Doug Christie Comes Home -- Draft Brings Newest Sonic Back To Seattle

By about 6 o'clock, the first round of the 1992 NBA draft was starting to resemble a journey into Doug Christie's past. Each team that took a turn without calling his name brought him closer to his beginnings. Finally, the home stretch arrived.

First came one Los Angeles team, the Lakers, drafting 15th. Then came the other, the Clippers, picking 16th. Both passed on the standout guard from Pepperdine, the university just down the sun-drenched road in Malibu, Calif.

That's when Christie said to himself, "Well, it's time to go home." And things got all tingly.

The feeling was mutual for Tyrone Pollard, a close friend and former Rainier Beach High School teammate who was with Christie at the NBA's draft headquarters in Portland last night. Watching NBA Commissioner David Stern stroll to the podium to announce the 17th pick, by the Seattle SuperSonics, seemed to him an almost surreal experience.

"Just hearing the `D' roll out of Stern's mouth," Pollard said. "It's a moment I won't ever forget."

Later in the evening, Norma Christie was alone in her room at a downtown Portland hotel. A couple of hours earlier, her son had been drafted by his hometown NBA team, the SuperSonics. She was trying to come to grips with how she felt about the latest twist in her son's life.

"I'm excited," she said, her voice shaking with emotion, "and I'm kind of worried.

"We talked about whether he wanted to play in Seattle. There were times he did and times that he didn't. I'm not sure he's happy about it. It's just a gut reaction."

Jubilation, diluted by fear - at first glance, a typical maternal response. Yet, in this case, one must understand exactly where Norma Christie is coming from. And where Doug Christie is returning.

They have spent a good portion of Doug's 22 years dealing with losses. Persevering through ones that came about. Fearing others yet to come.

Norma Christie was single and 16 when she gave birth to Doug, her only child. His father, John Malone, left before Doug was born. Malone is black, and Norma Christie white; and the thought of a mixed-race grandchild was intolerable to Norma's mother, so she threw her daughter out of their home.

Dale Christie, Norma's father, accepted the development and supported his daughter, emotionally more than anything. She fought the financial battle alone, securing project housing in Southeast Seattle and a job as a supermarket cashier. "Many, many times," she recalls, the struggle seemed so overwhelming, she was tempted to give up.

"But I couldn't, because of Doug," she said. "He was all I had."

And she was everything to him, as well.

Doug Christie finally met Malone when he was 8. The two embarked on a father-and-son fishing expedition, and Christie was "just happy to fill a void in my life."

He still spends time with Malone, who lives in Longview.

Nevertheless, his mother "did everything for me," Doug said. "On Mother's Day, she got a card. On Father's Day, she also got a card. I was her main man. I was just with her all the time."

They were together the day, five years ago, when Dale Christie died of cancer. The moment stands out in Doug Christie's mind because of his mother's sadness. Dale had been to Norma what she was to Doug - the parental pillar that refused to buckle.

That made it even tougher, a year later, for her to let go.

Doug Christie played soccer until the sixth grade, and his basketball gifts were slow to reveal themselves. That was part of the reason why, though he led Rainier Beach to the 1988 state Class AA high-school basketball championship, only Washington, Washington State, Cal State-Fullerton and Pepperdine seriously recruited him.

"We really wanted Doug," said Joe Cravens, one of then-Husky Coach Andy Russo's assistants who now is at the University of Utah. "But he was determined to leave Seattle. I was quite upset at him for not staying in town and signing with us, but it might have been the best thing for him."

That's what Doug and Norma Christie figured. Academically ineligible under Proposition 48, Doug would have to spend his first year at Pepperdine with the books, which was not his strong suit, and away from basketball, which was. After only two weeks, unaccustomed to the rigors of academia, Doug wanted to quit and return home. Norma wouldn't hear of it.

"That was his only opportunity," she said. "I didn't want him to lose it."

He didn't, and when Francis Williams, the Rainier Beach coach during Christie's senior year there, saw his former star the next summer, "his demeanor was completely different. He had matured. You always like to see local kids stay at home. But, in Doug's case, leaving and going out on his own forced him to grow up."

By the end of his junior year, the recipient of the first of two straight West Coast Conference player-of-the-year awards, Christie dreamed for the first time of playing in the NBA. Quickly, the dream turned into a nightmare.

During the conference tournament, he stopped, planted on his right knee and felt something give. The cartilage damage required two surgeries to repair.

"I thought everything was all gone," Christie said. "All the work was for nothing. I didn't think I'd get a second chance."

Ironically, the injury paved Christie's way back home. He enjoyed a hitch-free senior season, stood out in a series of pre-draft showcases and survived a bevy of physicals administered by NBA clubs. Still, rumors of knee problems persisted; and Christie, once considered a potential top-10 draft choice, fell to No. 17 and the Sonics.

"To be honest, I was kind of hoping Doug wouldn't go to the Sonics," Williams said. "Playing at home, I think he'll feel extra pressures and extra distractions that he's better off not dealing with.

"He had to learn how to discipline himself in college. And he's going to have to discipline himself again in the pros. Being home, there will be demands on his time, on and off the court, and he's going to have to learn to be able to say no."

"He'll adjust," his mother said. "He always has. At least I'll get to see him. But it's real hard to explain. I just don't want Doug to feel the way I feel." --------------------------------------------------------------- New Sonic bios

Doug Christie, guard, Pepperdine Ht: 6-6 Wt: 205 High school: Rainier Beach, Seattle Born: May 9, 1970 Birthplace: Seattle

Season G FG% FT% Reb Ast Pts. Avg.

1989-90 28 .503 .714 115 112 250 8.9 .

1990-91 28 .469 .765 145 134 536 19.1 .

1991-92 31 .466 .746 183 149 606 19.5 .

Totals 87 .473 .747 443 395 1,392 16.0 . Chris King, forward, Wake Forest Ht: 6-8 Wt: 215 High school: Hobbton, Newton Grove, N.C. Born: July 24, 1969 Birthplace: Newton Grove, N.C.

Season G FG% FT% Reb Ast Pts. Avg.

1988-89 28 .540 .654 171 23 404 14.4 .

1989-90 28 .546 .589 208 27 452 16.1 .

1990-91 30 .489 .636 172 64 452 15.1 .

1991-92 27 .505 .693 139 58 513 15.3 .

Totals 113 .519 .640 690 172 1,721 15.2 .