Thursday, May. 14, 2009

Junior college can lead to stardom

By Eric Degerman, sportstricities.com

Student/athletes at Columbia Basin College and Walla Walla CC, take note.

One of the many podcasts that I subscribe to is ESPN's Baseball Today, which blends the sarcasm and dry-as-Melba toast wit of Peter Pascarelli with the fantasy baseball background of Eric Karabell.

Earlier this week, Pascarelli, an ESPN Radio and ESPNews contributor, included a recent interview with Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, an early candidate for American League MVP.

Two nuggets that I gleaned from this interview were that 1) Longoria wasn't drafted out of high school by a big-league club, and 2) his only option was to play for a community college. At that time, his prime goal was to earn a Division 1 scholarship, which he did at Long Beach State.

On Wikipedia, Longoria is listed as the lone famous person from Rio Hondo Community College in Whittier, Calif.

There are many JC products who have gone on to shine professionally in their sport, and while Brian Scalabrine is not an NBA household name, I do remember him playing for Highline Community College as a freshman before transferring to the University of Southern California.

Scalabrine, a graduate of Enumclaw High School, led Highline to the NWAACC men's basketball title in 1997. He gives much of his NBA success to the time spent at Highline, which is detailed in this nice piece by HCC staff writer Chirs Wells.

At the age of 31, Scalabrine has enjoyed a profitable career. Last year, he didn't appear in the NBA Finals for the Boston Celtics, yet he received a ring. This spring, he's getting more playing time because superstar post Kevin Garnett is out after injuring his right knee.