McDonald Finally Finds Something to Talk About

Ben McDonald speaks. Really.

That granite face, which betrayed little, was about his only form of communication when he played basketball at UC Irvine. He started 114 consecutive games for the Anteaters from 1980-84 and, some say, uttered only about 114 sentences in that time.

So it will come as some surprise that this wall of silence gabs it up--at least in comparison--these days. But then, maybe he has found something worth talking about.

McDonald, 36, who will be inducted into the UCI hall of fame Saturday, is a substitute teacher in the Long Beach Unified School District. He often works with guidance opportunity classes, designed for elementary and middle school children who are having problems.

“There was this fifth-grader and his reading level was that of a kindergarten kid, maybe not even that,” McDonald said. “He would feel bad about himself and would do things because he was frustrated about not being able to read. I spent a lot of time with him after school, sometimes for punishment, sometimes just to help him read a little better.

“Three months later, his mom came up and thanked me and told me how much better he was doing. He felt he had really accomplished something with his reading. I felt I had accomplished something.”

Moments like that have nudged him back to school. He will enroll at Cal State Dominguez Hills to work toward a teaching credential.

It will take about a year to earn the credential. After that, McDonald hopes to teach and coach.

“I see kids who come from bad environments,” McDonald said. “Some are a little disruptive and have no discipline. They try to get away with things. But you get to see some kids change and that gives you a positive feeling.”

Of course, McDonald was well schooled in discipline at Irvine. He handed it out in practice.

“I never had to say a word in practice,” former Anteater Coach Bill Mulligan said. “Ben would just look at guys and that would be it.

“One time, he won a game with two free throws at the end and I said, ‘Ben, you got to go on the radio postgame show.’ He said, ‘No I’m not.’ I said, ‘You got to.’ He said, ‘For how long?” I said, ‘Two minutes.’ He said, ‘I’ll go for one.’ ”

Not that McDonald couldn’t be pushed into talking.

In 1981, Mulligan, as usual, was angry with his point guard and, as usual, he made a change. He put the 6-foot-8 McDonald at the point when the Anteaters were 9-0. Not that the experiment was bad, but Irvine was to play Arizona State.

“They played this zone and the two guys out front were Fat Lever and Byron Scott,” McDonald said. “I’m looking at two future NBA greats. After a couple minutes of forcing passes, I looked over to Coach Mulligan and said, ‘Get me back to forward.’ ”

McDonald, who is fourth on the UCI career scoring list, spent time in the NBA as well. He was drafted in the third round by the Cleveland Cavaliers, then coached by George Karl. McDonald spent his career following Karl around.

A year with Cleveland and two more with Golden State were followed by a season in Spain.

“As long as George kept bringing me along, it was OK with me,” McDonald said.

IN GOOD COMPANY

McDonald will be inducted into the hall of fame with two former UCI athletes, tennis player Trevor Kronemann and distance runner Jill Harrington, and Ted Newland, Irvine’s current water polo coach.

There will be ceremonies during the Anteaters’ game against Cal State Fullerton Saturday. McDonald can’t quite believe he’ll look at the Titan bench and see former Irvine teammate Bob Thornton, now an assistant coach with Fullerton.

“Bob hated Fullerton when we played together,” McDonald said. “All our guys hated Fullerton. It was one of those rivalry things. But I guess when you’re looking for a coaching job, you’ll coach anywhere.”

GRADING ON A CURVE

Meanwhile, the current Anteaters seem to have little chance of making the Big West Conference tournament. A 1-7 record midway through conference play might be too much to overcome.

“I try not to look at the record,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “I never have a conscious thought about it because it would be depressing.

“Something good is just around the corner. Something good is going to come out of this. It might not happen until next year in the conference tournament.

“I look at this as my first team. It’s basically my first recruiting class. I can’t let my ego or my pride keep me from teaching them to play.”

For those keeping score, this is Douglass’ second recruiting class. Last year’s batch, which was assembled late and included Ben Jones and Adam Stetson, was 3-5 at this point, qualified for the conference tournament and finished eight games better than its predecessor.

There is a vast difference, though.

“Last year, we had guys who maybe weren’t as talented as this team, but they understood the game because they were older,” sophomore guard Jason Flowers said. “Maturity and experience are two different things. We had a lot of new guys last year, but we were more mature. Me and Adam and others had been out of high school awhile.”

Irvine has gained experience this year but has done so by sacrificing maturity. The Anteaters had three freshmen on the court while trying to rally in a loss Saturday at UC Santa Barbara.

“Two years from now, this team will be better than last year’s team,” Douglass said. “I have to look at our improvement. Each week we’re getting a little better, a little stronger.”