streets. We want to give the kids something to do and show them that there are other ways to spend their time.”

Each “camper,” as Wilson calls them, received a T-shirt and a pair of tickets to a Pepperdine home game during the upcoming season.

The tickets, donated by Pepperdine, also entitle the recipients to a tour of the Malibu campus.

“It’s a great way to show these kids that there are other things outside of this neighborhood,” Wilson said. “I was lucky. I was fortunate to get outside of this neighborhood and see what there is outside of Pacoima, but not everyone gets a chance to do that.”

Wilson’s quest to escape the neighborhood prompted his move to Simi Valley when he was 14.

“You can call me a scaredy-cat or whatever, but I decided that I wanted to get out of here,” said Wilson, the youngest of six children. “After I graduated (from Maclay), I saw a lot of my friends getting into gangs, carrying guns and getting into drugs. I just didn’t want to get caught up in trouble.”

When Wilson enrolled at Simi Valley, he became the second member of his family to attend the school. His brother Norris had lived with his father, Willie, during the 1977-78 school year and played basketball for then-Pioneer Coach Bob Hawking. The coach didn’t realize initially that Marty and Norris were related.

“I remember talking to my wife and she said that a Lamar Wilson had called and said he was going to enroll in school,” said Hawking, an assistant at Cal State Fullerton. “But I didn’t make the connection at first.”

Wilson played in a handful of varsity games as a sophomore, but spent most of season at the junior varsity level because Hawking figured he would benefit most from extensive playing time.

The seasoning paid off as the 6-foot-3 Wilson moved into the Pioneers’ starting varsity lineup as a junior and earned Ventura County player of the year honors as a senior, averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds a game.

“I had the opportunity to coach a lot of good players at Simi Valley and Marty was no different from the rest of them in that he had a tremendous work ethic,” said Hawking, who coached Don MacLean of the Washington Bullets at Simi Valley. “He had tremendous pride. He came to work every day. There were no days off for Marty Wilson.”

Wilson signed with Pepperdine, but major injuries during his third and fourth seasons at the West Coast Athletic Conference school limited his effectiveness.

After playing an average of eight minutes a game during his first two seasons at Pepperdine, Wilson was expected to be the Waves’ starting point guard in 1986-87. But he sat out the year because of two protruding disks in his spine.

As a junior, he averaged 5.5 points and 6.5 assists for the first 17 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

He averaged 5.5 points and 5.0 assists as a senior as the Waves posted a 20-13 record and a first-round victory in the National Invitation Tournament in the 1988-89 season. Being named the team’s most valuable player was indicative of his importance to the team, according to Hawking, a Pepperdine assistant from 1988-90.

“It’s a very unique thing to average five points a game at a major university and be named MVP,” Hawking said. “But that’s how much his leadership qualities meant to the team.”

Although the injuries might have prevented Wilson from playing professionally--he was cut after a tryout with the Quad City Thunder of the Continental Basketball Assn. in 1989--they were a blessing in disguise in a certain way.

“The injuries were frustrating when I went through them, but I’m kind of glad that I did because it made me more focused,” Wilson said. “It made me focus, first, on getting my degree, and secondly, it made me start thinking about my future and what kind of goals I wanted to set on the horizon.”

A love of basketball and the ability to get along with young people made coaching a natural vocation for Wilson, who lives in Canoga Park.

He was an assistant coach at Simi Valley under Dean Bradshaw during the 1989-90 season before being hired as a part-time assistant at Pepperdine. Coincidentally, Wilson replaced Hawking, who joined the staff at UC Davis.

Wilson was the Waves’ part-time assistant for two years before gaining restricted earnings status the past two seasons. A restricted earnings coach can earn a maximum of only $16,500 a year, according to NCAA rules.

Wilson was unsure of his future at Pepperdine after Tom Asbury announced in April that he had accepted a position at Kansas State. Before Asbury left, however, he secured a full-time assistant position for Wilson, no matter who was hired as head coach.

“That really meant a lot to me,” Wilson said. “It showed that I must have done some things right. . . .”

Ultimately, Wilson would like to become a head coach at the NCAA Division I level, but he has set no timetable for himself.

One thing Wilson knows is that he’d like to continue his camp.

This year’s event drew 50 to 60 kids a day and he hopes to attract 300 daily in the future.

“I always want the kids from the neighborhood to be able to attend this camp,” he said. “I always want it to be a way to keep them off the streets and instill something positive in them.”