Lake City star Fromm hungry to improve

Lake City High boys basketball standout Nick Fromm has a voracious appetite.

On New Year’s Day, for instance, Fromm engulfed 19 slices of pizza and eight breadsticks for dinner. For a midnight snack a couple days later, he chomped down 10 more slices of pizza.

His mother recently bought 20 boxes of cereal, enough to feed a small army.

“I can eat a box in one sitting,” the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Fromm said.

In other words, the cereal will be gone long before the calendar reaches February.

A hearty appetite among teen athletes is generally a sign that a growth spurt is imminent. In Fromm’s case, he knows he’ll probably add another inch or two because there’s still space in the growth plates of his knees. His father, a retired Coeur d’Alene firefighter, was 6-foot-5 when he graduated from high school – then sprouted three more inches.

Fromm isn’t exactly eating up Inland Empire League teams, but he has established himself as one of the top players to be sure. He has gone from newcomer of the year and a first team all-league selection a year ago to a player-of-the-year candidate this season.

“He really started to blossom toward the end of last year,” LC coach Jim Thacker said. “He had some remarkable games.”

Fromm, who wears a size 15 shoe, has been the most consistent presence for LC’s Timberwolves.

He’s drawn rave reviews from opposing coaches.

“He’s a force,” Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia said.

“He’s a monster,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss said.

Almost akin to his love for basketball, though, is his passion for video games. He ate and slept video games from middle school through his sophomore year.

“I was obsessed with it,” Fromm said.

His parents made a rule last year that he couldn’t play any video games during the school week. He figures he could have negotiated out of it this year, but he decided to keep it in place.

He carries a 3.77 grade-point average. Although he’s an honors student, school didn’t always come easy.

In fact, he was delayed early because he didn’t start talking until he was 4.

“My parents suspect that I just refused to speak,” Fromm said, smiling.

He had his own language. It was limited to one audible word – “diddle.” While it’s technically slang, Fromm uttered the word anytime he saw a train.

The other frequent sound he made was a butchered pronunciation of his sister Ashley’s name.

With the help of a speech specialist, he overcame his speech deficiencies by middle school. Not coincidentally, that was about the time he began to flourish academically.

His sister was a 5-foot-11 post. After starting three years at LC, Ashley went on to Dominican University, an NAIA school near San Francisco. She completed her collegiate career last season.

The Fromms’ prep careers have been similar.

“Our careers are almost images of each other,” Nick said. “We play the same position (post), and we’re both short for our position.”

Short at least at the college level, where Nick wants to play. But his size is more than adequate in high school.

Knowing that he won’t be a post in college, Fromm pushed himself to improve during AAU play last summer. He tried out for and made a traveling elite team from Eastern Washington that took him to tournaments in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He played against guys who were two to three inches taller.

“I learned how to drive to the basket and improved my ball handling,” Fromm said.

He attributes his improvement to playing against some of the top players in the nation.

He leads LC in scoring (14.3 points per game) and rebounding (8.9). He’s shooting 50.4 percent from the field.

“He put in a lot of work in the summer,” Thacker said. “He’s even gotten better the last couple of weeks. His defense has gotten better. His all-around game is the best it’s ever been.”

Fromm, who wants to be a lawyer, said he’s pleased with how he’s played but wants to take it up another level.

“I don’t know what my potential is, but I can play better,” he said.

Ashley Fromm’s LC teams went to state twice. Nick has yet to play on a state-qualifying team.

“I’ve been to the Idaho Center to watch my sister play, and I want to play there,” he said of the state tournament site in Nampa.

For that to happen, Fromm will be counted on to continue to produce as he has the first half of the season.

His production on the court may not match his appetite, but it’s been more than sufficient.

“I can’t stress how far he’s come this year,” Thacker said.