Clippers’ Star Has Experience That Makes His Message Meaningful : Marques Johnson Is Telling it Like It Was

“Would you accept rat poison from a friend?” Marques Johnson asked a group of kids at Will Rogers Park in Watts.

“No,” the kids answered.

“Then why take drugs?” Johnson asked. “Drugs are a lot worse than rat poison. At least with rat poison, you die fast. But drugs are a slow death.”

Johnson, the Clippers’ star forward-guard who went through a drug rehabilitation center four years ago, before he was traded from Milwaukee, speaks from experience.

“I hit them with a hard message. And I think because of my position, the majority will listen,” he said. “Drugs are a one-way street to destruction. I’ve been through it and I tell kids to stay away from it. I feel the best way I can help is to share my experiences with drugs.

“I know how drugs can affect your life. There are a lot of repercussions. I had to explain why I took drugs to my kids.

“I wish there would have been that anti-drug message 15 years ago when I was growing up. Then it seemed like it was OK to smoke marijuana or use cocaine. But drugs have caused a lot of people a lot of harm.”

Some basketball players earn extra money by teaching at basketball camps, but Johnson is spending part of his summer speaking to youth groups around the Southland, on his own time and without pay.

“I’m evangelical when it comes to (the evils of drugs),” Johnson said.

Johnson’s message is especially timely because of the recent drug-related deaths of basketball’s Len Bias and football’s Don Rogers. Johnson, who grew up in South-Central Los Angeles and starred at Crenshaw High, tries to be a good role model. He said the kids listen to him because he’s an athlete.

“It depends on how you approach them,” he said. “I’ve been there. I’ve been bad and I know what’s happening. And I know the types of things the kids are going through.”

Johnson is also working in the political campaign of Ed Waters, a former Crenshaw High teammate who is running for the state Assembly, and serving on the board of directors of a group that is trying to save a park in West Los Angeles from being sold to real estate developers.

“It’s been a very active summer and I like it that way,” Johnson said. “In the past (when he was playing in Milwaukee) I’d come home to Los Angeles in the summer and not get involved because I figured I’d have to go back to Milwaukee. And when I was in Milwaukee, I wouldn’t get involved because I figured I’d have to go back to L.A.”

Meet the new Marques Kevin Johnson, age 30.

Anti-drug preacher.

Born-again Christian.

Family man with three kids.

Little League coach.

Also, millionaire NBA superstar who will be starting his 10th season in the league and his third with the Clippers.

Johnson was named the NBA comeback player of the year last May, beating out Bill Walton of the Celtics.

Johnson stumbled in his first season with the Clippers, averaging a career-low 16.4 points in 1984-85 and shooting less than 50% for the first time in his career.

Last season, Johnson, 6 feet 7 inches and 220 pounds, moved from forward, where he had been a four-time all-star, to guard and averaged 20.3 points, shot 51% and handed out 283 assists. He was also selected to play in the NBA All-Star game.

But it was a frustrating season for the team as the Clippers again failed to make the playoffs.

“We’re still trying to gain respect from a team standpoint,” Johnson said. “A lot of people in L.A. feel like the Clippers are the JVs, and the Lakers are the varsity. We’re trying to show people that despite all the changes and turmoil, we still care about winning.”

Johnson said that when he was going through drug rehabilitation, counselors stressed replacing drugs with spirituality but didn’t mention anything specific. He chose to plug Christianity into the gap.

He wears a Jesus T-shirt when he speaks to kids about drugs.

“I go to Bible study two or three times a week,” Johnson said. “It isn’t for everyone, but it gives me that good feeling.”

It’s obvious from an intense summer conditioning program that Johnson still cares about playing basketball.

Johnson credits his off-season conditioning program at UCLA with Malek Mansour, his personal fitness coach, for part of the turnaround last season, and is back at it. He works with Mansour for four hours a day, five days a week at UCLA.

Former UCLA stars Kiki Vandeweghe of the Portland Trail Blazers and Stuart Gray of the Indiana Pacers also work out with Johnson and Mansour.

They do 1,000 sit-ups to start the workout, since Mansour theorizes that having a strong stomach is the key to endurance. That’s followed by shooting and ball handling drills and pickup games.

Then it’s off to the pool. Instead of swimming laps, however, the athletes run in the water for 12-minute periods, which is meant to simulate a quarter of basketball running. They also do some high-knee running, underwater jumping and stretching exercises.

Mansour said he got the idea for the water workouts from watching race horses swim to rehabilitate injuries.

Johnson supplements the program with trips to the beach for body surfing. Indeed, Johnson even looks the part of a surfer. He showed up for an interview at the UCLA student union the other day dressed in a pair of fashionably long beach shorts. And he was buzzing because the waves at Malibu were going up to six to eight feet.

Johnson said his off-season conditioning program used to consist of tennis, some running and a few pickup games.

He said he had worked with Mansour early in his pro career. “I quit because he was a slave driver. But as I approach old age, I decided it would be better to get into shape gradually, rather than all at once. I worked with Malek last year, but we didn’t start until six weeks before training camp opened.

“I’m trying to build up gradually so that I won’t have to whip this old body into shape. I’m getting older and I’ve got to take better care of myself. Before, I used to like to play every day, but that’s counter-productive.”

Last season, he worked on his ball handling with Mansour because Clipper Coach Don Chaney had told him he would be playing a lot of guard. And he said it helped him to adjust to the move from small forward to guard.

This season, he is working on his outside shooting, going up against Vandeweghe in practice.

With guard Norm Nixon expected to be out for at least four months after undergoing knee surgery, and guard Derek Smith threatening to sit out the season because of a contract dispute, the Clippers may be even more dependent on Johnson when the 1986-87 season opens next fall.

“Norm helped to inspire me to get into shape,” Johnson said. “I went out and lost to Norm in tennis a month ago and I thought I’d better get into shape. (Losing Nixon) is going to be a major setback.”

Johnson said he would like to play about three more years before retiring.

“I think by that time my legs and psyche will have had enough,” Johnson said. “It’s still fun playing, but the stuff during the summer is starting to get tedious.

“The reason I respect Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) so much is that he has reached down every year and given of himself. I’m going into my 10th year and I feel blessed to have been around that long. But I have three kids and I feel it will be time to start being a full-time daddy.”

Johnson’s children are Chris, Josiah and Marques Jr.

Johnson is an assistant coach on Chris’ Little League baseball team. Chris plays right field and catcher.

“I’ve been suspended as a third base coach because I was sending runners home,” Johnson said. “I had five runners thrown out at the plate in one game. But it’s fun coaching. It gives me an opportunity to relive my childhood. I played a lot of Little League ball.”