Burleson adds finishing touch to family's high-school era tomorrow

Every shot, every dribble, brings him closer to the end. It will all be over by Saturday night, a season, a high-school career, even an era. That's why this week is so important to Lyndale Burleson. He has spent practically his whole life in a gymnasium, and he wants these memories to be special.

"I really want to win," said Burleson, a senior on the Franklin High School boys basketball team. "If we don't make it to Saturday, it would be a disappointment."

Burleson, a 6-foot-3 guard, is the last of the celebrated Burleson clan, the fourth of Al and Valerie's four sons who for the better part of the past decade have made headlines for their athletic exploits.

Tomorrow, he will lead the fifth-ranked and defending state champion Quakers (19-4) against top-ranked Bethel (23-1) at 10:30 a.m. at the Tacoma Dome in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament.

"I'm the last one," said Burleson of his place in family history. "So it's kind of big for me to leave on a good note."

The Burleson family tree has long shaded the landscape of Seattle sports.

Lyndale's father, Al, played football at the University of Washington and is best known for his 93-yard interception return for a touchdown that sparked a dramatic come-from-behind win in the 1975 Apple Cup.

Alvin, the oldest brother, also played football at Washington after graduating from Garfield High in 1995.

Kevin, a star basketball player, and Nate, a standout in football, went on to have decorated careers at Minnesota and Nevada, respectively, after graduating from O'Dea in 1998 and '99. Both still are playing, Kevin in a professional basketball league in Germany, Nate in the NFL as a wide receiver with the Minnesota Vikings.

And now comes Lyndale.

"It really is (an end of an era)," said Al Burleson. "I feel really blessed to have four boys who were able to reach some of their goals in sports, and stay out of trouble and be God-fearing kids. They're all really good young men that would make a dad proud."

Amongst the brothers, Lyndale says he is most like Kevin. Both were gripped by basketball at an early age. Lyndale said he grew up spending hours in local gymnasiums and neighborhood basketball courts. The game was more than a pastime. It was a passion.

"I would hoop all day, come in late at night and do the same thing the next day," Burleson said. "It was just something I had to do. I never got tired of it."

"He was just a basketball junkie," said Adam Sedlik, who has coached Burleson since the latter was a sixth grader playing with the seventh graders in the Rotary Select summer program.

Along the way, Burleson dabbled in other sports. He turned out briefly for track as a freshman at O'Dea, winning his heat of the 200-meter dash in his first-ever race. Some people have said he tried football, too, but that was only a rumor.

"I went to one practice, just to watch," Burleson said. "I was clowning around with a helmet, and word got around that I was playing football."

The truth of the matter is nothing has quite held his attention like basketball.

"I don't know what it is," he said. "I had a drive to play basketball. I knew if I went out for football, I wouldn't have given it 100 percent. In basketball, I wanted to be the best. I wanted to be the best Burleson. I wanted to go out on top."

After two years at O'Dea, a family hardship necessitated a transfer to Franklin where Burleson was united last year with summer teammate, and current Oregon point guard, Aaron Brooks. It proved to be a magical combination for the Quakers, who won 20 consecutive games to end the season, including a 67-55 triumph over Mead of Spokane in the state final.

But eight seniors graduated from that team, leaving Franklin's fortunes largely in the hands of Burleson and fellow senior John Rogers, also a returning starter. The two have been pillars this season with Burleson averaging 19.9 points and 5.1 assists, and Rogers averaging 13.4 points and 9.7 rebounds. But more than that, they have been leaders.

Franklin coach Jason Kerr did little things to prepare them for those roles. At a team tournament last summer, for example, he left the coaching duties in their hands. For one game, they were responsible for everything. They called timeouts, made substitutions and diagrammed the offense.

They did everything but play.

"I got mad at them," said Burleson, laughing. "I called a timeout and yelled at them."

But that was just the beginning. With Brooks no longer around, Burleson has had to fill other roles as well. His scoring has increased this season. And the big shots that used to go to Brooks at the end of games last year are now going to him. On top of it all, he's still playing arguably the best on-ball defense of anybody in the region, if not the state.

"We've asked a lot of him," Kerr said.

And Burleson has answered every time. He worked especially hard over the offseason on his jump shot, which was the one area of his game some people said was lacking.

He would rise early last summer, sometimes at 6 a.m., grab his basketball and walk a few minutes to a court near his house, where he'd shoot jumper after jumper into the misty dawn.

"It wasn't out of anger," Burleson said. "It was just that I'm going to prove some people wrong this year."

He had plenty of time to think on those lonely mornings, and his thoughts were always the same.

"This season," he said, "that's all."

The drama began building Sunday morning at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's headquarters in Renton, site of the annual state-tournament draw.

Burleson attended with a few of his teammates, sitting quietly in the back of the room as it was announced the Quakers had drawn Bethel.

"I was so ready," he said later that night, "I wanted to go to the Tacoma Dome and play right then."

On the way home, Burleson said he used his cellphone to call his teammates who hadn't come. His message was the same to all of them.

"We got Bethel, 10:30, get ready," he said.

Then he hung up. Over and over.

"I didn't even let them say good-bye," Burleson said. "They got the dial tone."

Such is the businesslike attitude with which he's approaching these final days of his high-school career. He has yet to pick a college, but the consensus among his coaches is that he's a Division I prospect. So there will be more basketball in his future. But for now, he's focused on the present.

"It's going to be on," he said of the state tournament. "Believe me."

Matt Peterson: 206-515-5536 or mpeterson@seattletimes.com