Ticket Out Of Texas Trouble -- For Cougar Neil Derrick, Basketball Was Path From Past Problems

Neil Derrick's high-school coach in Texas once offered this assessment of the talented but trouble-prone guard:

``That kid's going to be in the NBA, unless he's shot or killed.''

These days, Coach Lane Norsworthy of Garland High School outside Dallas is getting encouraging news. He's alive and doing well in Pullman. Derrick is a team leader for the Washington State Cougars and a standout on the most surprising team in the Pac-10.

Norsworthy's comment about Derrick's uncertain future wasn't made idly. Consider:

-- Derrick's oldest brother, John, was shot and killed in an Oklahoma City parking lot in 1983 at age 26. Police suspected the case was drug-related.

-- Another brother, Richard, was convicted of possession of a controlled substance.

-- Derrick himself got in so much trouble in high school he was suspended his senior year. He still wonders how he would have done that season because it was the first for the three-point basket rule. Norsworthy estimates Derrick would have averaged 50 points a game.

Violence marked Derrick's childhood. His father died when he was 10. His mother wasn't around after school because she worked nights in a nursing home to support the family of four boys and two girls. Derrick figures he was in at least one fight a week. One of his friends was involved in an argument over a girlfriend and was fatally shot five times in the head.

Life improved for Derrick when he left Garland for Trinity Valley Junior College in Athens, 80 miles south of Dallas. It is the same school where Shawn Kemp enrolled but didn't play before jumping to the NBA and the SuperSonics.

At Trinity Valley, Derrick was coached by Leon Spencer, who in 27 years, has established a reputation for firmness and fairness. One of the assistants was Kip Motta, who later moved to Washington State and now is a Sonic aide.

Derrick passed his high-school equivalency exam on his first attempt. Then, inexplicably, he left the school during his freshman year. Spencer called him in Garland and said, ``You're throwing away a great opportunity to help yourself.''

Derrick returned and accepted the extra running Spencer dished out as punishment. Spencer said Derrick never caused another problem and turned into a leader by example.

``I don't know if I ever had a player who was willing to work harder defensively in practice than Neil,'' Spencer added.

Derrick averaged 27 points last season on a 19-12 team and was heavily recruited as a third-team All-American.

With Motta and WSU head coach Kelvin Sampson recruiting him, he picked the Cougars over Auburn, Cincinnati, Colorado, Texas A&M and Texas Christian. ``Basically, I chose Washington State because of the coaches and the conference,'' said Derrick.

Sampson admits there were some risks in recruiting Derrick, but Derrick defused them.

``He looked me in the eye,'' Sampson said. ``He wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere when we talked. He said, `Yes, sir' and `No, sir.' I asked him point-blank about some of the things about his past. I liked what I was hearing.''

Sampson told Derrick, ``If you come to Washington State, I'm probably going to press you harder off the court and in the classroom than on the court.''

Derrick earned a 2.5-grade point average his first semester as a criminal-justice major. He wants to become a probation officer.

On the court, he averages 15.6 points for the Cougars (7-6, 15-8), who play at Washington tomorrow afternoon at 3.

Derrick is enjoying life in Pullman.

``It's like night and day from Dallas,'' he said. ``Everyone is so friendly up here.''

The Derrick family carved a big reputation in Dallas-area basketball. The Derrick lineup: John, who was headed to Memphis State but became a small-college All-American at Cameron University in Oklahoma; Larry, the most trouble-free brother; Neil, and Richard, something of a Texas basketball gypsy.

Richard signed with Texas-El Paso in 1986 but stayed only a month. He enrolled at North Texas and a community college before playing last season as a freshman at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas.

``Throw in another guard and you'd have gotten an NCAA bid,'' Fred Jackson, who runs a recreation center in Garland, told the Dallas Morning News.

Derrick was good enough to start as a 14-year-old freshman for Garland High in the backcourt with Mookie Blaylock of the New Jersey Nets. Richard was a senior.

``You should have seen our practices,'' Norsworthy said. ``You couldn't see a more intense practice situation. Neil was 6-2 and Richard was 6-8 and they would just dunk on each other. That's how Neil learned to dunk - with big 6-8 arms standing over him. They would really get into some battles out there.''

Unhappy with some of his recent games, Derrick shaved his head before last Saturday's game at Oregon State and has taken some ribbing from people who say he now looks like ex-Sonic Xavier McDaniel. With his skinned head, Derrick responded with a 19-point performance in an overtime loss to the Beavers.

Derrick shaved his head because he wanted to ``start all over again.''

It also may explain why he went to Trinity Valley and Washington State.