The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 30

PAGE 30. THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR -WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1981 km9- ollinden coining home tonight Sports 14 4 Two years after entering Oral Roberts, Hollinden transferred to ISU-Evansville. As a junior he blocked 165 shots. As a senior he rejected 200. THE DALLAS MAVERICKS of the National Basketball Association drafted Hollinden in the ninth round.

He chose to play with the Swedish team, believing his experience there would provide him with a better opportunity to later play in the NBA. One of the first thoughts to enter John's mind after the accident was, "I can't go to Stockholm," according to Bernhardt. Then, as he remained trapped in the car with his legs up across his arms, Hollinden said to himself, "The Lord has something better in mind. I felt then I'd come through this stronger than before. I still feel like that" Hollinden studied communications in college.

He has every intention of using his education. Upon completion of his treatment he will be job hunting, promising a full day's work in return for a full day's pay. "I think I have all my major requirements out of the way," he says. "I need about 12 credit hours to graduate. With a job, I could pay for the remainder of my schooling." THE WORLD HAS taken much from John Hollinden.

There were those who went to see him play basketball out of curiosity. There were those who taunted him because of his size. Now, there is the possibility he will never walk again. Through it all, he has retained his courage, his sense of what is right and what is wrong. sometimes the pain is intense.

I had the same sensation around my waist before the feeling started coming back. Now, I can feel my hips." To Hollinden, this is another in a long list of challenges he has faced in his 23 years. When he first attempted to play basketball as a team sport in the sixth grade, Hollinden was about 6 feet tall. He couldn't get the basketball to the rim from the free throw line. He remembers: "People were laughing to the point they knew I couldn't do anything." When he went to high school, the word was, "John Hollinden will never be worth anything as a player." He proved them wrong.

He became a good center. In a game against Evansville North he blocked 20 shots. DURING HIS FINAL year at Evansville Central, Hollinden displayed a different strength to his father. "We w.ere leaving a game, and two supposedly adult persons said, 'There's that blankety-blank goon that beat recalled his father. "I started to react and John said, 'Cool "On the way home, I searched for words to say to my son.

John replied, 'Dad, the greatest man who ever lived was cursed and spat upon. At least they didn't spit at Hollinden began his college career at Oral Roberts. He was recruited by an assistant coach named Bobby Watson who later would be named at the University of Evansville. Early in his first season as head coach, Watson, the Evansville team and others were killed in a plane crash. By JOHN BANSCH Assistant Sports Editor John Hollinden anticipated being in Sweden for Christmas.

Instead, he will be home at Evansville for the holidays. For most people, joining loved ones at this most meaningful time of the year is the finest present they could have. For John Hollinden, it must produce bittersweet feelings. The 7-foot, 6Vi-inch Hollinden was scheduled to be in Sweden and earning a paycheck playing professional basketball for a team based at Stockholm. He will be home because of a tragic automobile accident at 10:25 p.m.

on Sept. 25. That night, the former Indiana State-Evansville player was headed for a going-away party with some of his close friends. On the way to the gathering, Hollinden failed to negotiate a turn. The automobile he was driving flipped, rolled and came to rest upside down.

HOLLINDEN WAS pinned inside, his 11th and 12th vertebrae crushed and his spinal cord damaged. All feeling was gone from the middle of his chest down. Surgery was required. Early in November, Hollinden was transferred from an Evansville hospital to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Late this afternoon, he is scheduled to return to Evansville on an airplane.

Tonight, he may attend the ISU-Evansville basketball game against Ferris State. The future is clouded for John Hollinden. All that is certain is he will remain at home until about New Year's Day before returning to Chicago for more treatment. At the moment, there is a ray ho hum. Pacers defeat Atlanta Davis finished with 20 and also had 12 assists while playing a Pacer season-high 45 minutes.

The extra work didn't bother him. "I've played a lot longer than that on the playgrounds," he said. "I don't mind playing long minutes if the coach feels he needs what I'm doing out there." The Pacers will try to stretch their winning streak to a season-high four Christmas night against the Washington Bullets at Landover, Md. and would have had more without first-half foul trouble because Tom Owens is out with a sprained ankle. He also took six rebounds and had four assists.

In the only previous game against Atlanta, Williams was chased from the game early by Roundfield with just two points to his credit and never returned. But revenge wasn't a motive he said. "I just wanted to win," Williams said. "You play too many games in this league to hold any grudges." of sunshine in his life. Doctors have reported "some feeling" and movement in both legs.

The medical people remain conservative when talking of what is to be, but they could not hide their pleasure over the latest turn of events. HOLLINDEN'S PRESENT situation is much the same as that of Landon Turner, the Indiana University basketball star injured in an automobile mishap last summer. Both must use a wheelchair to move about. Neither can use his legs. And, for both, the cost of rehabilitation is expensive.

Much of Hollinden's hospital expenses are covered by an insurance policy his father, Joe, has through his employer, Mead Johnson. Those costs total more than $450 per day. The Hollinden family faces enormous expenses in the near future. Their home must be remodeled to accommodate John when he returns to stay, probably sometime around the middle of February. Doors will have to be widened, ramps installed, the bathrooms changed.

On the shopping list will be a custom-made van to transport John and his wheelchair. TO DATE, NOT many dollars have been raised to assist the family. The fund-raising contrasts sharply with Landon Turner's. At three basketball games early in December, more than $27,000 was presented to I.U. Coach Bobby Knight to help defray Turner's expenses.

Additional money has poured into the Turner fund, the result of a major campaign to raise cash. Knight understands the problem. He has promised to contribute money to help Hollinden. he had been forced to switch off on Hawks' center Steve Hawes. "I knew if they threw the ball out there if I could intercept it, the floor was going to be wide open," said Davis.

"It was just a matter of anticipating. Once they went where I thought they would, the rest was just converting." 1 That Davis did after breaking away from an uncalled tackle effort by Hawes. FROM THERE it was Williams at the line for free throws, first on a foul by John Drew as he went toward the basket, and then on a foul by Hawes as he rebounded. The first two made it 89-86 with 46 seconds remaining. Then after Rory Sparrow nailed a jumper from the corner with 29 ticks left, the last two made it 91 88 with :09 to go.

From there, it remained only for Davis to split a pair of free throws at INDIANA tl) Mln. FO 33 19-14 FF TF 3 24 Williams 4- 4 4 a- 4 0- 4- 3- 4 2- 2 1- 4 Bantom 32 C.Johnson Bum Dvl 45 McGlnnlt II Knight Jl Orr 30 G. Johnson 11 Carter 3 3- 3- I- 7-14 1- 3 VIO 2- i 2- 4 O- 0 3441 0-0 0-0 Total 23-33 43x 21 21 Includat a taam rebounds. ATLANTA Milt. FO A FF TF Macklln 27 4-11 0- 0 7- 2 2- 4 2- 2 2- 3 4- 4 4- 4 0-0 4- 4 McMillan Hawes Sparrow E.

Johnson Draw Pellom Matthews Wood 2- 7 4- I i 4- 14 3- 5- 13 O- 3- Totals 34-74 20-25 4I 20 II Includat a taam rebounds. Indian 20 22 24 14 -2 Atlanta 20 J9 24 15 Three -point shooting: Indlana-Busa 1-1; Atlanta-McMillan 0-1, Johnson 0-1. Wood 0-2. Steals: Indiana IMcGlnnls 2); Atlanta 4. Blocked shots: Indian 7 (Williams, Bantam, C.Johnson 2 each); Atlanta 2.

Errors: Indiana 22, Atlant 20. Technical toult: Indiana Coach McKinney. Officials: Lee Jones, Bob Rakel. Attendance: 5,112. Kamchatka Asti Inverhouse I Indiana State-Evansville collected money at one of its games early this season.

The school has a collection box at its other home games for donations. Evansville University intends to collect money at its Jan. 9 game against Xavier. A pizza parlor will collect money on Jan. 27.

Evansville Central, the high school from which Hollinden was graduated, also had a game honoring him. IN ADDITION, ISU-Evansville has established a John Hollinden Rehabilitation Fund to which anyone may contribute. It is under the direction of Wayne Boul-tinghouse, former ISU-Evansville athletic director and basketball coach now in charge of fund-raising for the school. The medical prognosis has been that Hollinden will never walk again. "Big John," as he is known to his friends and those in the world of basketball, does not agree.

"I'm convinced I'll get up and start walking again," he recently told sportswriter Don Bernhardt the Evansville Courier. "I don't know if I'll play basketball again. It's like telling your baby he's going to be president of American Oil. You have to take one step at a time. "I'M STARTING to get feeling back in my thighs.

It goes down my left thigh to my knee and halfway down my right thigh. It's like it's real cold. It stings, and :02 after Tom McMillen had missed a tying three-point effort and Clem Johnson had rebounded for Indiana. That was the final five minutes. Before then, the Pacers were in a battle as much with themselves as with the' Hawks.

They trailed by as many as 11 in the third quarter. The defense was an open door much of the time. The offense meandered. At one point in the third stanza, the Pacers closed to within a bucket. Five times they had the ball, and four times they took bad shots.

ATLANTA CONTROLLED the flow of the game, set the pace, made the big plays the Pacers couldn't. Tired and hurt, they should have died. But they didn't. Not without a lot of truth did Hawks Coach Kevin Loughery say, "We deserved to win this game and there's no doubt about it." But they didn't. The Pacers did and now trail first-place Milwaukee, a homecourt loser to Kansas City, 106-101, Tuesday night by just VA games in the NBA's Central Division.

Williams' 26 points came on a night when he saw 33 minutes of action Townsend released Indiana Pacer guard Raymond Townsend found a pink slip in his Christmas stocking Tuesday. The former UCLA backcourt star was placed on waivers by the NBA team. The move had to be made by 6 p.m. Tuesday or the Pacers would have been forced to pay Townsend for the entire season even if he was released at a later date. Indiana may sign another player to a 10-day contract in the next few days.

Until then, or until Jerry Sichting returns to the active list sometime in January, the Pacers will go with 11 players. BATH! Vodka 1.75 itr. 1.75 M0M yCanadmiry t0. 22.55 SX i 1 I 'jL John Hollinden ho By DAVE OVERPECK 'Tis the season to be jolly. But forgive the Indiana Pacers if they're hot up to a hearty ho-ho-ho this morning.

They're probably just too doggone tired after pulling out a 92 88 victory over themselves and the Atlanta Hawks in that order at Market Square Arena Tuesday night. It was the sort of game that produced comparisons: To an early 86-83 loss to New Jersey when Jack McKin-ney was so angry he wouldn't go into the dressing room afterward, to a 20-point loss at home to Houston, to a 92-90 miracle win over Washington last month, to last Thursday's 100-96 decision over Detroit. "It wasn't as bad as the first two because we squeaked it out," appraised McKinney. "But it certainly wasn't any gem." IT WASN'T. But it still goes in the W' column in the standings, which prompted McKinney to add, "I'm a lot happier than I was 45 minutes ago." Forty-five minutes ago was some place around the end of the third quarter.

At that point, the coach had said enough to keep him in the confessional for about a day and a half. Only part of it had been directed at officials Bob Rakel and Lee Jones, who whis Pacers' Louis Orr dishes NBA, CBS New York (AP) The National i Basketball Association agreed to a four-year contract with CBS-TV, and the league called it the most lucrative ftn its history. i. The new deal, announced Tuesday by Commissioner Larry O'Brien, in-Ydudes rights to the NBA All-Star Game, selected regular season games, the playoffs and the championship game beginning with the 1982-83 sea son. Financial details of the contract Were not disclosed.

IIMIA Your Best AjChrisJmas List ADIDAS SUPERSTAR WARMUPS SALE IT ADIDAS A-15 WARMUPS SALE $64" I 25 OFF ADDITIONAL SELECTED WARM-UPS I WO OFF ALL SOCK HATS I 15 0FF ALL GYM BAGS 1 "OUTSTANDING ADIDAS $I5 1 VELOUR V-NECK PULLOVER I 1 MEhTS KEG. $42.00 WOMEN'S KEG. Ttowwi 1 tled on a level that the Pacers played most of this one. But not all of it. With about five minutes to go, the alarm clock went off and the Pacers finally awoke from their long winter's nap.

To find themselves down 86-78. You'll note the Hawks scored only two more points the rest of the way. Part of that can be attributed to fatigue. They were short on bodies. Guards Mike Glenn and James McEI-roy are on the injured list and All-Star Dan Roundfield and center Tree Rollins were parked in Atlanta with leg problems.

Also, this was their fourth stop on a road trip that had them at Los Angeles Sunday night. Jet lag. BUT A MAJOR portion of the credit also has to go the Pacer defensive effort which turned from spongy to solid in the stretch drive. In fact, it was a defensive effort a steal for a fast break lay-up by Johnny Davis that gave the Pacers their first lead of the second half, 87-86, with 1:01 to play. From there, Indiana put it away at the foul line, with rookie Herb Williams drilling four in a row to cap a career-high 26-point night and Davis adding a clinching singleton with two ticks left.

Davis made the steal on a play when (Star Fhat by Jerry Clark) off under Steve Hawes sign deal 1 FCII CAW OF BALLS WITH EACH RACQUETA BALL OR TENNIS RACQUET PURCHASED (while I SUPPLY LASTS) I MXO OFF ALL RUNNING SHORTS I SINGLETS I 1M OFF ALL NIKE AND ADIDAS T-SHIRTS 25 OFF ALL TEKXIS CLOTHING I RACQUET STRINGING PRICE WITH PURCHASE OF ANY i I RACQUET 10 OFF ALL BASKETBALLS, FOOTBALLS, I BASEBALL I GLOVES i I HURRY WHIll SUFPIIES LAST MANY OTHER INSTORE CHRISTMAS SPE- II CSMS' 091 CERTIFICATES AND MANY GREAT STOCKING STUFFERSI I NOT AVAILABLE AT NOttESVlllE STORE I SPEEDWAY GLENLAKE NOBLESVILLE SQUARE O'Brien said, "There will be no tape delays in our Championship Series and three of the seven games will be scheduled for prime time viewing." CBS HAS HAD A contract with the NBA since 1973. "Between this contract with CBS and national network cable contracts currently being negotiated, NBA teams will be receiving well over $100 million in network television revenues during the next four years," O'Brien said in a prepared Kaluha 500 ml. 6f J. Roget American Spumante 7501. 2" Gallo Wines ...1.5 i3m Budweiser.

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