Staying Strong

The silence that surrounds Lester Strong catches him by surprise.

“Man, I am not used to this,” Strong said as he walked across the almost deserted Moorpark College campus. “It was always loud where I grew up. Always something going on.”

Strong, 19, grew up the hard way. From the poverty of Denver’s inner-city housing projects, he endured the death of his mother in August and has fought to maintain his dream of playing basketball at a higher level than junior college.

It’s at Moorpark where Strong has taken his first steps into a new life.

Gifted with raw ability, his unpolished talent inspires awe.

Cursed with the burdens of the past, his innocence has moved teammates to rally around him.

“I don’t know how he deals with what he’s been through,” said Remy McCarthy, Moorpark’s coach.

Players rave about the 6-foot-7 center and coaches regard him as a prospect.

But Strong remains humble.

“With all that ability and size, he comes to practice with an attitude like a 5-foot-6 slow, fat guy who’s scared he’ll get cut,” McCarthy said.

Strong has found a home with the Raiders. If he meets academic requirements, he’ll play next season for NCAA Division II national champion Metropolitan State College of Denver and Coach Mike Dunlap, formerly of Cal Lutheran.

“Lester is very humble,” Dunlap said. “Anything he gets, he appreciates. Lester, by life’s circumstances, has been kicked around a lot. Now he’s getting a chance to break that chain.”

Strong knows the opportunity is there.

“My mom taught me it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it matters where you go,” Strong said. “Don’t let anybody tell you it can’t be done. Be proud of who you are.”

Lester’s mother, Pernester Strong, was 44 when she died in August after a 19-month battle with cancer. Soon after, Lester came to Moorpark.

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Dunlap had never seen anything like it.

The Cal Lutheran coach from 1989-94, he arrived at Metro State in 1997 after three years in Australia. Dunlap turned the Roadrunners into the Division II national champions with a 33-4 record last season.

Recruiting in the inner-city goes with the job. But nothing in Dunlap’s career prepared him for Strong.

“In this business, you see kids who come from poverty,” Dunlap said. “Lester is from the extreme end of the spectrum.”

Dunlap vividly recalls the home visit.

“It was 15 people in a living room the size of a shoe box,”Dunlap said.

Despite the hardships, Strong flourished. Playing at the large-schools 5-A level in Colorado, he led the state in blocked shots for two seasons. In his senior season, he averaged 24 points and 18 rebounds.

“There was a piece of flooring next to the couch,” Dunlap recalled. “I asked Lester, ‘Where do you sleep?’ Lester pointed to the floor and said, ‘There.’ ”

Poverty was a way of life for Strong. His father, Lester Sr., worked at a fast-food restaurant.

It was on the streets of the South Lincoln projects that Strong got his basketball education.

There was never money to play in organized leagues, so Strong played blacktop ball with the local hot shots, most of them older and headed down a decidedly different career path.

He points to scars and chipped teeth from elbows to the mouth.

“I learned how to play basketball with the gangbangers,” Strong said. “But they weren’t bad guys with me. They were good guys to me. They all told me not to do what they were doing. In the projects, everyone sees everyone the same. I guess it’s because everyone is poor. We’re all in it together.”

The playground players were the first to see how good Strong could be. Everyone could see it but Strong.

His awareness grew in high school when he was discovered by John Andrews, the coach at Kennedy High in Denver.

“He has always been a little naive about how good he really is,” Andrews said. “It’s part of who he is. He’s genuine. There’s not a mean bone in his body. He loves everyone. He’s not bitter about his life. That’s the amazing thing. He’s grateful.”

Strong’s affable personality allowed him to fit in with privileged students who had no inkling of his background. He carried that trait to Moorpark.

“Anyone else sees themselves as a victim,” Andrews said.

Dunlap saw the same quality.

“Everyone who meets Lester instantly cares for him,” he said. “He has that unusual ability to make people like him.”

Strong’s teammates at Moorpark can vouch for that.

“He came out here with absolutely nothing,” forward Trevor Lorz said. “But it doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t ask for help. He just smiles and gets by. It’s amazing.”

Strong’s survival skills touch those near him.

“I remember what he told me,” Andrews said. “Lester said, ‘Coach, I think I’ve got more character than I have basketball ability.’ ”

With his basketball future in sight, Strong had to watch his mother slowly lose her fight with cancer.

“It should have been the time of his life,” Andrews said.

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Sometimes in the locker room, Moorpark players will notice Strong sitting alone with his head in his hands. The smile is gone. His eyes wander. The memory returns.

“The funniest thing was wrestling with my mom,” Strong said. “She’d win. She’d know that I would laugh. She knew my soft spots.”

Lester Sr. and Pernester Strong raised seven children.

“His mother was his lifeline,” Dunlap said.

As her cancer spread to her brain, Strong struggled.

“I thought I was done with basketball,” he said. “I didn’t love the game anymore.”

To make matters worse, Strong learned he had failed to qualify on the ACT, voiding his scholarship to Metro State for the 2000-01 season.

That’s when Dunlap stepped in. He called McCarthy. The coaches have a close relationship dating to Dunlap’s career at Cal Lutheran. Both thought a new environment would benefit Strong.

“It was a matter of necessity,” Dunlap said.

What Strong lacked in wealth he made up with supporters.

“I still cry every now and then,” Strong said. “I have no shame. Good thing about [Moorpark] is that these guys can tell when it has been hard on me. Or when my mind is not there in practice.”

Helping Strong cope became as important as finding him a place to play.

“We let him say what he needed,” Dunlap said. “Lester has simple needs. We hung in there and connected with him.”

While Strong grieved, Dunlap arranged to protect his prospect with McCarthy.

“He called me up one day and said, ‘How’d you like a Division I [caliber] player this [season]?’ ” McCarthy said.

Before he left Denver, Strong had his mother’s initials tattooed close to his heart.

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McCarthy’s eyes lit up when he saw Strong play.

“My God,” McCarthy recalled, “there’s no doubt this kid could play at the Division I level.”

In his first game, Strong had 16 points and 12 rebounds. In six of Moorpark’s first 11 games, Strong had double figures in points and rebounds.

Before the season, McCarthy told his team what Strong endured.

“Right there, I said, ‘I gotta take care of this guy,’ ” guard Devin Montgomery said. “Everyone has to help out.”

Lorz offered to share his apartment with Strong.

“You’d have no idea what this kid has been through,” Lorz said. “He’s been so steady.

“We’re from different backgrounds money-wise. Stuff like that doesn’t matter with Lester. He brings [the team] together.”

Montgomery, who played at Alemany, invited Strong to his home for Thanksgiving, which was also Strong’s 19th birthday.

“We wanted him to be part of the family,” Montgomery said. “Even more when we found out about his mom passing. I would want someone to take care of me in that situation.”

In a world far removed from his life in the projects, Strong has found a home in Moorpark.

“When I came out here, it was scary,” Strong said. “Now I feel confident knowing that these guys are here for me.”

His play has reflected it. He had a season-high 33 points and 18 rebounds in Moorpark’s 95-65 victory over West L.A. on Dec. 6.

McCarthy says the focus is on Strong’s future.

“Getting this kid a career is the goal,” he said. “He knows he has an opportunity to achieve despite where he is from and what he has been through. That’s what everyone wants for Lester Strong.”