Roger Powell Sr. said one of his son’s goals in life is to make a difference.
Just look at the numbers, die-hard Illinois fans say. Who is making a bigger difference lately than Roger Powell Jr.?
Since his return to the starting lineup following a toe injury, the sophomore forward from Joliet has scored 10, 20, 22 and 18 points, taken down a total of 25 rebounds, shot 70 percent from the floor (28-for-40) and sparked the Illini (20-5, 10-4) to four straight wins that have moved them within a half-game of first-place Wisconsin (11-4) heading into Wednesday’s showdown for the Big Ten title with the Badgers in Madison.
And Powell’s impact doesn’t end there. It turns out it extends all the way to the Illinois Youth Center in Joliet, a maximum-security facility for male offenders between the ages of 13 and 21.
Yep. Roger Jr. is a big hit with guys behind bars.
“Let me tell you,” said Roger Sr., the prison’s adaptive physical education instructor. “They keep me posted on everything Roger is doing. The kids say, `Tell your son to get some dunks for us.’ He has become an icon for them. He gives them someone to look up to, something to talk about other than the negative aspects of prison.”
But what Roger Powell Sr. meant by a difference was a concrete difference. Like . . . ?
“My son told me one time that if he ever has a lot of money, he wants to build a church,” Roger Sr. said. “He wants to give back. His mind-set is a little different than other young men’s.”
The first sign Roger Powell Jr. had shape-the-world tendencies showed up in high school, where he was one of those maddening do-everything-well types. When he wasn’t playing All-State-caliber basketball, he found time to qualify for the National Honor Society, win the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Award, be named homecoming king as a senior and star in several musicals. He especially enjoyed singing and dancing as Crater-Face, the pockmark-skinned troublemaker in the school’s rendition of “Grease.”
Since enrolling at Illinois he has continued to work side-by-side with his dad every summer as a volunteer instructor at the Roger Powell father-son basketball camps. And because Roger Jr. shares a birth date with a more famous Junior–Martin Luther King Jr.–he is frequently asked to speak at neighborhood churches on Dr. King’s day.
“How many tattoos do you see?” Roger Sr. asked. “None. How many rings do you see in his ear? None. He has been exposed to a lot of positive things. He’s a great kid.”
A kid who had quite an act to follow.
Roger Powell Sr. had a splendid basketball career of his own, first at Joliet Central High and then at Illinois State (1972-76), where he played with Washington Wizards coach Doug Collins for one season. Powell scored 1,306 points, 18th on the school’s career list, and was good enough to get training camp looks from the Bulls in 1977 and the Pacers in 1980. He didn’t make the NBA, but he never retired. Last summer, at age 48, Roger Sr. was the top scorer for the United States team that won a third gold medal in the 45-and-over division of the Australian Masters.
“I saw some films of him in high school,” said 6-foot-6-inch Roger Jr., who wears his father’s No. 43, “and he was more of a shooter. I’m more of a slasher, a down-and-dirty guy. He was a big influence on me. After I got hurt he said, `Just stick in there and good things will happen.'”
“Pops” knew what he was talking about.
After Roger Jr.’s career-high 22-point, seven-rebound performance in Illinois’ 80-54 rout of Indiana on Feb. 25, the Orange Krush student section was chanting his name. “When I heard that,” Powell said, “I wasn’t thinking about the toe at all. I was thinking about how much fun I was having.”
Ah, the toe. Seldom has a single digit–the big toe on his right foot–had such an impact on a player’s ability to reach double digits.
Powell started Illinois’ first nine games and was averaging 10 points and 4.5 rebounds when he came down hard after a rebound against Memphis on Dec. 28. “They took X-rays because they thought it could have been broken,” Powell said. “It turned out to be a bad sprain, but the doctors said breaking it might have been better because then they could have put it in a cast and it would have healed. A sprain is more lingering.”
After sitting out two games, Powell returned to the lineup in January. But in seven appearances he took only 10 shots, making four. He looked tentative, lost, unsure whether to shoot or drive. “I wasn’t able to jump as high or be as quick as I was before,” Powell said. “It affected me both physically and mentally. I wanted to be out there, but at the same time coach didn’t want me out there if I wasn’t producing.”
Powell lost his starting job to senior Sean Harrington, then to sophomore guard Luther Head. Head responded with 15 points against Purdue, 13 at Penn State and 11 against Michigan State and Ohio State. Powell stewed. “I wouldn’t say I pouted,” he said, “but I was frustrated. I was trying to fight through it.”
On Feb. 2 at Michigan State, Powell found what he’d been missing. “I shot an air ball in that game and I had an air ball in the game before that,” Powell recalled. “I was like, `God, I just have to hit the rim.’ Then I made a shot. And ever since I kind of took off.”
So has Illinois.
“I think we were a different team today,” coach Bill Self said after Saturday’s win at Michigan. “I don’t know what has happened, but a light clicked on and I think Roger has been a big part of that. He has been the difference in our team.”
Unfortunately, Roger Sr. hasn’t been able to see as many of his son’s games lately as he used to or would like to. He works days at the prison and nights at the YMCA, where he’s the building supervisor. He runs the Roger Powell Children’s Committee, which conducts seminars on drug and alcohol abuse. And the day of the United Center game against Northwestern he had to attend a finance workshop at Mt. Zion Full Gospel Tabernacle, a pentecostal church where he has been the treasurer for the last 20 years.
“I’m pretty active,” Roger Sr. said. “Somebody has to pay the bills. It makes me feel good that all the other people in his life have a chance to say `attaboy’ now without his dad always being in the limelight.
“Roger and I talk all the time. I’ll always be visible to him. It’s Roger Powell Jr.’s time, not Roger Powell Sr.’s time.”
On a roll
Roger Powell’s statistics in Illinois’ last four games, all victories:
OPPONENT FG-A 3P-A RB PTS
Michigan St. 5-8 0-1 7 10
Northwestern 8-10 2-3 4 20
Indiana 9-13 1-2 7 22
Michigan 6-9 2-3 7 18
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