Ailing Coach and His Team Endure

Victories are not the only thing the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps basketball team is playing for this season. Their coach’s health is something the Stags have on their minds every time they play.

David Wells, who has coached at Claremont for 25 years, is taking the rest of the season off after undergoing 16 hours of surgery Dec. 2 to remove cancer in his throat and mouth. And while he isn’t with his players on the bench, he is in their hearts and thoughts.

“I definitely think [the situation has brought the team closer] because we’re all pulling for him,” said senior guard Brian Smith. “Our No. 1 goal is to make sure he is OK, and the team has really bonded.

“By playing hard and playing as a team, we make him happy. And keeping him happy is important to make him healthy.”

To give himself the best chance for recovery, Wells, 48, decided that keeping both roles of athletic director and coach would be too demanding. He will remain athletic director once he is able to return to work, though that date is undetermined. He told the team just before Christmas.

“I love this team. I love these players,” said Wells, the winningest coach in school history with a 318-297 record and six Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. “The decision was the hardest one for me to make but the easiest one for me too. It is the best thing for me and for the team.”

Wells’ cancer was similar to the kind that afflicted former Dodger center fielder Brett Butler. The surgery involved removal of part of the roof of his mouth, part of his throat and lymph nodes.

And though it will be a long recovery--six to eight months of rehabilitation involving such things as learning how to swallow again--Wells’ family is thankful to have him home with them.

“I get to sit with him, be next to him, hold him, cuddle,” said Wells’ wife, Jodie Burton, coach of the Claremont women’s team. “We appreciate every moment we have. Sometimes we feel sorry for ourselves, but we just have to get out, laugh and enjoy ourselves.”

Burton, senior women’s administrator for the athletic department, will assume Wells’ duties as athletic director until he returns to work.

Wells had similar, though far less extensive, surgery early in the 1995-96 season, but missed hardly any time from coaching.

The second operation has not drowned Wells’ hopes.

“I am not abandoning this team,” Wells said. “I can stay closer to the players because I am also athletic director.

“At this point in time, I intend to be back.”

For now, the coaching duties are in the hands of Ken Scalmanini, who spent the last four seasons as Wells’ assistant. Scalmanini, whose team is 3-6, also knows victories are not his only responsibility in replacing a man who has graduated all but one of his players the past 15 years.

“He is a great man; he is honorable,” Scalmanini, 31, said. “I want to do well for Coach.

“My goal right now is to get the guys to compete, play hard and keep it going in a straight line. [Wells] really has a good program going, so it’s not as difficult as it might seem to come in midstream.”

That’s why Wells left the team in Scalmanini’s hands. After tutoring Scalmanini for four seasons, Wells says he has the right man to carry on what he has taught his team both on and off the court.

“It’s like the master teacher and the student teacher,” Wells said. “Sometimes the master teacher leaves and the student teacher is on his own.

“[Scalmanini] is the one making decisions. Also, with Ken, I know I don’t have to worry about them in the classroom.”

Wells also doesn’t have to worry about not seeing his players. Many of them visited him in the hospital, and they have all spent time at his house with him since the surgery.

And Wells hopes that as his recovery progresses, he’ll be able to visit them more often.

Seeing his players could be as powerful as any treatment doctors can give him.

“I’m planning on being at most of the games, but not on the bench,” Wells said. “My players are my source of strength.

“They are great kids, good players and we’re going to make it through this.”