The Colleges : His Career Is a Long and Very Winding Road

Don Johnson, Cypress College basketball coach, got a call last Sunday, the morning after his team had won a Southern California regional championship to earn a berth in the state tournament. He figured it was just another fan to wish the team well.

But this time it was one of his players--John Jackson.

Jackson, a 6-foot 3-inch sophomore forward, called to tell Johnson how great he felt about the team getting to the state tournament. Cypress had defeated Rancho Santiago, 64-63, on Saturday to qualify.

“He was so excited and happy to be a part of a team that was going somewhere,” Johnson said.

Jackson graduated from Gardena High School in 1982 but hadn’t played any high school basketball. He played in city and park leagues instead.

“I had my friends and other things away from the school team,” Jackson said.

Jackson enrolled at Santa Monica College after high school and during his freshman year decided he would try out for the basketball team the next season. He didn’t know at the time becoming a contributing member of a winning team would be so tough.

Jackson has spent time at three community colleges in the past six years, and it wasn’t until last season at Cypress that he got to see any game action.

Now, Jackson is a 23-year-old forward at Cypress with no National Collegiate Athletic Assn. eligibility left.

Athletes have five years to complete four years of NCAA eligibility once they become full-time students. Which means that Jackson can’t play for any NCAA college next season. He could play for a National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics school, but he isn’t thinking about any basketball past this weekend.

Cypress (30-5) plays Skyline (26-7) tonight at 7 in the first round of the eight-team state tournament at Santa Clara University. El Camino and Santa Monica, the two colleges at which Jackson tried unsuccessfully to play, are also in the tournament.

Jackson redshirted on the basketball team in his second year at Santa Monica. But he got into a disagreement with a teacher and didn’t return to Santa Monica after the spring semester.

He enrolled at El Camino the next year (1984-85) but was asked to redshirt again.

“I thought I was ready to play but the coaches didn’t,” Jackson said. “I guess I could understand that.”

He decided to work out on his own the next summer and returned to El Camino to try to make the team for the 1985-86 season. But he didn’t make the first cut.

“I thought I could play at either program,” Jackson said. “But I can see now that maybe neither school had a need for me.”

Jackson ended up at Cypress in the fall of 1986 after meeting a girl who was going to the college. She suggested that he try to play there.

“He’s as true a walk-on as there could be,” Johnson said. “He just walked into the gym one day during the summer and said, ‘Coach, I think I can play here if you give me the chance.’ ”

Jackson made the team last season, played in 30 of 33 games and averaged 4 points and 2 rebounds.

He began this season coming off the bench but moved into the starting lineup when freshman forward John Vranes broke his arm Jan. 5.

Cypress has won 15 in a row with Jackson starting and won the Orange Empire Conference with a 10-0 record.

“When John got hurt I was scared,” Jackson said. “I knew he was a strong rebounder and played good defense and that I would be asked to do both in his place. Finally my mother told me to stop worrying about it. I could keep standing behind other people, or I could step out and become somebody.”

Jackson has stepped out. He is averaging 10 points and 5 rebounds since becoming a starter.

But even this season hasn’t been an easy one for Jackson. He was kicked off the team last October, although details of the incident are hard to come by.

“Let’s just say I got into some trouble for my mouth,” Jackson said.

Johnson didn’t offer any more specifics.

“Let’s just say that he owes a debt to the coaching staff and his teammates,” was all Johnson would say.

Jackson also had some problems in the classroom. His mother was sick last spring and he had to go to work. He needed to take classes in the summer and was still ineligible the first week of practice last fall before he passed a mathematics proficiency test. He became eligible a week before games started in November.

“There was just a point at some time in the season when it all clicked that this is what I wanted to do,” Jackson said. “I’m not worrying about next season or anything past that. I hope we win the state title, but if we don’t I just want people to know that we played hard. I’m just glad to be a part of this team.”