His Father’s Son
Chris Ferguson, a 6-foot-1 guard, looks back on his childhood and realizes now that his destiny was to be a basketball player.
During Ferguson’s formative years, his father, Jim, was the boys’ basketball coach at Long Beach Wilson and Chris and his older brother, Jeff, were ball boys for the team.
Jeff, 21, who competes on the golf team at Texas Christian didn’t show a penchant for basketball, but Chris turned into a gym rat.
That’s one of the reasons Chris has become one of Orange County’s top guards. He is averaging 16 points for No. 8-ranked Irvine (13-3), which opens Sea View League play tonight at 7 at No. 5 Newport Harbor (15-2).
Much of Irvine’s success this season can be attributed to Ferguson, a three-year varsity starter who has signed with the University of San Diego. Vaquero Coach Steve Keith doesn’t hesitate to call Ferguson “our go-to guy since his sophomore year” and Ferguson’s importance hasn’t been lost on his teammates either.
“You grow up watching the game and seeing the game being played and you want to do that, too,” Irvine guard Matt Hardeman said. “I think when you live like that, things get implanted in your head. That’s what Chris has done. Being around the game all the time has helped him so much.”
Ferguson, whose family moved to Irvine from Cerritos when he was 12, isn’t the typical guard found on many county teams. Instead of waiting on the perimeter for a pass, he is more likely to drive the key looking for a shot.
Jim Ferguson, who coached at Wilson from 1977 to 1992, attributes that to the fact that Chris, at times three and four years younger than his teammates, playing on several traveling summer teams with some of the best players from southeast Los Angeles County.
“There is a style of play that runs in different areas,” Jim Ferguson said. “In L.A. and Long Beach, players have a tendency to play on teams that half-court trap because coaches try to run systems that fit the kind of athletes they have. Chris basically played in a lot of games which, maybe, were a bit different than if he had grown up in southern Orange County.
“Whether it influenced his style of play,” he continued, “I’d say that if you play with people who stretch you and you are able to compete fairly well with them, then, in Chris’ case, he [became better] athletically at a young age.”
Chris Ferguson said he wasn’t influenced so much by his father’s profession, but more by learning to appreciate the fine points of basketball at a younger age than most kids.
“It’s just what I wanted to do,” he said. “I started playing it and I loved it. It wasn’t like my dad was telling me to do it because he wanted me to. It was me wanting to do it.”
Keith said Ferguson brings many intangibles to the floor, most notably, a “coach’s son mentality.”
“He plays real hard and is a joy to coach,” Keith said. “When your best player can set the tone, intensity-wise, it’s easy for everyone to step up.”
Newport Harbor Coach Larry Hirst says, in jest, he wishes Ferguson would have stayed in Cerritos.
“He’s [Irvine’s] catalyst,” Hirst said. “He does as a basketball player what you want all your kids to do. He’s the complete player. He’s not just a shooter, but he’s a passer and rebounder. He’s a scorer and he makes everyone around him better.”
Keith and Hirst agreed that their teams have developed quite a rivalry over the last three seasons.
Tonight’s league opener is a rematch of this season’s Irvine World News tournament championship game, which the Sailors won, 50-37. Newport Harbor used as many as three defenders to slow Ferguson, who finished with 14 points.
“The second half we came out and made too many mental mistakes,” Ferguson said. “They went on a run and got the momentum. This time, we have to try not to make those mistakes.
“Our natural rivalry is Woodbridge,” he continued. “But Newport and us have been going at it since I’ve been here.”