Lee Takes the Lead : Stanford Scholarship Secured, North Hollywood Guard Steps Up

It’s December 1992, and Arthur Lee is surrounded by the bright lights and alluring casinos of Las Vegas.

Though Lee can’t gamble, there are glitzy shows, glamorous people and all sorts of good times on the neon horizon. Even for a high school kid.

Perhaps that’s why Coach Steve Miller is conducting a bed check during a nonleague tournament for his North Hollywood High boys’ basketball team.

Miller goes door to door in the hotel, teasing players about their night stand mints and turned-up bedsheets before arriving at Lee’s room.

Star guard Fantasia Johnson looks up from his video game and points to his roommate.

There, lying in bed (after all, it is almost lights out) is Lee, a basketball under one arm and an SAT prep book nestled in his other.

Johnson rolls his eyes and protests.

“I never want to room with this guy again,” he says. “He’s the most boring human being I’ve ever been around.”

*

It’s nearly two years later, and North Hollywood will soon be going to the same annual tournament. Johnson has since graduated, as has three-time all-city selection Damon Ollie, leaving Lee, now a senior, as the team leader.

The team’s nucleus isn’t the only apparent change: Lee now wears an earring in each lobe, sports Shaquille O’Neal sideburns and, at first glance, has become living testimony to his nickname, Silk.

But on the inside, Arthur Monroe Lee III is still Arthur Monroe Lee III.

His favorite non-basketball activities--brace yourself--are watching TV and catching a movie. Even when Lee socializes on a Saturday night, there are other priorities.

“He might go out with us, but he’ll study late at night when he goes home,” says close friend Jimmy Sanders. “Sometimes he’s up until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning studying.”

Is that so?

“My life is a little boring, I guess,” Lee says with a smile. “All I do is play basketball and study.

“And hang out with my friends when I get the chance. That’s about it.”

His focus is on basketball and academics, a somewhat unusual combination.

In every school, every neighborhood, there’s the whispered story of the kid with all the talent in the world. Man, how he could shoot the rock, dribble single-handedly through the press and throw passes between his legs in traffic. . . .

But he couldn’t draw iron on his SAT scores.

Lee defies the notion of a one-dimensional athlete. The point guard scores in the classroom (a near-4.0 grade-point average) and on the court (17.7 points and 4.5 assists per game last season).

He signed early for a full-ride scholarship to Stanford, proving that studying textbooks as well as playbooks can translate into more calls from coaches during recruiting season.

“We’ve kind of earmarked him since the ninth grade,” says Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery, who signed the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Lee on Nov. 9.

“Way back when, somebody said to keep an eye on this kid, he’s going to be a good player. And he’s a 4.0 student.”

The type of player who raises the pulse of a coach at a top-notch academic institution.

“As we looked around at our needs, there wasn’t a better prospect in the country,” continues Montgomery.

“It was a perfect fit.”

Lee might have learned from former teammates Johnson and Ollie, who never found that perfect fit and are currently playing at the junior college level.

When the opportunity with Stanford arose, Lee snared it. Ahead of Arizona, Boston College and USC, to name a few.

“All those hours of studying and practicing paid off,” Lee says. “I’ve been thinking about (a scholarship) since ninth grade and it’s all finally worked out.”

This season, which has yet to unfurl, will be another challenge.

A complementary player in the past, he now runs the show. The success of North Hollywood, a Valley power, hinges greatly on Lee.

“He has to step up for our team to be successful,” says Miller. “If he doesn’t step up, our team won’t be successful. We’ll go from a good team to an average one.”

Lee’s up for the challenge.

“I’m cool with it and everybody else has been reacting positively to it,” he says. “I’m looking to have fun, win games and hopefully get us to the Sports Arena for the City championships.”

Good plan, as long as the games don’t go double overtime. Wouldn’t want to crowd into study time.

Preseason Basketball Top 10

Rankings of Valley-area high schools by sportswriters of The Times.

Rk Team League Rec 1. Cres. Valley Pacific 20-10 2. Harvard Mission 24-3 3. No. Hollywood East Valley 17-6 4. Chatsworth West Valley 13-8 5. Agoura Marmonte 18-9 6. La Canada Rio Hondo 26-3 7. Cleveland West Valley 14-9 8. Westlake Marmonte 17-7 9. Oak Park Tri-Valley 22-3 10. Santa Clara Frontier 20-9