A Shot At Success

A shot at success

Matt Johnson's long road now leading to a future at four-year school

By Tim Casey - Bee Staff Writer

Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, March 24, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A17

Sierra College point guard Matt Johnson, shown during a game last season against Butte College, has caught the notice of four-year schools through his play and academic performance. Sacramento Bee/Randall Benton

Matt Johnson shouldn't be here, playing basketball in front of fewer than 50 fans. The 6-foot-3 Sierra College sophomore point guard expertly handles the ball, sets up his teammates, drives past defenders, and leads the Wolverines to another easy victory.

A first-team All-Metro selection at Sacramento High School and his league's most valuable player in 2005, Johnson's always had the talent to play for an NCAA Division I or II college. Obstacles, however, were plentiful, ranging from spending most of junior high in foster care to fathering a baby in high school.

Perhaps most of all, Johnson didn't take school seriously. He never even took the SAT, not only required for admission to most four-year colleges, but a prerequisite to an athletic scholarship.

"I was just lazy," Johnson said. Now he is determined to become a relative rarity: an athlete from a poor high school on a four-year college's varsity team.

Athletes from better-off local public high schools are more than twice as likely to play for California colleges as their poor counterparts, according to a Bee analysis of more than 200 team rosters. Private school graduates are almost five times as likely.

In all, 170 graduates of wealthy public high schools in the Sac-Joaquin Section populate rosters at California's 36 Division I and II colleges. Poor high schools have just 81.

Private high schools can recruit from throughout the region for athletes. Their graduates represent 69 kids on the California college rosters -- 16 percent of the local showing, though they educate about 6 percent of the region's students.

Although The Bee looked solely at California colleges, those closest to the situation say the factors play out the same way -- if not worse -- at out-of-state colleges.

The club player advantage

Kevin Boyd gets paid to watch teenagers kick and pass soccer balls. The University of California, Berkeley, women's coach scours the Sacramento region looking for players skilled enough to join his squad.

But he doesn't attend high school games. Instead, he goes to club matches involving players from private teams such as Placer United, Elk Grove United and the San Juan Soccer Club.

Every woman on Cal's roster played club soccer, as did the vast majority playing for its Division I competitors. Boyd said he can determine how good a player is only when she competes with similarly talented players during the club season. In high school matches, the talent differential is enormous and the fields may be in poor shape, making evaluation difficult.

So, it's no surprise to Boyd that 62 players on college men's and women's soccer rosters statewide graduated from the Sacramento area's wealthier public high schools, 26 from private schools and only 15 from poorer public schools.

The same trend applies in volleyball, softball and baseball, sports that are heavily populated by wealthier students recruited almost exclusively from traveling and club teams. The breakdown among Sacramento-area kids at the state's Division I or II colleges: baseball (19 from wealthier public, 17 from private and 8 from poorer public); volleyball (14, 5 and 11); and softball (16, 2 and 6).

Why the disparity? In part it's because the club and traveling teams that groom those athletes cost money -- sometimes thousands of dollars.

"None of us want finances to make a difference, but they do," said Boyd, who also coaches a girls soccer club team in Oakland. "Anybody who's athletically gifted, you say, 'If she had more training, imagine what she could be.'"

The more even playing fields

Poorer athletes in football and basketball tend to fare better. Among Sacramento-area players on California's Division I and II basketball teams, 26 are from wealthier high schools, eight are from private schools and 18 are from poorer high schools. In football, the breakdown is 33, 11 and 23.

Special traveling teams and summer programs are important venues for college basketball and football recruiters. But, area high school coaches say, a lot of poorer kids do play on traveling basketball teams, sometimes through scholarships.

Matt Johnson, relaxing at his Sacramento home with son Matthew, 3, credits fatherhood with giving him a new outlook. The former Sacramento High star says he was "lazy" in high school, but focused on making the most of his community college experience. Sacramento Bee/Randall Benton

Also, because basketball requires little more than a hoop and a ball, a poor kid can pick up the game at any age.

In football, particularly for the major college programs with large recruiting budgets, a kid's height, weight and speed are at least as important as his team's record or his own athletic record. A good-sized lineman will have a fairly equal chance at a college scholarship whether he goes to Granite Bay High or Galt High.

But that's only half the equation, as Brian Hamilton can attest. The former McClatchy star used basketball as a leg up to a better education. He played at Utah's Brigham Young University and earned his degree before returning to Sacramento and running a summer traveling team composed mostly of inner-city kids.

Hamilton maintains that a lot of athletes' friends and families don't encourage them to get good grades. Among his teen players, it's not cool to do well in school, he said, and many are unaware of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's standards.

To qualify for an NCAA Division I scholarship, a student must graduate from high school with a 2.5 grade-point average, score at least 820 out of 1,600 on the critical reading and math portions of the SAT, and take 14 "core" courses in English, math, science and social science. The middle two components also have a seesaw scale: Students with higher GPAs can have a lower SAT score.

"We have to stress the only chance to get a look (from colleges) is to get decent grades," Hamilton said. "I've had coaches get all excited about kids. And then as soon as the transcript comes, they're nowhere to be found."

Many hurdles to overcome

While starring for Sacramento High, Matt Johnson drew interest from Sacramento State and the University of San Francisco. But skipping the SAT limited his higher education options to community colleges.

The youngest of six children, Johnson was taken away from his mother for three years starting in sixth grade after his sister called Child Protective Services, claiming their mother, Kathleen Davis, had abused them.

Davis denies the accusation, although she acknowledges she worked three jobs and wasn't around much. Johnson, she says, was raised mostly by his older brothers and sisters before being sent to foster care.

After Davis attended parenting and anger management classes and underwent counseling, she regained custody of her children just before Johnson reached high school. Soon after, in February 2002, the family's rented house burned down and they lost most of their possessions.

Then, halfway through his junior year, Johnson's girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy.

Davis is proud of her son's turnaround since then, saying he "went through these huge things that kids shouldn't have to come through. He's really overcome a lot."

On the court one night last November, Johnson subtly displayed his talent. He's not a high-flying dunker or amazing long-range shooter. But, after playing as a forward in high school, he's made a smooth transition to point guard at Sierra. He plays under control, making smart decisions and serving as the on-court leader.

After a 91-65 victory over Feather River College, Johnson emerged from the locker room. Three-year-old Matthew Johnson couldn't contain his glee. Smiling broadly, he ran around the court, his long-sleeved shirt coming untucked from his size 3 jeans.

He stopped to hug his father.

Everybody looks at young fatherhood as "a bad thing," said Johnson. "But I look at it as a blessing. ... As my son gets older, I'm trying to be a good example."

Johnson's newfound maturity seems to be paying off. He's qualified academically to transfer to a four-year college and, his coach said, has interest from several colleges, including Oklahoma State University, the University of Arkansas and Sacramento State. He's planning on making all-expenses-paid visits to five schools, the maximum allowed under NCAA rules.

Since childhood, Johnson said, he's dreamed of "playing in front of 30,000 fans." Now, he added, "I think I'm ready."