'He gave me this dream that I'm living right now'
By JEFF CAPLAN
Star-Telegram staff writer
http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/267789.html
DALLAS -- Before training camp Avery Johnson pulled aside Josh Howard, the Mavericks' fifth-year small forward, and challenged him to become a better leader.
Johnson told Howard to act like he was a senior again at Wake Forest, when he carried a team of freshmen and sophomores to the school's first outright conference championship in more than 40 years and was the unanimous ACC Player of the Year.
For more than two months now, Howard's thoughts have indeed taken him back to Wake Forest, but to mourn his former coach and mentor, Skip Prosser, the man who first penetrated Howard's hardened exterior and taught him how to trust, how to play the game and how to live.
"Trust," Howard said. "That's the one thing he always said, 'You've got to trust me, Josh, I want you to trust me.'"
Then, Howard trusted no one. Now, "Trust" is tattooed on the top of his right wrist. His right biceps reads, "Skip."
Howard immortalized his coach in ink two days after Prosser, 56, collapsed and died after a routine jog around the track adjacent to his office.
Several hours before being pronounced dead July 26, Prosser was to speak at Howard's basketball camp in Winston-Salem, N.C., Howard's hometown and home to Wake Forest.
"He called me the day before to let me know he was coming," Howard said. "He was going to speak at the morning session."
Unaware Prosser had collapsed, Howard figured Prosser's absence was due to a last-minute scheduling conflict.
But when camp ended, Howard heard the news and, like the rest of the town, shut down and wept.
"I felt like I lost a father figure," he said. "That was the guy that turned my whole life around as far as the way I played the game and the way I approached life. He taught me so much."
Prosser took over the Wake Forest program before Howard's junior season. Initially, Prosser, hard-nosed and unrelenting, and Howard, impetuous and wary, clashed.
"Josh was an introverted, quiet young man that a lot of people didn't see what was beneath the exterior," said Dino Gaudio, Prosser's assistant head coach who has taken over the program. "What was beneath the exterior was greatness, not just in basketball, but no one could get at it."
Prosser, knowing he needed Howard to be a cornerstone of his new team, also recognized promise in a player who sometimes seemed aloof, sometimes didn't take his studies seriously enough and sometimes faced questions about his desire on the court.
"Skip really believed that kid could be great... he really believed that," Gaudio said. "People here, before we got here, they weren't sure he was going to make it at Wake Forest, that was the word we got. Skip thought he could be great, and the kid saw how much he believed in him.
"As late as last year, when Skip talks about the great leaders he's had, he talks about Josh Howard first."
Coming to grips
Howard and Chris Paul, the Hornets' dynamic point guard from Wake Forest, attended Prosser's funeral together.
The two rising NBA stars grew up in nearby towns. Their mothers attended high school together. Paul said Howard is the reason he chose to attend Wake Forest. He said Prosser sold him on Howard's story of hometown success, which included earning a sociology degree in four years.
"He always raved about Josh," Paul said of Prosser. "Josh is one of those guys, you don't always know what he's thinking. He doesn't let a lot of people get close to him, but Coach Prosser was one of those people who really cared about Josh, and Josh really cared about him. It was even more evident when coach passed."
The tattoos prove it. On Howard's shoulder is his grandfather's name and on his chest is his grandmother's address, the home where he was raised. Prosser is the only other person permanently enshrined on Howard's body.
A blue-collar coach from Pittsburgh, Prosser loved the Steelers, had Howard's dry sense of humor and made Howard laugh every time he said "yous guys."
Prosser's wife, Nancy, and their two sons, Scott and Mark, practically accepted Howard as a family member.
A week after Prosser died, Howard called Nancy, but she didn't answer the phone and he didn't leave a message. He hasn't called back.
"Once I call her it's all going to come back," Howard said. "I know she knows. He was her pride and joy. I'd just rather for her to mourn like I had to mourn and I still am, you know?
"But I've still got the number saved. I'm kind of scared to call her because I don't want those feelings to come back."
Honoring Skip
That's one reason why he's glad to be back on the basketball court.
"I'm going to play hard like he had me playing when he was here," Howard said. "That's all I can think about is dedicating the rest of my life to him. He gave me a life. He gave me this dream that I'm living right now. It's just all for him now."
So far, Howard, who's still not completely comfortable as a vocal leader, has given Avery Johnson an inspired effort.
"Josh Howard is maturing," Johnson said. "Sometimes you get guys trying to hide in drills, but he was out front and center in every drill and that's something I talked to him about before the season."
It's a season that will reap Howard significant financial rewards as his four-year, $40 million extension kicks in, making him the second-highest paid player on the team behind Dirk Nowitzki.
And it could reap the Mavs gains, too, if he continues his ascension. Last season Howard made his first All-Star team as an injury replacement and recorded career highs in scoring (18.9), rebounds (6.8) and minutes (35.1).
His practice effort so far led to Johnson naming him a captain in Friday night's preseason game at Chicago. Johnson selects two captains before each preseason game, but the coaching staff and players will choose two permanent captains for the regular season. Nowitzki figures to be one.
For Howard, to be the other might be the most meaningful way to honor his beloved coach.