Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky blossoms into premier player

Before adoring fans called him “The Moose” or “Joe College” or “Frank the Tank,” Frank Kaminsky was known simply as “Frankie” or “Little Frank.”

All year round, Little Frank would tag along with his 6-foot-10 dad to gyms around Chicago to watch “Big Frank” – a future version of himself - play rec-league games.

“That’s part of why Frank is so skilled,” said Gene Heidkamp, who coached Kaminsky at Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois. before he went on to stardom at Wisconsin. “His father was more of a face-up player than a low-post player. He could shoot the 3. Still can.”

At 60, Big Frank still plays several times a week.

How’s his game?

“I don’t want to say the wrong thing because I know he reads all these (stories),” Little Frank said. “He’s a good player. I learned most of what I can do from him. Good coach, too. Sees the game well.”

Big Frank is sitting in the back room at Tommy Nevin’s Pub in Evanston, a gathering spot for friends and relatives before the Badgers take on Northwestern. He has been asked to retell the story of the time Little Frank got his heart broken by his AAU coach. But first, some context.

Big Frank has a haircut Johnny Unitas would admire, straight out of the 1950s.

“I’m old school,” he said proudly.

He loved going to Bulls games at Chicago Stadium – “That place had a stink to it, an aura,” he said – and asked about the proper way to raise kids, he said: “Don’t be their friend. Be their dad.”

He said he “literally” grew up at Comiskey Park, going to doubleheaders on Sundays.

What if one of his three kids had grown up to be a Cubs fan?

“Not in my house!” he said.

Little Frank was gangly as a kid. Big Frank had him join the Illinois Wolves, an AAU traveling team that boasts alumni such as Ohio State’s Evan Turner, Northwestern’s John Shurna and Illinois’ Demetri McCamey.

“He needed more speed, quickness and toughness,” Big Frank said.

As Wolves director Mike Mullins recalled: “He was 6-5 or 6-6 and really slender. I’m not sure he could bench the bar in the weight room.”

When Kaminsky was 15, the team ventured to Kansas City to play an under-17 tournament. Mullins took nine players with him but left Kaminsky back after consulting with Big Frank, who starred at Lewis University and coached at York and Glenbard West high schools in the Chicago suburbs.

Most of the rationale, Mullins said, was practical – Kaminsky could benefit more by staying home and lifting weights than from playing spot minutes against physically developed opponents. Mullins also wanted to light a fire under Kaminsky. Kaminsky cried on the ride home to Lisle, but Big Frank was hardly sympathetic.

“It’s your choice – be a ballplayer or not,” Big Frank told him. And this: “If you’re not going to quit crying, go play soccer.”

As Little Frank now recalls it: “He pretty much told me, ‘Stop being a baby.’ It definitely was motivation for me to get better to prove to people that I could be good enough.”

No to Northwestern

Walking from the east parking lot to Welsh-Ryan Arena, a Northwestern student tells his friend: “Frank Kaminsky is from Illinois, and Northwestern didn’t even recruit him. Think about that.”

The student’s name is Ryan Fish, and he’s also a broadcaster for WNUR, NU’s student radio station.

“You see the caliber of player and you wonder what could have been,” he said.

Northwestern actually did recruit Kaminsky, just not successfully.

Kaminsky’s mother, Mary, a 6-footer who jokes about being “the shortest in the family,” played volleyball for Northwestern from 1981-85. She said she had a great experience, despite recalling how the volleyball court at McGaw Hall was surrounded by a dirt track that would sully stray balls.

Standing in the back room at Nevin’s, she’s wearing a red “KAMINSKY” No. 44 Wisconsin jersey. She immediately switched from purple to red after Frank committed to the Badgers in June 2010, calling Wisconsin “a special place.”

But she said she “absolutely” wanted Kaminsky to consider Northwestern. Drew Crawford and his family emphasized the program’s post-basketball networking opportunities during recruiting, and NU coaches coveted skilled big men.

Mary said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, whose Badgers have never missed the NCAA tournament, emphasized how he could develop Kaminsky in the mold of the 6-10 Jon Leuer, who rose from midlevel recruit to All-Big Ten player to rotation player for the NBA’s Grizzlies.

“He fell in love with the vision Bo had for him,” Mary said.

Asked if he would have considered Northwestern had the visit gone better, Little Frank said: “At that time, yeah, I wasn’t ruling out anyone. A Big Ten team in Chicago, with a lot of family ties here, it would have been nice. But when it came right down to it, I just couldn’t say no to Wisconsin.”

‘A mismatch guy’

The numbers tell the story of Kaminsky’s remarkable rise. So do the coaches.

“As a freshman and sophomore, he wasn’t even on our scouting report,” Penn State’s Patrick Chambers said.

Over 67 games in those first two seasons, Kaminsky averaged less than three points and two rebounds.

“His transformation has been remarkable,” Chambers said, referring in part to Kaminsky’s 18-point, 14-rebound effort against the Nittany Lions on Dec. 31. “He can go right, he can go left, he can shoot 3s, he can go off the dribble. For the caliber of player he is, he is very unselfish. He makes winning plays.”

Kaminsky scored only five points in the first half Jan. 4 at Northwestern, largely because of foul trouble that limited him to 11 minutes.

The 7-foot, 242-pound Kaminsky finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block – in just 24 minutes. The Badgers cruised 81-58.

“There’s really no one like him in the country,” NU coach Chris Collins said. “His ability to step out, pass, put it on the floor, shoot … he’s tremendous. And then you put him on the court with (Nigel) Hayes, (Sam) Dekker, (Josh) Gasser and (Traevon) Jackson … who are you going to leave? You put two guys on Frank and he’s going to get the assist.”

“He’s a mismatch guy,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “You have to put somebody on him kind of like himself – good size and able to move laterally with the strength to guard him. There are not a lot of guys with that package.”

Kaminsky’s breakthrough came early last season, when he nailed 16 of 19 shots en route to a school-record 43 points against North Dakota.

“He built on that,” Todd Dekker, Sam’s father, said while awaiting tipoff at Nevin’s. “His footwork is now off the charts.”