He Possesses the Proper Charisma for His Setting : Volleyball: Javier Gaspar's job is to make all the right passes. He does that and a little more for the U.S. national team.

By MARTIN HENDERSON

May 31, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN DIEGO — It’s not the most flattering team photo in the history of sport, but the shot of Team USA in the World League Volleyball program tells the story.

There are some disinterested looks. There are some half smiles. There are guys looking away from the camera.

But there is one who looks a little different than the rest.

He’s sitting as tall as he can in the front row, hands resting between his legs, shoulders back, looking straight in the camera, big ol’ smile stretched across his face. Javier Gaspar looks like every straight-arrow, straight-A kid who ever attended Mr. Sturm’s third-grade class.

He actually glows.

Javier Gaspar is a walking, talking, jump-setting billboard for the U.S. national team, the two-time defending Olympic gold-medal winner. But the U.S. is rebuilding a program that expected to win every competition it entered last year. Instead, it was 1-11 in World League play. Everyone looks to the quarterback when things go bad, and it is no different in volleyball. Gaspar is the setter of attention.

He will again be the central figure as play develops tonight at the Sports Arena when the defending World League champion, Italy, arrives for the first of a two-match series against the 1991 team, the undefeated Americans.

Gaspar’s team.

The Natural

Gaspar joined the national team after a collegiate career at Penn State in which he twice helped the Nittany Lions to a third-place finish at the NCAA Final Four. He was a four-time All-American selection and twice made the first team. And his coach, Tom Tait, hadn’t even seen him compete until he walked on to the court for the first time.

The videotape that Gaspar sent to Tait never arrived, but Tait probably got more than he expected from scouting reports when Gaspar stepped into the gymnasium. He hadn’t even played organized volleyball until his sophomore year and hadn’t worked as a setter until Tait got hold of him. But that first year, Penn State finished seventh nationally and Gaspar was All-American honorable mention, one of only two freshmen named. The other was U.S. teammate Scott Fortune, the lone holdover from the 1988 Olympic team.

Gaspar was a natural on the court. He’s also a natural off it.

“He’s very, very good in public speaking situations,” said first-year U.S. Coach Fred Sturm. “He’s a super role model. I’ve been told he’s wonderful with people and wonderful with kids. He’s real friendly. He’s just a first-class man.”

“He’s the kind of guy I would like to see succeed and have a great deal of success. In many, many ways, he’s representative of the kind of individual I like to have in the program.”

The Role Model

He is a public relations dream.

Gaspar is 24 and fluent in two languages. He attended Penn State and was going to be a dentist when he joined the national team. He is articulate. He is interesting. He makes sense. And he makes great passes to his teammates.

“He’s a classy individual,” Sturm said. “He’s considerate, respectful of others and he’s a gentleman. To me, I like athletes who are competitive and classy. I don’t think you have to be a jerk to be a top competitor and I don’t think you have to be a gentleman and a nice guy to be competitive, but he’s also gracious. I don’t think being a nice guy means you’re not competitive. It’s a very fine line to walk.”

Yet Gaspar walks it, talks it and embraces it. Need a diplomat?

“We’re not only volleyball players, but we’re ambassadors to the U.S.,” Gaspar said. “Some places we go, the only Americans they see are the athletes and they think all Americans behave this way. It’s important for us to be role models, not only in the U.S., but everywhere we go in the world.”

What? In an age when professional athletes are taking potshots at fans, an amateur athlete is saying turn the other cheek? Gaspar says that player re action is detrimental regardless of the volleys lobbed at them.

“You have to be mature enough to control your emotion,” Gaspar said. “A lot of these guys in professional sports, they think because they’re making all this money, they can do whatever they want and get away with it. Volleyball players are very conscious of that. You can’t be doing stuff like that on or off the court because it’s not good for you as an individual or good for the program.

“People have a right to say whatever they want, and even though it’s rude, that doesn’t justify you going and punching them.”

He has heard the Brazilian fans, the international equivalent of the Cleveland Browns’ Dawg Pound. They yell, scream, taunt, throw cups, hurl insults, “give you the finger and say the F-word.”

“(Retaliating) is detrimental for any sport, it doesn’t matter what happens,” Gaspar said. “It’s something that shouldn’t be allowed. It shouldn’t happen.”

Gaspar could use a part-time job--could Jose Canseco use a consultant?

The Big Question

Who will set in the Olympics?

Right now, Gaspar is the setter. But whenever a team doesn’t perform to expectations, it’s the quarterback who becomes the focus.

He joined the national team in 1989 and was pressed into emergency service when 1988 Olympic setter Jeff Stork suffered a leg injury. By 1990, Stork and Dusty Dvorak, the 1984 Olympic setter, were playing in Italy. Gaspar emerged the starter for the 1990 team, which had a 21-37 and finished 13th in the World Championships. Gaspar was named most valuable player.

In international competition, winning is the only thing that matters. Team USA began this year with a 5-6 mark through the Cuba Cup and an Eastern tour against Canada. It already has improve on last season’s 1-11 World League mark with four- and five-game victories over the rebuilding Japanese making their 1991 debut.

“I’m in an interesting situation,” Gaspar said. “The last two years we’ve been rebuilding and we haven’t been winning a lot of matches. When you’re losing, you have all these questions. (The talk is) maybe we should get a new setter, maybe we should get a taller setter. They always question my height. Since I’ve joined the team, that’s all they talk about.”

Gaspar is listed as a 6-footer. Although he plays much taller, he can’t compensate for the extra inches another athlete his caliber might possess.

“Now they’re talking about bringing back Jeff Stork (who is 6-4) and Dusty Dvorak, and that’s only going to make me better,” Gaspar said. “Those guys are probably the two best setters in the world. . . . I don’t have a problem with them coming back on the team, but they have to earn their spot.

“If I play the way I’m capable of playing consistently, I can be one of the top setters in the world. But it’s not only that way with the setting position, but with every position on the team.”

Sturm agreed. No one gets a free ride at this level.

“It’s possible (Stork or Dvorak) could rejoin the team, but there’s nothing of any substance to report at this time--it’s hypothetical,” Sturm said, emphasizing that the two would not join before the World League season ended. “Positions are earned on a daily basis. If you’re a starter, you have to prove yourself on a daily basis. If you’re new, you have to prove yourself. You can never get too comfortable.”

Is Gaspar too short?

“The jury’s out,” Sturm said. “No comment.”

Bob Samuelson will comment.

“Jeff Stork is probably the best setter in the world,” he said, “and Javier is much better than Dvorak.

“He’s been criticized sometimes because he’s small, but he makes up for it with aggressive blocking and, as far as setting and leadership go, I think he’s right up there with the best setters in the world, Mauricio Lima from Brazil and Raul Diago from Cuba.”

The Team Player

When two-time NCAA player of the year Bryan Ivie arrived to become the team’s opposite hitter, Samuelson was moved to middle blocker. He said Gaspar has made the transition easier.

“He deals with the players very well,” Samuelson said. “He knows our players, our skills and he’s very accommodating to the hitter. He’s very positive, has constructive criticisms and lets me know when things are his fault so I don’t get upset at myself. I’m used to playing the opposite position, but since Bryan Ivie arrived, it’s very frustrating trying to attack and having the feeling that you’re not very good at it. Javier’s made the transition a lot smoother.”

Sturm is not surprised.

“Javier is a great team player,” Sturm said. “I ask each of the players to put the team’s best interest at the top, first and foremost, and Javier does that. He’s out for the team and wants to see the team succeed.

“Javier’s the quarterback of our offense--that’s a big responsibility for us. He’s an even-tempered person, he’s competitive, he’s the kind of guy who can go unnoticed during a practice, during a game, but he does a lot of good things that you don’t really realize until after the match when you’re watching the videotape or looking at statistics.”

Samuelson thinks Gaspar excels because he isn’t predictable and doesn’t favor one hitter more than another, something that can show up on videotape.

“If we get in a rut of one or two plays, (Gaspar will) throw in a little wrinkle that will isolate the hitter,” Samuelson said. “He does a good job of reading blockers with his peripheral vision and identifying what the blocker is doing and going to the weak spot in the block.”

Tonight against the Italians, Gaspar will make thousands of decisions in hopes of generating an upset. Before each ball is served, Gaspar will look at the hitters and blockers and decide which hitter he wants to use, which blocker he wants to attack and at which portion of the net. During a rally, those decisions are more spontaneous and sudden.

“There comes a time in the clutch when you have to make key passes or key sets, and some setters make bad choices,” Samuelson said. “Javier doesn’t do that. I don’t think Lima and Stork do, either.

“It’s not like a football game where you’re getting plays from the bench. Our whole offense is pretty much run by him. That takes a lot of brain work by him. You can’t have a mental cramp out there and not be thinking. You have to be on top of your game every single play.”

Decisions, decisions.

Gaspar is the one who can provide the answers, front and setter.