Snyder's signings include three highly sought.after athletes with immedi· young people to emulate." ate.impact potential. Six.foot.6.inch for. ""o r his part, Snyder downplays his ward Kareem Rush , la.st season's high.sehool heroics, preferring to talk Missouri Player of the Year, is tops among he ha.o; 5 been (I riven to succce<1. His instead about what he learned from them, In four years a.s a starter, Rush dad, a high-school ba!leball coach, and his Pepple and his former teammates: " I got a helpe(llead his Kansas City high school mom , herself an athlete, each encouragc(1 great lesson carlyon in life about how to three straiglu state dlampionsllips. the headstrong Quin to play m'ery sport rewarding it is to be a part of a group. And He's a proven gunne r, having averllb.-cd that struck his fan cy. how rewarding it is to give yourself to a 27.8 points per game as a senior, who can That was plenty. Football, baseball, group, to achieve things with other pcuple rehound and run the floor. hasketball-Q.uin was a schoolyard sen. and to be able to share them," he says. He'll be joined by Columbia '5 Josh sation in each. Athletic mastery bred con· Kroenke, the Roek Bri(lgc High standout fid ence an(l, of course, conlpetiti\,eness. t graduation time, recruiters who willaddsizc, he's6.foot.4 , and " If! hadn't lost my recess by getting in Ablanketed Mercer Islamllike fog three.point scoring punch to the ligers' trouble for something, I liked to go out in late spring. They nee<ln't have already exemplary backcourt of Kcyon and play kiekhall and do all that stuff," bothered. Only Duke University had the Dooling, Brian Grawer and Clarence he recalls. " I was fairly independent. bor· mix of academic excellence and bll!ikethall Gilbert. New, too, is 240.pound Nigcrian dering on disruptive. Hut school was dominance that young Quin was after, forward Taj'l(leen Soyaye, a 6·foot·9·inch always something that was important to and Snyder became a Blue Dev il with tough guy who'll help shore up Mizzou's me, and I was compctith'e there as ,,\·ell ." hardly a second thought. less impressive inside game. By the time he reached I Oth grade at Breaking into one of the nation's most Still , Snyder remains cautious. Me rcer Island High School , Sny(ler had storied basketball programs would be a " I don't have a good enough idea right narrowed his focus to two things: basket­ daunting task for even the most polished now to even take a shot at how many ball and academics. Hee)[eell e<1 in both. high.school phenom, yet Snyder managed games we're goillg to win. I haven't seen In four years of high school he received with characteristic aplomb, qUickly this team play," he !'iays. "\Ve ' re going to exactly one ",ark that Wll!i short of per· establishing himself a.s an athletic-and be small. So t1l ere'!'i a challenge there. But fect. Snyder also was near perfect in the academic--supcrstar. Two ACe champi. I'd rather think about the faclthat we gym. Twice he was voted state player of onships; three Final Four appearances; could be (luick. And maybe we can pres· tIlC year, leading Mercer Island to tlte teanl co.eaptain in 1988·89; GTE sure people and run the ball up the floor. I state '.'I Quad A ba.o;kethall title in 1985. As AClidemie AII.American: a bachelor's think we can shoot the ball, too. Bm those a senior Snyder WIl!i named a McDonald's degree in public policy: a master's degree are all things that make for good pre.sca· High School AII.American. the first ever in business administration; a law degree. son publications, that don't really. from Wa.o;hington. The list of achievements seems almost Look, if I'm thinking about all that stuff " He could do anything he put his mind supe rhuman. " I guess I was hungry," he and 1I0t thinking about coachillg my play. to, whether it was being a lawyer, a head says. " If I did something, I approached it ers and ways to make them better, then coach or president of the Unite(1 States." with a certain amount of vigor. I just had my time is probably not well.spent." his coach Ed Pepple told The KaJu(J,s a fair amount of pride in my performance 42 HlllOI whom Snyder credits with eas· ing him into the intellectual rig, orsoffirst.yearlaw. " He's never becn happy in the celebrity role. " I wrote a bunch of essays and did pre· in various situations." He's good at it, very well.spoken and sentations and interviews, and I got, basi· Hungry and, in fact, all too human. poised. !Jut one of the things I think law cally, to the final round lof the fellowship Snyder pursued graduate degrecs in large school did was to help him prepare for competitionj," Snyder says. " Then I got a part because he had no idea w hat to do becoming a more public pcrson." letter that said, ' You don't get it.' " with his life. He also says that, for a time, It also allowed him the freedom to That rejection may have been thc most there was nothing he would rather have rekindle his love for basketball. He played fortuitous bit of bad news in Missouri done less than play or coach basketball. pickup games with his friends. He basketball history. Reading the letter, The crises came soon after Duke pitched in at Bloc Devil practices. He Snyder reali ;r..ed that all the qualities he awarded him a baehelor's degree. "1 was cven spent a year as an assistant coach to hoped to bring to entrepreneurial activi. emotionally drained. I just did not want his former father.in.law, Larry Brown of tiel>~ illtc1li gc n ce, drive, competitive_ to play anymore, " Snyder recalls. the L.A. Clippcrs. Snyder's Sept. 25 mar­ ness-were cxactly the attributes he had Nevertheless, at the urging of his father riage to Helen Redwine is his second. spent years honing on the hardwood. and Duke Coach Mike Krzyzcwski, " I had stayed involved with coaching a Snyder signed a contract with the Indiana ohn Hammond, now the Tigers' asso· bit, but at that point I decided to jump in Pacers and embarked half.heartedly on an ciate head basketball coach , ",-,as with both feet," he says. " I wrote about NBA career. Early in the moming follow. Jpart of Brown's staff in Los Angeles 300 letters to people all over tile country ing his first day of camp--a day in which when Snyder came on board. He says asking if they had any opcnings, and was Snyder says he played great basketball­ the impress ion Quin made "'as immediate fortnnate they had one at Duke." he picked up the phone and made a call to and lasting. Hammond spent 10 years And four years later, one at MU. \Vas his friend Georh>\! Irvinc, then the Pacers' coaching in the NBA, the most recent six there any hcsitation about replaCing Mr. director of player personnel. of them with the Detroit Pistons. He Missouri Basketball? " I called George at 1 :30 a.m.- he proudly connts superstars Joe Dumars and " I feel honored t o have a chance to lived thcre in town- and I said , 'You've G rant Hill as among those players who pick up the baton," Snyder says. " It's got toeomegct me, I don't want to do this have benefited from his hanl work. been Norm Stewart's program; I think in anymore,' " Snyder says. At that moment Hammond nonethcles.s adopts an many ways it will always be Norm he was sure he Wlllj finished with compct· awestruck tone w hen desc ribing the Stcwart's program. That's great w ith me. itivebasketball. youth and energy of his new boss: "You' re That's recognition of all the work that he nack in Durllam, Sny der immersed talking about a guy who is 33 years old, did over the years, and 1 will benefit from Ilimself in Duke's law and business has a law degree and is an NCAA Division his hard work. I hope he feels that way, schools. The move allowed him, for allllOst 1 coach at one of the oot college programs too. Hopcfully we will have some success, the first tillie since childhood, a measure in the country. That is not normal. This and he can look back and say, ' You know of allollymity. guy is not normal!" w hat? I gave these guys their start.' , " It '"-'as ''Cry hard to have been the Normal or not, it was another disap. Snyder leans back, his big hands at type of basketball star Quin was at Duke pointment, this time the rejection of an rest on the arms of t he chair. For the first and then go on to graduate school. " says application for a prestigious postgraduate time all afternoon he seems completely at JeromeCulp Jr. , a Duke law professor business fellowship, that pushed Snyder ease. • WINTER 2000 ~lllDI 43 .