Dad Scores Points by Playing With Son

EUREKA, Calif. — At first, starting forward Issac Gildea couldn’t settle on a name for the new guy on his College of the Redwoods basketball squad--the scrappy, hard-bodied little recruit with the shoulder tattoos and the receding hairline.

“In the beginning I was calling him Frank but it just didn’t feel right,” the 20-year-old recalled. “So I just started saying Dad.”

At the normally out-of-shape age of 41, Frank Gildea plays on the same community college basketball team as his second-oldest son. The two are believed to be the only father-son duo ever to play the sport side by side at the collegiate level, U.S. college athletic officials say.

For Frank Gildea--who played starting forward for College of the Redwoods during the 1981 season but left school before using up his basketball eligibility--racing up and down the court alongside young Issac is more than just a matter of “Does the old man still have it?”

It’s a unique opportunity to continue a father-son togetherness that began a generation ago when a young dad decided to stay athletically competitive with his growing family of four children.

So this year the elder Gildea left his post as the team’s assistant coach and re-enrolled as a student at the school, using his remaining year of eligibility to once again take a spot on the player’s roster. As a substitute, he averages five minutes a game, occasionally playing alongside Issac, the team’s leading scorer.

“Just to be on the same court with Issac, to have that time together, is very special to Frank,” said his wife, Linda. “Because he knows it could be the last time before his middle son leaves home. And so for Frank, every game is precious. He’s holding on to the moment for as long as we can.”

Frank Gildea is a quiet man who works two jobs--as a high school gym teacher and a fireworks distributor--to support his family of six. He prefers to express himself through his basketball playing.

But sometimes the rare opportunity to play alongside his son overwhelms him. “It’s great just to have the ability to maybe be an inspiration to him and others,” he said. “Maybe some other dad will take his son out in the driveway to play ball because of what Issac and I are doing.”

The father-son story has captured the imagination of the community, which has turned out in force to watch the team play. It doesn’t hurt that the Corsairs are having their best season in nearly a quarter of a century.

Nowadays, more than 1,000 people pack into the little gym where the Corsairs play their home games--quite a turnaround from two years ago, when only 10 or 20 die-hards would bother to show up.

On Saturday, the team beat rival Lassen College in double overtime to earn a share of the conference title for the first time since Richard Nixon was president--turning away more than 300 disappointed fans from their packed home gym. This weekend, the Corsairs will play in the state’s junior college postseason tournament.

All around this picturesque, woodsy campus, located 300 miles north of San Francisco, fans have found their own name for the strong-willed substitute who’s older than the referees and whose on-court hustle often shows up players less than half his age.

They call him “Papa G.”

When Frank Gildea checks into a game, the “Go Papa G!!” placards rise and the foot stomping rumbles like indoor thunder. At times, the 6-foot, 170-pound Frank spells his taller son. The two have developed an on-court greeting: They high-five and often slip in a little hug. The fans go wild.

So far, Frank hasn’t heard any razzing from opposing players. No teenage taunting. No nicknames like “Gramps” or “Old School.” And so what if he only averages 2 points a game, compared to his son’s 22?

Papa G, the fans say, still has game. Frank Gildea beat out several younger players to make the squad and continues to compete with teammates for playing time.

“When the old man checks in, you’re not afraid he’s gonna let you down,” said student Casper Vandermei, the leader of a court-side zoo of vociferous fans who cheer for Frank the moment he hits the hardwood.

“He’s not just a mascot. The old boy can play. And at age 41, he can still dunk the ball. Can you imagine that?”

Frank Gildea can. He’s a gym rat who can still bench press 300 pounds while carrying just 3% body fat--a man whose looks are still so youthful that it’s hard to distinguish him at a distance from the other players.

“Just because you’re 41 doesn’t mean you have to fit into some mold,” Frank said. “I’m not over the hill. When I got to the top of that rise, I looked out and saw a long plateau. And I haven’t come down yet.”

Growing up in Azusa, Gildea was a natural athlete who after two years in community college earned a football scholarship in 1979 to play defensive back and punter at Kansas State University, an NCAA Division I school. After a knee injury ended his football career during the first season, Gildea--already a husband and father--moved back West, this time to Northern California.

“I had a picture of a Redwood tree in my living room back at Kansas,” he said. “And a friend of mine said ‘I know a place that looks just like that.’ So I headed for Eureka.”

Frank worked full time while taking classes at the local community college. One day during gym class, he was spotted by the school’s basketball coach, Bill Treglown, who immediately realized the considerable talents of this outsider at a college dominated by locals.

Gildea started the 1980-81 season for the Corsairs--averaging 10 points a game--often bringing the infant Issac to practices in a hand-held crib, once carrying him along on the bus during a road trip to Oregon. He left school after that year.

As the years passed, Issac developed into a basketball player in his own right--pushed along by a devoutly religious and demanding father who never let up on any of his four children, whether it was playing pickup basketball, tennis or even Ping-Pong.

For Issac, his brothers Elijah and Noah--even for 14-year-old sister Alesha--having Frank as a dad has been like having another brother. For wife, Linda, having Frank for a husband is like having another son.

“Does Frank like to beat us all at any sport? Yes, he does,” she said. “I always hoped he would lose just once in a while. But he never did. It was never mean-spirited. The kids just kept coming back for more.”

As Issac grew, his dad became his coach. At home, the younger Gildea said, it wasn’t until he entered high school that he finally beat his father one-on-one.

“He took it OK, I guess,” Issac recalls. “He told me that if he didn’t let me win once in a while, I’d go crying to Mom.”

Recently, Frank has played alongside both Issac and Elijah in a city recreational league. But when Issac began playing for the hometown Corsairs, his dad had his first thoughts about making a college comeback.

Nearly 20 years after Frank Gildea first played for him, Coach Treglown was glad to have him back in the lineup. He had been an assistant coach the year before.

“He’s a father of four who works two jobs, takes a full load of college courses and yet he’s never asked for a day off,” said Treglown, the team’s coach of 29 years, who is known to fans and players as “Coach Tregs.” “He embarrasses the kids who aren’t working as hard. Watching him, they can’t say ‘I haven’t got time.’ ”

Frank hustles at every practice, especially when guarding Issac. That’s when the old rivalry returns. Frank said: “I laugh when Coach razzes him, saying ‘Hey, Issac, that was a 41-year-old man who just blew past you.’ ”

But come game time, Frank’s fatherly instincts return. Like the time some player gave Issac a cheap shot, knocking him to the floor. Dad almost jumped off the bench and went after him.

“When I see him outnumbered on a fast break, I think ‘I better get down there. My son’s in trouble.’ I’m still a father, after all.”

Coach Tregs said he laughed out loud the first time he heard Issac yell “I’m open Dad, give me the ball!” The unique matchup of this father-and-son team isn’t lost on Treglown, who has coached his own son.

“I used to say ‘How many dads get the chance to coach their own kid?’ For me, that was about as good as it gets. But Frank has taken it a step further. He’s pulled off the neatest thing a father can do.”

But like all seasons, this one too will soon come to an end.

So far, Issac, who is in his second year with the Corsairs, is not sure where he will play next year; he is considering leaving the area to attend a four-year school at the end of his community college days. Although he will not admit it, Frank wants his son to stick around and perhaps play for Humboldt State. He gets a bit misty-eyed even talking about Issac leaving home.

For now, though, Frank Gildea and his boy Issac are living as large as the Redwoods that tower above their tiny campus. After the Corsairs recently beat rival Shasta College in overtime, Issac knew exactly whom to seek out first to begin the postgame celebration.

“It’s moments like that I’ll always remember,” he said. “Not just to hug your dad after a big game, but to embrace him as both a father and a teammate. Wow, how do you ever top that?”