Wheeling To The Top Ranked 3Rd, Cyclones Going All Out For A Return To Final Four

It’s with wisecracks that the Spokane St. Luke’s Cyclones attempt to explain their national success in wheelchair basketball.

They throw out jokes about as quickly as they change their tires when one explodes during practice or a game.

“We see a prospect and hit them with our car,” said player/ coach Paul Hill.

“We like to hang out in high school parking lots after big games,” added 50-year-old Orin Pierce, a master of the left-handed hook shot.

“Some guy will be shooting around and he’ll be shooting pretty good and we’ll say ‘You better watch out or we’ll break your leg and get you on the team,”’ said Lew Tomlinson, 44.

Really, now?

“I don’t know the answer,” Pierce said. “We’re just lucky to have the caliber of talent here. It depends on who’s on your team, how tall they are and how many times they can put it through the orange round thing.”

The Cyclones are a Division-II team and their youngest player is 27. Four members are amputees and four are paraplegics. The other, Hill, developed severe arthritis in his knees and can’t play able-bodied basketball, qualifying him for the wheelchair game.

Spokane plays an independent schedule in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, traveling around the nation for tournaments and games.

Last season, the Cyclones advanced to the Final Four of the Division-II national tournament, losing to the eventual-champion Charlotte Hornets. They made the sweet sixteen the season before.

They defeated three ranked teams last month in Las Vegas and their next tournament is the first weekend of February in Lexington, Ky. Then it’s back to Las Vegas and they’re counting on a trip to the 1999 national tournament March 25-28 in Chicago.

“I guarantee, we will be at nationals unless something really flukey happens,” said Tomlinson. “We didn’t see anything last year at nationals we couldn’t beat given another opportunity to do it.”

Four years ago, the Cyclones didn’t make such comments. They couldn’t.

It was then they scheduled a home game with the powerful Division-I Golden State Road Warriors to see how they stacked up nationally. Many NBA teams funnel money into wheelchair programs.

It didn’t take the Cyclones long to figure out where they stood.

“They spanked us,” recalled Hill, 35, the second youngest on the team. “By more than 40 points. They played a high level and opened our eyes to the possibilities, that things can be done in chairs. We were like ‘Oooh, let’s take it to the next level.”’

And they have. The Cyclones are ranked third in the most recent NWBA coaches poll. They ditched the Northwest Conference this season in search of stronger competition. That means no home games and lots of travel.

“Our team the last two years has really evolved,” said Bill Donahue, the Cyclones business manager and commissioner of the four-team Northwest Conference. “Our area’s producing pretty good athletes, not just basketball players. … We did kind of shock (the other teams) when we ended up back at nationals.

“Nobody had ever heard of us back there in Nashville. They were like, ‘Who are these guys?’ Everyone was kind of wondering.”

While Pierce didn’t have an answer to why the Cyclones are so good, Tomlinson has an idea. Balance.

He joined the team in 1975, two years after its start, and has watched its development. Tomlinson said the addition of Hill in 1992 was big, but the real bonus came last year when Pierce and Dave Mollers joined.

Mollers, a paraplegic, is a strong Class I player, the classification for the most severely paralyzed athletes. He moved from Seattle just to play for the Cyclones.

Pierce was recruited from the West Plains Drifters wheelchair team..

Yet it hasn’t been easy for Spokane to gain national status. Especially without a big-name sponsor.

So, how do the Cyclones pay for all the trips?

Out of pocket, if necessary.

But mostly, they depend on donations. St. Luke’s helps locate potential sponsors. The Cyclones had a booth at the Spokane Interstate Fair this fall where participants shot baskets from the wheelchair position. They also play exhibition games at area schools and find money any other way they can. Last year’s expenses were $32,000, Hill said.

St. Luke’s helped raise about $14,000 last year for its sports teams, community relations manager Cheryl Brandt said, noting that amount includes money for the Dukes of St. Luke’s quadriplegic rugby team.

St. Luke’s has been surprised by the Cyclones’ success, Brandt said.

“They really came alive the last couple years,” she said. “They’re really committed and motivated athletes.”

There’s no question about that.

Cyclones practices are intense. Facilities are limited, so they train twice a week for 3 hours.

At a recent session, Hill gave the team a choice on its conditioning routine for the night - the same set of sprints from a previous practice or a mystery workout. Though brutal, they chose the one they’d already suffered through, figuring there was no telling what Hill might have in store.

“If anything hurts that much it has to be good for you,” hollered Gene Garrison, 50, as he struggled through a sprint.

As they approach the baseline and prepare to turn, players scream “right” or “left” to alert each other as to which way they’re turning.

During a competitive dribble contest, Pierce grew critical.

“Illegal bounce stop,” he shouted at 38-year-old Al Seals, a quadriplegic with 15 years of wheelchair basketball experience.

Wheelchair rules are similar to those used by the NCAA. Players must dribble once for every two pushes on their wheels and in the key it’s a 4-second violation rather than 3.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Hill leads the team in scoring, averaging 25 points a game. Tomlinson is a close second at around 20. Tomlinson was named to the national all-tournament team last season.

Hill tapes his wrist and wears black rubber elbow guards. He said he’d like to see a manufacturer of pain killers sponsor the Cyclones because it would make a good client.

Not Pierce.

“None of us over 50 uses any of the stuff he uses. I just wanted to point that out,” said Pierce, who sports plastic goggles and owns an advertising company that designs team fliers.

These guys do not want sympathy.

“If you go there, we will shut you off,” Tomlinson said.

Some opponents might act sympathetic toward the Cyclones because they’re from Spokane and isolated from the premier teams.

But those thoughts usually don’t last long, Hill said.

“After they see us play, they come to the realization that anything is possible anywhere,” Hill said.