FRIEND HELPS FLOWERS BLOOM.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE

Time reveals everything, making it our greatest friend and worst enemy. Given enough time, heroes can become villains while the scorned come to be admired.

In the case of John Flowers and Joshua Hay, two unlikely friends introduced by tragedy and linked together by courage and love, time has indeed been a true friend.

Flowers, a former Cal State Northridge basketball recruit who lost his legs in a car accident in 1992 before ever playing a game for the Matadors, receives the Camp Chesed Humanitarian award tonight at 7 p.m. at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills. Flowers also is doing something he hasn't been able to do since the accident - he will walk on stage to accept the award.

Walking alongside Flowers, as he has been in one sense for the last seven years, will be Hay, whose perseverance helped raise the money for the artificial legs Flowers uses today.

The two first met when Northridge held a fund-raiser on Flower's behalf not long after his accident. Hay, an 11-year-old ballboy for the Matadors at the time, was stunned and saddened when the event reaped a meager $400. He promised Flowers that night he would find a way to raise the money to purchase the artificial legs Flowers needed.

``I just remember feeling so bad that they had flown John out here and all they were able to raise was $400,'' said Hay, now an 18-year-old college freshman. ``I told my dad that there must be something we could do.''

There certainly was. Hay enlisted the help of his father Jacques, who had been active in fund-raising events dating back to his college days at the University of Maryland. First they put together a small-scale celebrity free-throw shooting contest at halftime of a Northridge game. Channel 2 sportscaster Jim Hill and former Laker Tony Smith participated, and more than $10,000 was raised. Later that year, Hay and his father organized another fund-raiser at a Clippers game. In all, Hay's efforts produced more than $25,000.

A startled and appreciative Flowers still can't find words to adequately express his gratitude.

``It was almost like Joshua was born just for me,'' Flowers said. ``I can't even begin to show my appreciation for what he's done for me. It would be impossible. All I know is that he is like my little brother now. I love him to death for the things he has done.''

Hitting bottom

Six years ago, Flowers was the first out-of-state recruit in Cal State Northridge basketball history, a 6-foot-4 guard from Arizona whose dream it was to prove he could play on the Division I level.

Tragically, that dream ended in Kansas City on Aug. 10, 1992, when the sedan driven by Flowers' brother, Tony, collided with a van and ended up wrapped around a concrete power pole.

Tony Flowers and his girlfriend, seated in the front passenger seat, were killed. John, seated in the back seat, had his legs crushed.

It was a nightmare of deplorable proportions. In a matter of seconds, Flowers lost his brother and his life's passion.

The news got worse before it got better. Most of Flowers' right foot was gone, and his right leg had to be cut just above the knee. In addition, his left leg did not respond to treatment and had to be cut above the knee as well. Flowers spent 38 days in the hospital, grieving alternately about the loss of his brother, the end of his basketball dreams and the uncertain future he faced.

Looking back, Flowers wonders if he even fully grasped the magnitude of the horrible event.

``I never had time to dwell on the death of my brother and his girlfriend because of what I was going through,'' Flowers said. ``It's only been within the last three years or so that I've been able to think about him and get over that initial shock.''

Flowers channeled his pain into rehabilitation. Any anger he felt, any despair, became the fuel he would need to make the most of his new life.

The money that Hay helped raise purchased artificial legs four years ago. It's been a long, frustrating process, but Flowers is now able to walk with them relatively pain free.

``It's getting better and better every day,'' said Flowers, who lives in Arizona and works for a company that builds Web pages. ``At first, I thought about everything that happened to me, and I basically just took a long look at myself and asked what I wanted to do with my life. Did I want to sit at home and cry about things, or did I want to work hard and make the most of the situation? That was an easy decision for me, because I still wanted to live.''

Hay believed

Joshua Hay never got a chance to see John Flowers play basketball, but Hay is certain Flowers would have gone far if he hadn't been involved in the accident.

The assumption has nothing to do with talent.

``He's such a great example for anyone because he kept going, he never gave in,'' Hay said. ``Unfortunately he never got to take it to the next level like he always wanted, but he would have succeeded.''

Hay graduated last year from Valley Torah High School and is a freshman at Shaarei Jerusalem University in Israel. He is neither boastful about what he's done for Flowers nor particularly surprised.

``It just sort of happened,'' Hay said. ``I really felt bad for John and his situation and I realized this was a good cause, something to be involved in. The least I could do was help.''

Fitting the pieces

Perhaps the saddest part of John Flower's tragedy is that he didn't have basketball to help get him through the worst times. Growing up, the sport was his passion, his friend and his tonic.

He wonders now what would have happened, how far he would have gone, if an accident hadn't robbed him of his legs.

``That's all I wanted to do. That's all I wanted to be,'' Flowers said. ``I'd see guys I played with on TV and think that could be me out there, and there probably isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about `What if?' ''

Actually, Flowers does play basketball. Over the last year, he's been involved in wheelchair basketball. He was skeptical at first, but in time he's grown to appreciate the talent and precision. Earlier this year, he played on a team that reached the Sweet 16 of a national tournament.

``It's become a really big part of my life and I am starting to excel at it now,'' Flowers said.

He thinks a lot about Hay, his guardian angel who has gone from an 11-year-old boy to a young man. Because of their hectic schedules and where they live, the two friends don't spend as much time together as they'd like. But they both know the other is just a phone call away. It's a relationship both say will last forever.

``I remember the first time I met him he was this little kid who told me he was going to help me,'' Flowers said. ``I knew that he was just a kid being a kid. But he meant what he said, even though I never knew he'd be able to do all of the things he has done. And I tell him that all the time.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--2--Color) John Flowers Jr. (right) will soon walk on legs payed for by money raised by Joshua Hay, above.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News and Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News