John Blanchette: Spokane leaves lasting impression

Phil Von Buchwaldt’s first impression of Spokane was that the second impression should come via rearview mirror. Forty-eight hours in January, cold and dreary, and he couldn’t wait to get back to California with his Santa Clara University teammates.

So the irony of his Hoopfest weekend wish was not lost on him.

“Last year it was way too hot and not an ounce of wind,” he said. “We need something a little cooler and we need some wind for the shooters to deal with. Trading ones for twos isn’t for me, since I’m the one down there working my tail off for one point.”

It’s funny how the Hoopfest talent pool replenishes itself. There’s another wave of 6-year-olds every year, of course, and the local colleges dribble a few new players into the elite divisions. And then there’s the Big Man’s Relocation Program, which produces a 6-foot-11 center once every, oh, 16 or 17 years.

Well, sure, there has to be something non-Hoopfest to occupy the other 363 days. About two years ago, armed with an MBA from Santa Clara and the idea that Megalopolis was no place to raise a family, Von Buchwaldt connected with Washington Trust Bank’s commercial loan department. He has adapted quickly to the work (“I hope I haven’t let them down,” he said), the cheap and accessible golf (“I’m losing fewer balls”) and a basketball culture that has surprised him – from the phenomenon of Hoopfest itself to the fact that “there are some really good players out here.”

That reality was driven home again this weekend. Even with a roster that included two other former Division I players from Spokane – Erik Benzel and Danny Pariseau – Von Buchwaldt’s team was one of the 1,000 or so eliminated Saturday with a pair of losses.

Hey, it gets wild in the streets.

At 33, Von Buchwaldt admits he doesn’t seek out the game the way he once did. He and his wife, Susan, have a 4-year-old son and another child on the way, and so basketball has receded into a recreation. But even when it was his livelihood – he played four years professionally in his native France and Belgium – he didn’t have that much of a problem detaching himself from it.

Still, he appreciates all the avenues basketball has opened. He virtually willed himself to the United States before global recruiting boomed, working hard on his English, playing on the French under-18 team that won a world championship and then jumping at a chance to show his skills at a weeklong camp in Irvine, Calif., where he attracted the attention of former Santa Clara coach Dick Davey.

That was in 1992, and Davey was on a roll. One of his recruits was Randy Winn, who would bag basketball for baseball after two seasons and is now in his 10th year in the big leagues.

And there was another by the name of Steve Nash.

Von Buchwaldt can tell Nash stories on demand – starting with the 8 a.m. class they shared senior year when the future two-time NBA most valuable player would show up drenched in sweat from his ritual early morning workout.

“If that’s what it takes,” Von Buchwaldt recalled telling himself, “I don’t think I have it.”

But his favorite goes back to freshman year when they were studying in the library and Nash looked up and said, “Phil, I’m going to the NBA.”

Von Buchwaldt found this so amusing that he bet Nash $100 – and made him write the wager down on an index card and sign it.

“I mean, it was ridiculous,” Von Buchwaldt said. “He couldn’t bring the ball up the court, that’s how bad it was. The freshmen were the gold team in practice and we’d inbound the ball and halfway down John Woolery would have stolen the ball from Steve and laid it up. I remember Davey would stop practice and there’d be this big silence and he’d say, ‘Steve, walk with me,’ and he’d walk us to the top of the key and hand Steve the ball and say, ‘Now, can you do it from here?’ “

But by the time of their senior banquet, it was clear Nash would be a first-round draft pick – which allowed him to produce the forgotten index card and say, “Phil, you owe me 100 bucks. But save it and put it into a plane ticket to come and see me play.”

Which brings us to the real issue: How does a Santa Clara guy survive here in Gonzagaland?

“A valid question,” he laughed. “In my office here, I have a clipping from The Spokesman-Review from Feb. 13 that says, ‘GU streak: 50 and over, Broncos bust McCarthey mystique.’ I’m about to take it down – I’ve milked it for all it’s worth.

“No, really, it’s been great. The part I’ve come to enjoy is the basketball mentality here. My wife has coached a team of seventh-grade girls from the neighborhood and that’s been great fun, and I helped with Dan Fitzgerald’s camp a month or two ago and was struck by the level of talent. And I’m just amazed at Hoopfest. It’s nothing I ever would have guessed the first time I saw Spokane.”

So it’s not the first impression that counts. It’s the lasting one.