CHILDREN LOOKING UP TO STORYTELLERS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Howard Fisher wants kids to look up to his basketball players, and not just because they're real tall.

The assistant coach hopes the athletes also can be messengers about the importance of a good education.

To be a member of the College of the Canyons basketball team, the 12 young men had to agree not only to perform in workouts, games and in the classroom. They also must spend one hour a month reading to elementary schoolchildren in the Santa Clarita Valley.

``All these (professional) athletes are saying that they don't want to be role models,'' said Fisher, an assistant to Cougars head coach Lee Smelser. ``While we don't have a great following out here, (kids) still look up to athletes in general, so I thought it would be a good situation.''

On Friday, team members Jeff Turner, 19, and Moses Lindsey, 22, visited Sulphur Springs Elementary to read to Sheila Prelle's sixth-grade class, teacher Judy Veale's first-graders, and a small class of special education students.

Lindsey said the COC basketball coach's intent was for athletes to get involved in the community the campus serves. ``He wanted us to give the kids encouragement - that it's not just about playing sports, it's about getting an education, too,'' Lindsey said.

Fisher said he hopes that, by trying to impart a pro-education message to schoolchildren, the Cougar basketball players will apply that notion to their own studies while they attend College of the Canyons. ``That's one of the first things I tell the players: You have to do the schoolwork, and if you don't want to, then this is not the right place for you,'' he said.

``Hopefully,'' Fisher added, ``they'll be able to succeed in life, and not just in basketball.''

The older kids heard a story called ``The Buried Treasure,'' about a girl who travels back in time to the era of King Tut, and the first-graders listened to a book about all sorts of inclement weather.

To the third group, Turner read ``Piggie Pie,'' a satirical tale about a witch trying to cook a gross-out recipe made from a variety of revolting ingredients. While reading each book, Turner - a graduate of Canoga Park High School - always paused to show the pictures to the class before he turned the page.

``Some of (the players) are not real comfortable reading (aloud), but they made the best out of it,'' Fisher said. ``They see the smiles on the kids' faces and they get enthusiastic.''

At the beginning of the school year, Fisher sent letters to about 20 elementary schools in the Santa Clarita Valley, asking principals whether they would be interested in having COC basketball players stop by once a month to visit with the pupils.

He received responses from eight schools - Sulphur Springs, Pinetree and Mint Canyon, all in Canyon Country; Old Orchard and Meadows, both in Valencia; Peachland Elementary in Newhall; Stevenson Ranch Elementary; and Newhall Elementary.

Principal Sandra Smith said the gesture from the COC basketball team was a nice one for the 780 students at Sulphur Springs Elementary. ``The kids really enjoy it,'' she said. ``They have an opportunity to be exposed to a positive role model - they're college students, they're clean-cut,'' she said. ``Lots of times, kids don't aspire to attend college.''

Nine-year-old Perry Tyler was one of several pupils who peppered the athletes with questions. ``Do you do any slam dunks?'' Oh, sure, the athletes answered. ``Do you win any trophies?'' Yep, they said. ``Can you touch the roof?'' Turner, a 6-foot-4 forward, and Lindsey, a 6-foot-6 center, both obliged by reaching for the ceiling.

``We have one guy who has to duck through doorways,'' Fisher said. ``He's 6 foot 9, so the kids are all in awe of him.''

The Cougars average about 100 fans per home game, Fisher said. The squad hosted and won the Cougar Classic tournament in late December, and victories this season include games against Antelope Valley, Oxnard, Santa Barbara City, Orange Coast, Santa Ana, East Los Angeles and Southwest colleges.

The COC men's basketball team won the Western State Conference title in 1991, 1992 and 1994, and this year face their toughest rivals in Valley College and Santa Monica College, Fisher said.

Along with Turner and Lindsey, the team includes Bryan Finley, a Saugus High School graduate; Mike Motherspaw, Canyon High; Yaniv Horovitz, Monroe High in North Hills; Jason Ascencio, Kennedy High in Granada Hills; and Dameian Martin, a red-shirt player from Taft High in Woodland Hills.

Other players are Rahsard Walker, Dirk Baker, Charles Madison, Sam Harris and Woodley Polynice, whose brother, Olden, plays for the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

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Photo

PHOTO (Color) College of the Canyons student athlete Jeff Turner shows pictures in a book to Sheila Prelle's sixth-graders at Sulphur Springs school.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News