ON BASKETBALL; A Star Player’s Latest, Perhaps Last, Chance
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On March 30, 1996, Marcus Bullard stood in a corridor in Continental Arena in New Jersey contemplating the end of a great run. Thanks largely to Bullard’s heady play at point guard, the Mississippi State Bulldogs had reached the Final Four and a semifinal matchup against Syracuse. While Bullard, a 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound sophomore, enjoyed a great tournament, on this night he played a careless game. His eight turnovers played a key part in the Syracuse victory. In the corridor afterward, Bullard offered this somber analysis of his performance: ”A lot of bad decisions on my part. I made some bad choices.” Bullard’s analysis foreshadowed a dreadful turn of events. He would make more bad choices, this time away from the basketball court and with more dire consequences. Four months after the tournament, he was arrested for pistol-whipping another student in a fraternity-ignited scuffle. The question of who did what to whom first was not the issue. Having a gun violated the terms of Bullard’s probation for drug possession in 1994. On Sept. 13, 1996, Bullard stood in a courtroom, numbed and tearful, unable to believe what he was hearing as Judge Robert Walker sentenced him to two years in prison. Bullard would have to serve at least half that time. ”That was the most horrible feeling I ever felt,” Bullard said by phone on Wednesday from Montgomery, Ala. ”I really couldn’t imagine me going to a jail or anything like that. I felt like I didn’t have anything worth living for.” Today, Bullard counts his blessings. His career has been salvaged, his life possibly saved, less by basketball than by his own determination and the willingness of someone else to take a chance. Bullard, 22, begins his second life as a college player tonight when he plays a preseason game for Auburn University at Montgomery. Auburn is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, a group of smaller colleges and universities that are smaller and less ambitious than the members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Larry Chapman has been the head coach at the school for 20 of the 22 years it has played basketball. When Bullard expressed interest in the school, Chapman said he spent a week in Bullard’s hometown of Long Beach, Miss., talking with former teachers, friends, relatives and doctors. Finally, he advised Auburn’s president that Bullard was a risk worth taking. ”When I began to investigate and I began to look into his closet, it was not a difficult thing for me personally with Marcus Bullard,” Chapman said. ”I didn’t struggle at all with bringing him into my basketball family.” The day Bullard signed, an ”Outside the Lines” segment on ESPN focused on athletes violating the law. Bullard was one of the examples. The negative reaction to his being accepted at Auburn was intense. Much of it came from within the university. Chapman, who is also the school’s athletic director, was on a hot seat of his own making. ”I was wearing two hats in this situation,” he said. ”I had to deal with damage control within my own universe.” Chapman said that Bullard had displayed a positive attitude. ”He’s not whining, he’s not acting like A.U.M. is beneath him,” Chapman said. ”He’s appreciative. He’s sincere. He violated parole. He served his punishment and as far as I’m concerned he’s been punished enough.” Bullard had been skating on thin ice in high school in Long Beach, a resort town in southeast Mississippi. In 1993, his senior year, he was arrested for drug possession. He pleaded guilty a year later and was granted a 36-month probation. That allowed him to accept a scholarship to Mississippi State and play for Richard Williams. For two seasons, Bullard’s conduct seemed to be exemplary. But it wasn’t. ”The things that I was doing — drinking, staying out late night, not handling my business in class — just a lot of little things adding up to become something big,” he said. ”I was headed down the wrong path, everybody saw it, I didn’t see it.” Source : query.nytimes.com |