Dickau: Idol Is Family's Heirloom

DAN DICKAU takes inspiration from a player who was idolized by his father, Randy Dickau - "Pistol" Pete Maravich.

The video images from a generation ago are all that remain of a man years ahead of his time - the low-tops and floppy socks, the between-the-legs dribble and passing sizzle. He not only could play the game, he could entertain, he could dazzle and, in what would be his lasting legacy, he could inspire.

"Pistol" Pete Maravich died more than 10 years ago, yet he's forever young, his end-to-end court frolics frozen in time as well as in the mind of Dan Dickau, a freshman guard for the University of Washington basketball team.

"Watching his highlight films, you see all the creativity he brought to the game," Dickau said. "When he was playing, the simple behind-the-back passes or between-the-legs dribble were like, `What's this guy doing?' But he made it so common, that now if you're not dribbling between your legs, people call you `old school.' He started the trend toward creativity."

There are so many players now who are so much more creative, an 18-year-old has an array of role models. Everyone wants to be like Mike, yet this youngster from Vancouver derives the core of his inspiration from a player who ended his NBA career when Dickau was 2 and died before Dickau reached fourth grade.

Why Maravich, when there are so many current stars just a touch of the remote control away? It's a son gravitating to the hero of

his father.

"My dad always knew I cared about the history of basketball, and the one guy he seemed to always talk about was Maravich," Dickau said. "I seemed to like him the most."

Randy Dickau fostered in his son that appreciation by buying him Maravich highlight tapes, instructional videos and scores of trading cards. Dan has at least 120 Maravich cards, including two rookie cards for which he paid $3. They're now worth more than $200 each.

"I'm never going to sell them," Dan Dickau said. "I want to keep them so when I have kids I can tell them about Maravich and show them my cards."

Randy Dickau, a pharmaceutical sales manager, was a devotee of Maravich. He saw him in person in the late 1960s when Maravich-led Louisiana State visited Oregon. He came away bedazzled. Randy and his wife, Judy, would eventually settle in Vancouver and raise two children, Amy, who is a UW senior, and Dan.

Both children played basketball and were coached in their early years by their father. There were long hours, driving to games, watching games on the couch, or just sitting around the dinner table when they talked basketball, past and future.

"A lot of times I think of him more my friend than my dad. We have an open relationship and basketball always clicked with us. We like the same kind of players, like, of course, Michael Jordan, Stephon Marbury, John Stockton, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd."

And Pistol Pete.

"You can't stifle reactions. It's a game of creativity and you have to give them freedom to play it," said Randy, who coached his son from third to eighth grade. His philosophy was to give his son the same encouragement and freedom to perform as he believed Maravich's father, Press, allowed his son.

Dan made the varsity as a freshman and lettered all four years. His senior year, he averaged 20 points and seven assists to guide Prairie to a 22-4 record and a berth in the Class AAA state semifinals. Prairie lost to Mercer Island.

He chose Washington over Stanford, Pepperdine, Tulsa and Portland, mainly because he felt he could play immediately. Playing behind two seniors, Jan Wooten and Chris Thompson, he averages about nine minutes a game. That may increase after his exceptional effort Saturday against UCLA in which he played the final 12 minutes of the Huskies' ill-fated comeback, hitting a couple three-pointers and dishing four assists.

Tomorrow night, the Huskies will be challenged by Arizona and one of the best perimeter units in the nation, featuring Mike Bibby and Player of the Year candidate Miles Simon.

"Based on his performance Saturday, I'll probably use him earlier and for more minutes," Washington Coach Bob Bender said of Dickau. "He has really gotten challenged in practice with Jan and Chris. That has made him a lot tougher, mentally. But you have to be in a game like that (UCLA), to fully understand what it's like and see how you respond. He responded very well.

"It's a game like that that should justify all his hard work and how far he has come."

That journey began before Dickau was born. It started with his father and his father's idol.

"There are times when I'm on the floor and my mind floats ahead, times when I want to throw a behind-the-back pass or a scoop shot just like Pete did," Dan said.

He restrains himself for now. But someday.