Following the Son

He would cut class and work his way through the streets of Bursa, Turkey, to the gym, just to watch his father coach.

Ali Ton, point guard at Davidson, had two great influences as a kid: His father, Necmi Ton, then a club team coach, was one. The other was the television show “The White Shadow.” Of the two, one was worth ditching school to see.

“That is where basketball began for me,” said Ton, who came to the United States six years ago and played for Los Alamitos High. “I think my dad knew I was missing school, but he never said anything. There would be trouble, so he closed his eyes to it.”

Now, Necmi is playing hooky.

He quit as coach of Tuborg, a professional team in Turkey, in November and came to Davidson, N.C. The decision was easy. He wasn’t getting along with the team president and in six years, he had seen his son play basketball once--when Ali Ton had a brief tryout for Turkey’s under-22 national team in 1995.

“When he was in high school, I would get reports how he was doing good,” said Necmi, a former professional player in Turkey. “My wife came over and saw him. This time, I wanted to check him out myself.

“I hope they make the NCAA tournament. I hope they make the NCAA finals.”

One of those hopes has a chance.

Davidson, which begins play in the Southern Conference tournament today, has nine consecutive victories and is 17-9. The Wildcats are the No. 1-seeded team after finishing first in the Northern Division.

Ton, a 6-foot junior, averages 6.6 assists--15th in the nation--and 2.5 steals, including a conference-record 11 against Tufts. He is in perpetual motion on the court, slicing, spinning, darting. Always with purpose.

“The only thing that drives me a little crazy about Ali is he is an outstanding shooter, but he’s reluctant to shoot,” Davidson Coach Bob McKillop said. “He constantly knocks down shots in practice, but come game time, he would much rather make the pass.”

Ton, who averages 4.5 points, has never scored more than 10 in a college game. He did, though, sink a three-pointer at the buzzer to win at Mississippi last season. Still, there are other ways to win games.

Against Tennessee Chattanooga last month, Ton made a steal with 12 seconds left and the Wildcats leading by one. Two nights later, he did it again with eight seconds left and Davidson up by one against North Carolina Greensboro.

Davidson has not lost since.

“In a matter of 72 hours, our season turned around,” McKillop said.

Necmi has been there for it all. His wife, Handan, came to Davidson for a visit last year, but the professional basketball season in Turkey runs through March. This year, there was no season for Ton.

In November, Tuborg lost its three games during pool play in the European Championships. Ton quit the following week and came to North Carolina.

“The team president was trying to teach me how to coach,” Ton said. “I told him he could do it himself. I decided to come analyze college basketball in America.”

An excuse, really. There is only one area of college basketball that has Necmi’s undivided attention.

“I had to see my boy play,” he said.

Ali Ton has developed significantly as a player since his father saw him last. But he has remained the same in other areas.

“We have a songfest at our team dinner before the season begins and each freshman has to stand up and sing any song,” McKillop said. “Most pick some popular song of the day. When Ali was a freshman, he got up and sang a Turkish song, something that had had learned in school as a child. It would be like one of our players singing Hickory Dickory Dock. He was so animated about it. That was very courageous to put himself in front of the team like that. I thought it made a statement of his confidence and the pride he had for his country.”

Ton may list his favorite author as Dr. Seuss and his favorite book as “Green Eggs and Ham,” but his favorite actor is, of course, Illyas Salman. His favorite food, doner kebab.

In other words, he is far from being American-ized.

Much of Ton’s makeup can be attributed to a family of high achievers. His grandmother was the first woman to be a president of a Turkish soccer team. His father was a mechanical engineer, besides playing and coaching. His mother is a pharmacist. His sister Zeynep was a standout volleyball player at Penn State and helped the Nittany Lions reach the NCAA title match in 1993. She now attends Harvard Business School.

Ali excelled at basketball at a young age. He was short, but the genes were right. His father played for 20 years, when the sport was in its infancy in Turkey.

After his playing days, Necmi coached club teams as a hobby, but his main focus was his textile export business. Business was hard, so much so that coaching was even endorsed as healthier.

Doctors told him to give up the the export company four years ago because of his heart problems. But they OKd coaching. He went directly into the professional ranks.

Basketball, though, could be stressful around the house.

“Ali tried out for a club team in the third grade and my wife made me go help coach,” Ton said. “We ended up cutting Ali because he was so small. Everyone was angry with me when I got home.

“Ali was always small. When he was 12, he was the mascot for my 17-18 team. He would put on some halftime show, making baskets from all over. One game, we were playing a team that had a very short player. Ali kept telling me, ‘I’m going to play now.’ I said, ‘No, you can’t.’ He said, ‘Poppa, I must play against him. You’re going to lose the game.’ ”

Desire was never Ali’s problem. Choosing between education and athletics was.

In Turkey, there are no college athletics. Ali Ton said you either go to college or you join one of the club teams that feed the professional teams. The Tons found a third option.

“One day, I told my dad that I was going to go with a friend to his beach house,” Ali said. “My father said to me, ‘If you come with me to my office, you can go to America.’ ”

Two weeks later, Ton was in Los Alamitos, where his uncle lived. He entered Los Alamitos High as a sophomore, but sat out one season under Southern Section rules. He spent the year as team manager.

“He would have started,” Los Alamitos Coach Steve Brooks said. “He was probably the only team manager in basketball history who was better than the starters.

“Our players had to get used to him. He has an uncanny knack for getting the ball to people. They weren’t always ready for it. It took a year before our kids were in tune to playing with him.”

In a 1995 playoff game, Ton ran circles around Santa Ana Valley’s Olujimi Mann, then considered one of the top point guards in the California. Ton finished with 27 points, 11 assists and seven steals.

Afterward, he leaped into a mass of Los Alamitos students, then ran over to Brooks and leaped into his arms.

“He has so much passion for the game and plays with a sense of energy,” McKillop said. “When he makes mistakes, it’s not from lack of effort. He has no fear of failure.”

The source of which was at home.

“I was raised in an atmosphere where basketball was everything,” Ton said. “I’m not the most talented guy or the quickest guy. What I have is a big heart to be a leader. I can overcome the disabilities I have on the court that way.

“My father taught me that the most important thing was to work harder than everyone else. That’s what got me this far.”

Necmi is there to see that for himself. After the college season, he will return to Turkey, where he will coach again. Ali said that, after his senior year, he will go back to Turkey to play.

For now, they are together.

“Tuborg fired the team president recently and called to ask me to come back,” Ton said. “I told them, not this season. This season is for my son.”