Pyramid's Shooting Star
by Frank Burlison, Long Beach Press-Telegram
March 2, 2006 They're the folks who clean the Walter Pyramid, long after spectators have left the building following a basketball game or volleyball match and, usually, the last people to close the final door in the place for the late evening or early morning. But that hasn't always been the case for the Walter Pyramid janitorial crew for going on four years now.
"The latest (or, more accurately, one could suppose, the earliest) I've left the Pyramid was about 2:30 a.m.," Jibril Hodges said, reminiscing about all of the late nights and early mornings he spent in the place that has been his home away from home, as well as the home of one of the sweetest jump shots to ever be launched by someone wearing a Long Beach State uniform.
"It's a great way to think about things while working on your shot. Anytime I've had a stressful situation, I'll go in there and shoot. It's a great stress reliever. The janitors will see me and just smile and tell me to be sure to shut the door behind me when I leave."
There was no way the question was going to receive anything but an estimate.
"How many shots have I taken in the Pyramid? Probably thousands and thousands," the 6-foot-2 senior said, laughing a few days before his final game in the Walter Pyramid in a 49ers' uniform.
That will take place tonight in a Big West Conference game against UC Riverside.
There will be "13 or 14" of Hodges' family members, including his mother, a grandmother and an aunt, as well as younger brother Jamaal, an LBSU student who knocks in his jump shots during the school's intramural leagues. And, of course, the most influential figure in his basketball career and a former 49er of some note will also be there, as has usually been the case this season.
Craig Hodges is more than just "pops" to his oldest son.
He was a standout for four years at Long Beach State under Tex Winter and played 10 seasons in the NBA, where his jump shot and underrated defense along with the presence of a couple of fellows named Jordan and Pippen, of course helped the Chicago Bulls win championships in 1991 and '92.
Jibril Hodges remembers watching his dad's NBA games from the time he was 4 years old.
And that wasn't long before he starting shagging shots for the guy who won three consecutive NBA 3-point shooting contests.
"Yep," Jibril Hodges said, "then the roles were reversed when I got to high school."
A lot of dads teach their children how to shoot basketballs. But not a lot of prospective jump shooters have a dad as fixated on shooting, as nearly an art form, as does Jibril Hodges.
"He taught me the basics," Jibril Hodges said of his father, who is employed as what else? a shooting instructor for the Lakers, who are coached by the man, Phil Jackson, he played for with the Bulls. "He calls it his 'Three-F' approach to shooting: form, foundation and follow through."
And Jibril Hodges the school's career leader in 3-pointers has been among his most apt pupils, as Craig Hodges proudly confirms.
"As a father, when he was born, I thought, 'I'd like to see him play the game I love so much," " he said. "But more than that I wanted to see him grow up healthy and prosperous."
Craig Hodges believes that no matter how sound a player's fundamental base may be as a shooter and in every other aspect of basketball excellence doesn't arrive without a large investment.
"If you're going to be a shooter, you have to put the time in shooting a lot and the right way," the elder Hodges said late Tuesday night after the Lakers' game with Orlando at Staples Center. "And Jibril has put in the time."
That approach isn't something he sees often these days, even among some of the NBA players he watches and works with.
"It is an era of instant gratification," Craig Hodges explained. "Back when I was in high school and at Long Beach, we didn't have so many things to distract us, like cell phones and video games. So we put in the time, playing pickup games or working out alone in a gym.
"This is not meant as any disrespect to Kwame Brown (the 23-year-old forward Hodges has been spending extra time with of late) but Jibril has probably missed more shots (during workouts) than Kwame has taken."
Jibril Hodges, who played at his father's prep alma mater, Rich East in Park Forest, Ill., was one of Larry Reynolds' first recruits for the 49ers and his improvement has mirrored that of the program with each season or, if you will, vice versa.
His scoring averages have gone from 6.0 to 10.2 to 12.7 to his current 15.0, with the 49ers' win totals increasing from five to six to 10 to the current 14 the team takes with it against UCR tonight.
"Jibril has made steady progress throughout his career," Reynolds said. "He had some hard times but he stuck with it and worked hard. And I'm sure his dad has a lot to do with that. Working (with his father) has made him a tremendous all-around offensive threat."
Hodges says his four years as a 49ers have zinged by.
"I can still remember taking my (recruiting) visit here," he said. "I only go back (to Illinois) maybe a couple of weeks every summer, just to visit family. And when I do, I can't wait to get back (to Southern California). Long Beach is my home now."
The emotions will run high for Hodges and his family tonight, as they will for fellow senior Shawn Hawkins, whose mother arrived in Southern California on Wednesday and will be watching Hawkins play for the first time in a Long Beach State uniform.
But once the pregame ceremonies are completed, it's back to the task at hand for Hodges and the rest of the 49ers, who are holding onto third place in the Big West standings on the final week of regular-season play.
"The game at UC Davis (a 96-92 overtime victory, in which the 49ers nearly fell after holding a 21-point advantage) brought us down a little bit," he said of the game Saturday that extended the team's winning streak to three. "But we want to close strong this week (the 49ers wrap things up at second-place UC Irvine on Saturday at 5 p.m.) and take a lot of momentum into the Big West Conference Tournament."
And, of course, Hodges' jump shot will be in tow, as well, when the 49ers take the floor in the Anaheim Convention Center for their tourney opener on March 9.
After all of those years and hours in lonely gyms it's like a tag-along buddy for Hodges now.
He doesn't leave home without it. |
