When Kevin Gamble was growing up in Illinois’ capital city, he lived in the John Hay public-housing projects, where his single mother sacrificed so her children could aspire to higher goals and unlimited horizons.
Rose Mary Gamble’s son’s startling ability to put a basketball through a hoop made him a local hero when he led Lanphier High School to the 1983 Class AA title, and his reputation expanded at the University of Iowa before he spent a decade in the NBA.
His name was known everywhere in the basketball world, but after he made his money, Gamble returned to his roots, where his relatives might outnumber the games he played.
And since then he has put much of that money back into the community, into commercial and residential real estate and strip malls, into replacing dilapidated buildings on the predominantly African-American east side.
“We’re just like every other small city,” Gamble said recently about Springfield and its approximately 111,000 inhabitants. “Everybody has a side of town that you don’t want to go to. I think I did my part.”
Then he was asked to do more.
Then-mayor Karen Hasara called Gamble to a breakfast meeting in early 2002 where he met University of Illinois-Springfield Chancellor Richard Ringeisen.
“My first reaction was, `They’re starting a basketball team,'” said Gamble, who had run summer clinics for hundreds of Springfield kids. “I knew he wanted me to become the coach.”
Five years later the Prairie Stars have gained national renown and changed the way Gamble, 41, views himself. He has morphed from businessman to basketball coach.
Program on the rise
On an early February night, Springfield faced Williams Baptist of Walnut Ridge, Ark., another member of the American Midwest Conference. Earlier that day Springfield (15-8) had moved to 24th in the NAIA Division I rankings. Winners of 20 games for the first time last season and the league championship, the Prairie Stars have flirted with the ratings all season and now are 19th. When Gamble accepted Ringeisen’s offer, he had six months to pull together a team. The program had zero name recognition and he had to unearth players through friendly tips. The first semester of the inaugural 2002-03 season, the Prairie Stars’ roster listed just seven players.
“With a new program you don’t have the alumni base,” Gamble said. “You have to be creative.”
Gamble, a 6-foot-5-inch, 210-pound forward in his playing days, was the celebrity drawing card because of his history in the community and for averaging 9.5 points per game for his career over 10 NBA seasons, mostly with the Boston Celtics.
“The first thing [is] to have someone who can get you attention,” Ringeisen said. “Kevin Gamble, he’s almost a legend in Springfield. We needed to find a good way to build school spirit. Illinois is almost as crazy about basketball as Indiana.”
Gamble’s NBA credentials carry weight with recruits.
“I never heard of the school,” said sophomore guard Kelvin Johnson, who played in high school for Fenwick. “But coach Gamble had NBA experience.”
Head shaved, the coach paced the sideline as Williams Baptist kept the first half close. He wore slacks, a white shirt and tie, but no sport coat. Gamble frequently yelled instructions.
“He’s different than any coach I’ve ever played under,” said guard Cory Farmer, who is from Lincoln, Ill., and played for Lincoln Community College. “He doesn’t scream, but he knows what to say to get your attention.”
All 13 players are from Illinois, including one from Springfield. Former Springfield Southeast High School star Eddie Smith played for Division I Texas A&M last season. He came home, where his single mother lives and where he can just about match Gamble’s number of relatives.
Smith is 6-2 with long arms, superior court vision and terrific leaping ability. An observer seeing Smith in a Prairie Stars’ game might ponder Billy Joel’s lyric from “Piano Man”–“Man, what are you doin’ here?” He’s averaging 21.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
“He wants to make the home run play all the time,” Gamble said. “He sees the court very well. You have to be able to see in the future. He has that instinct.”
At home in his hometown
Gamble is the youngest of five boys and two girls. He said his mother is getting frail and keeps up with the team primarily through the newspaper.
“My dad wasn’t around,” he said. “We didn’t have all the perks, but we had food on the table.”
When his high school team won a state championship, the city threw a parade, complete with fire trucks.
“It’s still one of my better memories,” Gamble said.
Gamble attended junior college and was not an instant sensation at Iowa. But he was a double-figure guy as a senior and coach Tom Davis, now at Drake, said it figures Gambles is coaching.
“He understood how to play so many different positions,” Davis said. “He had the kind of personality [for coaching]. He just got along with people.”
Already residing in Springfield with wife Alesha, son Kevin Jr., 10, and daughter Averi, 8, Gamble felt he was in the right place when Illinois-Springfield conjured up a men’s basketball program. He now admits college coaching is his career.
“I’m a coach now,” Gamble said. “I think I can have the most impact at this age level.”
The school has 4,750 students, most of them commuters, but a growing number live in dorms. A 2001 student survey supported adding the sport for its entertainment value.
Until 1995 the school was called Sangamon State University and catered only to upper classmen and graduate students. The first freshmen enrolled six years later. The UIS Gym is tiny, holding about 500 fans, and is nicknamed “Assembly Closet,” a parody of the University of Illinois’ Assembly Hall in Champaign. But a 3,000-seat arena is scheduled to open next season.
“We’ve outgrown it,” athletic director Rodger Jehlicka (the name as published has been corrected here and in a subsequent reference in this text) said of the old court.
Illinois-Springfield hasn’t outgrown the NAIA yet, but there is talk about a shift to the NCAA.
“[But] there’s going to have to be more community support,” Jehlicka said.
Seating was typically tight for the Williams Baptist game in which a second-half outburst led to a 91-62 victory.
“That’s how we play,” a satisfied Gamble said after that game.
A perfect fit
Smith had a headache and nausea against Williams Baptist but contributed 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He is playing for Springfield because there is a Springfield to play for, something not true in 2001 when he first left town.
“It’s like being part of something that fell from the sky,” Smith said. “I wanted to play more in front of my family.”
Raised by a single mother, Dorothy Levy, with a sister, Shatonia Levy, who was basketball royalty in Springfield, Smith as a youngster exhibited prodigy talent in his backyard. One regular one-on-one victim was cousin Rich McBride, who now starts for the Illini.
“In 2nd and 3rd grade, he used to kill me,” McBride said. “I owe him. In high school he was a beast.”
Smith, 23, spent one semester at Lake Land College in Matoon, then was back in Springfield working odd jobs for 1 1/2 years because of “family issues.”
Moberly Area Community College in Missouri found him and there he became national junior college player of the year. He averaged 4.0 points and 2.2 assists a game at Texas A&M last season but was unhappy in College Station.
Smith knew Gamble from noon games–before the coach quit playing pick-up games.
“I’d known him for a long time,” Smith said. “We talk all of the time. Sometimes I have to draw the line. He is the coach. Coach Gamble is tried and true.”
Smith is flamboyant. Pregame he wore oversized tiger-feet slippers into the crowd. He thrives on flashy passes. He talks to fans as he dribbles past. But Smith most enjoys stealing the ball and igniting fast breaks.
“My favorite thing is to demoralize a team,” he said.
Gamble said Smith should be able to play professionally.
“He plays both ends of the court very well,” Gamble said.
Smith considers it remarkable he can play for a team that has “UIS” written on its jerseys.
“This program is still a baby and I’m just trying to help the process,” Smith said. “This is my last go-around as far as college and what better place to do it than in a place where everyone knows your name.”
Two sons of Springfield leading the Prairie Stars, one on the court, one on the bench, could say the same thing.
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lfreedman@tribune.com
