FATHER'S GAME FUELED SCOTT'S FIRE
March 4, 2009
By: Scott Fowler
The Charlotte Observer
In every basketball gym he walked into as a child, Ryan Scott heard the same whispers.
You're not your father. You're not as tall as he is. You don't shoot as well as he does.
Scott's father is Dennis Scott, a former Georgia Tech star and the ACC's player of the year in 1990. Dennis Scott became a long-range shooting specialist in the NBA, playing a decade in the league and once setting an NBA record for most 3-pointers in a season.
"It was tough when I was younger," said Ryan Scott, who will lead Johnson C. Smith this week as the Golden Bulls attempt to defend their 2008 CIAA tournament title. "I heard a lot about not being as good as he was. As I got older, that added more fuel to the fire. It made me want to prove to myself and everybody else that I could play the game."
Ryan Scott is 6-foot-3, five inches shorter than his father. He competes at a lower level of college basketball. But the senior shooting guard is an All-CIAA player who can ripple the nets like his father could. He averages 18.2 points and leads the conference in 3-pointers made per game.
"Ryan has my range," Dennis Scott said. "It's a joy to know that he's had such a good senior season, but I'm even prouder that coach (Steve) Joyner keeps telling me he never has problems with Ryan. The basketball stops bouncing for all of us one day, so that's very important."
Ryan Scott spent much of his childhood in Charlotte until age 14, when he moved to Virginia. He never lived full time with his father growing up, but he idolized him.
"I was fascinated with him," Scott said. "Wherever he went, I would try to go."
Scott was particularly star struck when his father, a longtime teammate and neighbor of Shaquille O'Neal in Orlando, would take him four houses down to Shaq's mansion to play pickup games. There Ryan would shag basketballs for the pros. By the time he was 13 and nearing 6-foot, Ryan got to play occasionally.
"I wasn't killing it or anything," Scott said, "but I was playing. Mostly I played defense and passed. I'd be so nervous. Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Ken Griffey Jr. - they all played in those games."
Scott was raised by his mother, Kelli Gilmore, who has been the biggest influence in his life. Dennis Scott was only 17 when Ryan was born and mostly has seen his son in the summer during the NBA's downtime. The elder Scott now lives in Atlanta, where he has a radio show and also is a radio broadcaster for the Atlanta Hawks.
Although Dennis Scott doesn't get to many of Ryan's games, he saw the one this month at J.C. Smith when Ryan scored 34 against Shaw, including a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"To see him getting trampled by his teammates after that shot - that was great," Dennis Scott laughed.
Dennis Scott had some nice moments in Charlotte, too. In 1990, Georgia Tech won the ACC tournament title here under coach Bobby Cremins with Scott, Kenny Anderson and Brian Oliver in the so-called "Lethal Weapon III" attack.
Oddly, Ryan Scott could have played for Cremins in college, too. He originally accepted a scholarship to play for College of Charleston under coach Tom Herrion. By the end of his freshman year, Scott wanted to transfer. Cremins then replaced Herrion as Charleston's coach. But Scott wanted to transfer, anyway - he says he believed he would never play much under Cremins.
"I tried to talk him out of transferring," Dennis Scott said, "because I knew coach Cremins would do him right. But Ryan had already made up his mind, and that was OK. It's his life."
Joyner was familiar with the Scott family from their time in Charlotte and happily accepted the transfer. Ryan has started at J.C. Smith most of the past three seasons.
"In the last six games of this season, Ryan has pretty much put the team on his back and carried us," Joyner said. "That's what he's capable of doing and I wish he had one more year to do it. But hopefully, in the CIAA tournament, he can do it one more time."
Scott Fowler: 704-358-5140; sfowler@charlotteobserver.com.
