Rivers Knows About Life, Now He Learns Play -- Ex-Irish Guard Would Like To Rejoin NBA, But Knows It's Just A Game

When he awakens every morning, David Rivers isn't consumed by the thought of again playing in the National Basketball Association.

The two seasons he spent as a 6-foot reserve point guard with NBA's best and worst teams - the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers - were nice. But they weren't the end all to his existence.

"They say the NBA is bigger than life," said Rivers, 26, a former Notre Dame All-American who has become a World Basketball League all-star in his first season with the Memphis Rockers. "But I don't believe it is because there are so many other things that can please a person.

"One is just being alive."

David Rivers stared at the beautiful Indiana night. The sky was clear, the moon was full, and he could hear the crickets chirping in the silence of the countryside.

And he was dying.

In the wee hours of Aug. 24, 1986, near the intersection of County Roads 1 and 30 near Goshen, Ind., Rivers was thrown through a windshield of a van driven by Notre Dame teammate Ken Barlow.

Barlow and Rivers were returning to the home of Dean Gongwer, a caterer who employed and housed several Irish players during the summer. When a car ran a stop sign on County Road 30, Barlow hit the brakes, the van skidded on the gravel road, ran off the right side, went airborne and flipped.

Barlow and Rivers weren't wearing seat belts. While Barlow went bouncing toward the back of the van, suffering a gashed leg, Rivers

crashed through the windshield on the van's first flip.

He rolled into a ditch. He had a 15-inch cut across his abdomen - "Hip to hip," he said.

Barlow crawled out of the van 96 feet away - more than the length of a basketball court - found Rivers, told him not to die and left to call for help.

So there was Rivers, alone and bleeding to death in a countryside ditch. He bent his left leg with his knee trying to touch his chest to prevent his insides from spilling out.

"I just knew that was it for me," Rivers said. "After a few minutes, I accepted it. I was looking for my Maker and I knew I was going to Heaven.

"But then I was kind of disappointed I was going to die that way. I didn't want it to happen like that. I wanted to have someone in my family there just to tell them I loved them. I wasn't sad I was dying. I wanted someone to be there to hear my final words. I think the disappointment I felt helped me hang on."

When he was wheeled into Elkhart General Hospital for the start of a three-hour operation, Irish players such as Scott Hicks were there to hold his hand.

"We tried to ease his pain," said Hicks, who has been re-united with Rivers as a Rockers guard. "I was trying to encourage him. But from looking at his injury, it got so bad after a while that I felt faint and the doctors had to tend to me."

Fifteen staples closed the sliced abdomen and left him bent over like an old man. The cut had somehow missed vital organs, but Rivers was aware more than ever how precious life can be.

Fifteen weeks after the accident, following rehabilitation that included biking, swimming and jogging, Rivers climbed back as Notre Dame's starting point guard.

During the rehab and comeback, he gained a friend who would become his wife - the former Shannon Walsh. And there were other admirers, such as Indiana coach Bob Knight, who said, "Here's a kid who's what's right with college athletics."

Those who knew Rivers from his high school days at St. Anthony's in Jersey City, N.J., already realized he was something special.

One of 14 children born to Mamie and Willie Joseph Rivers, David worked numerous odd jobs so he could pay tuition to attend a private high school.

Along the way, he saw the ugliness of the inner city. Around him were violence (one of his brothers was stabbed to death, another brother died after accidently being hit by a truck), drugs and school dropouts.

Rivers rose from the rubble. He was a four-year starter at Notre Dame in 1984-88, leading the Irish to 20 victories or more and the NCAA tournament every year. He became the Irish's third all-time leading scorer with 2,058 points and the school's career assist leader.

Then-Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps said Rivers made everyone around him better.

"David always knew what the other nine people on the court were doing. He helped a lot of players get drafted by the NBA because of his unselfishness," Phelps said.

Rivers graduated from Notre Dame in four years with a bachelors degree in psychology, then was drafted by the world champion Lakers in the first round of the 1988 draft.

"It was like I was living my dream," Rivers said.

After averaging 2.9 points and 2.3 assists in 47 games with the Lakers, he was left unprotected in the expansion draft. He was drafted by Minnesota, released in November 1989 and then signed with the Clippers, for whom he averaged 4.2 points and three assists.

By then, he had been branded by NBA coaches as a shaky outside shooter (40.4 percent) and an unsteady ball handler who knew how to push a fast break but didn't know how to control an offense.

When the Clippers didn't re-sign him, Rivers realized he would have to play year-round to get back to the NBA.

This past season for Tulsa in the Continental Basketball Association, he averaged 16 points and 7.6 assists and shot an improved 46.9 percent.

With the Rockers, he's averaging 11.6 points and 6.5 assists and is shooting 46.6 percent. Most importantly, he's showing he knows how to run an offense to Coach Ron Ekker's liking.

"Five or 10 years ago in the NBA, it wasn't important that a point guard knew how to run a team," Ekker said. "That's changed, and David is proving he can do that for us. He's a thinker who has become like a second coach out on the floor."

Rivers, who said he has taken criticism of NBA coaches and worked on his weaknesses, said this summer is an important one in his career.

"This is the first year I've played all year trying to get back in the NBA," Rivers said. "I want to show people I'm active, my skills are sharp and that I'm healthy.

"The real challenge is if all of this works out and I do sign a contract for next season, I'm going to have to sustain that effort for 82 more games and maybe the playoffs. It's a tough business, but this is what you have to do if you want stay in it and survive."