ST. JOHN'S TRYING TO LURE HISPANIC FANS.

Byline: Nunyo Demasio New York Daily News 

Before Felipe Lopez brought his spindly legs to St. John's, Alumni Hall resembled a noisy tennis audience. While Lopez has yet to bring the Red Storm its traditional NCAA Tournament berth, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard from the Dominican Republic has contributed something else: multiculturalism.

No statistics are kept on the ethnicity of fans who attend St. John's home basketball games. But things inexorably changed late one autumn night in 1995, when Midnight Madness (the frenzied event in which college fans usher in the basketball season) became Felipe Madness.

``It was like a carnival atmosphere,'' said assistant coach Ron Rutledge, who joined St. John's in 1978. ``It was festive. From the Hispanic community, there were fans that came with the cow bells and congos.''

Baseball is the Dominican Republic's sport of choice, but Lopez literally opened the door to basketball for many Hispanics at St. John's. ``We knew in recruiting Felipe that wherever he decided to go to school,'' Rutledge said, ``there was going to be great support from the Hispanic community.''

Lopez, who moved from the town of Santiago in 1989 when he was 14, had plenty of supporters at Rice High, where he became the nation's premier schoolboy prospect. Yet the number of supporters increased dramatically at Alumni Hall, which perennially sells out its 6,008 seats.

``A great percentage of them were Spanish fans in the stands,'' said Lopez who wrapped himself with a Dominican flag after Rice won the Catholic championship in 1994. ``You can feel it because basically us Hispanics (are) always happy, clapping, jumping and stuff like that, so we kind of bring a different type of attitude to the game.''

It's an attitude that Lopez appreciates. ``When you have a whole bunch of people screaming and really cheering you on,'' he said, ``you get the feeling of doing better.''

However, an uncharacteristic St. John's record of 25-30 in the last two seasons - with Lopez averaging 16.5 points and 5.9 rebounds - muted the decibel level. Last season, St. John's was 4-3 at Alumni Hall, its worst record ever at the storied gym, and 4-5 at the Garden.

Lopez's decision to attend St. John's was partly shaped by New York's burgeoning Hispanic population.

``It would be easier for them to come to Queens, than for them to take a plane and go somewhere else,'' said Lopez, who also considered Seton Hall, UCLA and Florida State.

Conversely, there is anecdotal evidence that Lopez has partly drawn Hispanics to the Catholic university. ``At the activities fair, I had people signing up for OLAS (Organization of Latin-American Students) and the first thing that people ask me is: `So is Felipe in this organization?''' said Marisol Rodriguez, president of the OLAS.

``I have freshmen say: `I have to see Felipe!' I don't know if they come for him, but they look for him. He's definitely drawn people here.''

Last season, for the first time ever, five St. John's games were on a Spanish language radio station. This season, the Red Storm expects to broadcast 13 such games. St. John's - whose student body is 12 percent Hispanic - has taken advantage of that fan base.

``What we basically did was try to take the basic principles of sports marketing and see where we could apply it to the Hispanic market,'' said David Wegrzyn, St. John's associate athletic director of marketing, sponsorship and licensing.

Last season, the school placed advertisements in El Diario, the Spanish-language newspaper, which announced upcoming broadcasts. Pocket schedules were printed in Spanish and distributed in Hispanic neighborhoods. This year, St. John's is looking into having Hispanic-owned companies sponsor games.