Getting Back On Task Rogers Forward Dempsey Knows He Has Work To Do

Sam Dempsey had to deal with his father dying from a drug overdose.

Then he had to deal with his grandfather, who was his father figure, dying a year later.

Now Sam Dempsey has to deal with himself.

“I have to keep myself more in control,” said Dempsey, a 6-foot-6 senior, who will start at forward for Rogers when the Pirates open their 1998-99 basketball season at home against East Valley on Friday. “I came out and took my game to the audience. I need to be focused on myself more. When I lose focus, that’s when I lose myself, when I disappear.”

The Pirates have high expectations with four starters returning from what they consider a disappointing fifth-place finish.

“Last year we showed a poor display of handling (expectations),” Dempsey said. “It wasn’t something we were used to and it wasn’t something people were used to from us. We got a little overzealous with it. This year we’re used to it. We know we belong there and now other people know we belong there. Before where there were doubts, there are no doubts.”

Dempsey knows he is going to have to play a big part for the Pirates, but he has struggled with his focus, just as much off the court as on.

He didn’t hit the playgrounds as hard as he did a year ago and reported to practice out of shape. He also slacked off in the weight room, although that may hurt more in the future, if there is a future, because he’s also trying to make up for his past indifference in the classroom.

“We’re working on that,” he said of his academic shortcomings. “From my freshman year, everyone told me I could play (in college). I didn’t really get shown you have to do this and that. I thought I just had to play basketball to get there.”

Basically, his senior year snuck up on him. He realizes the future is now.

“It came way faster than I thought it would,” Dempsey said. “When I was a freshman, I thought I would be ready as a senior. I’m not as close as I’d like to be.

“I didn’t lift hard enough. I didn’t lift on my own time. I lifted when I was told to lift, I lifted to the requirement. I didn’t push myself beyond that. Next year I know I’ll be regretting it.”

It is a good sign Dempsey takes responsibility for his deficiencies, because there is a huge upside. He has the tools - size, springs, good feet, soft hands, agility, even the personality - to perform.

“He’s got to play with intensity,” Pirates coach Rick Mergenthaler said. “Sam brings to this ballclub electricity. Basketball is Sam’s way in life of expressing himself. He’s an artist on the court. He loves the limelight, he loves to be out there. He’s electricity.”

The coaching staff saw that when Dempsey was in eighth grade. He was a basketball neophyte, taking up the sport when he realized his dream of playing wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders wasn’t in the picture.

Then junior varsity coach Dexter Griffin, now the head coach at Mariner, showed up to watch Dempsey play the day his father died.

“If someone can play through that, we want them,” is the way Dempsey recalls the reaction. “My father wasn’t around so it wasn’t a big adjustment at all.” Dempsey showed promise as a freshman but didn’t seem to progress his sophomore year.

“I lost my grandfather … that was difficult,” he said. “I came into my sophomore season not really caring if I played because he wasn’t there to watch.”

It took most of the season to realize he was just going through the motions.

“It was just something I got through on my own. My grandma always tells me I grew up quick, I just needed to adjust,” he said. “The realization came too late that I had to step up. I was way too reluctant my sophomore year. It was no moment, it was just looking at the whole thing. Going through the scorebook and looking at each game, I could see that. I thought, ‘My God, that’s not me.’ I could see I was developing a pattern.”

He worked hard for his junior year and earned honorable mention all-league after averaging 12.7 points a game.

“Sam has to score. He has to take more of a load. He can’t give the ball up when he has the opportunity to score,” Mergenthaler said. “My comment to Sam this summer was … he was being too selfish giving the ball up too much. He had to understand he had to be more team-oriented and take more of a load on.”

Dempsey understands that, and the fact he has to rebound hard every game.

“I’ve got to do the same thing everybody does. I have to push myself harder and I have to make everyone else on the team better,” he said. “We all do, we all complement each other, make each other better.”