Carr Nears the End of Long Road Back : Former Thousand Oaks Star Has Found a Home at UCSB, and He’s Not Running

SANTA BARBARA —  After a self-imposed two-year hiatus, Richard Carr is playing basketball again. He isn’t lighting up the court for UC Santa Barbara, but the mere fact that he’s even playing is noteworthy.

This is one Carr who could use four-wheel drive. He has traveled a bumpy road.

In November, 1983, as a senior at Thousand Oaks High, the heavily recruited swing man signed a letter of intent with Stanford. Within a few months, however, he had quit his high school team. Then he quit school for several weeks.

Carr graduated, but when Stanford didn’t accept him because of poor grades in his last semester of high school, Carr was offered a scholarship by UCSB Coach Jerry Pimm. He gladly accepted and enrolled at UCSB. Then he quit school a few weeks into the fall quarter.

At that point, his father, Allan, insisted that he see a psychiatrist before being welcomed back into the family home. Richard did that for a few months--without benefit, he said. Pimm kept in contact and, to Allan’s surprise, offered Richard a second chance.

Allan Carr’s Thousand Oaks home is only about 60 miles from the UCSB campus, but Richard, through his actions, has made it a long and arduous journey.

Admitted Richard: “It’s been kind of a mess.”

In a Times story last spring, those closest to Carr painted a picture of a confused, insecure perfectionist whose fear of failure and uneasiness in the spotlight left him in great pain and unable to cope with the pressures of being a highly coveted, much-discussed high school basketball star.

All that seems to be behind him, though. Thirteen games into his freshman season, he is struggling on the court--”I’m not doing as well as I’d like,” he said--but there has been no sign that he plans to run from the pressure, as he has in the past.

Last spring, his best friend, Keith Kirby, said of Carr: “Everything he’s done has come easy to him. So anytime he’s got to start working, it gets tough for him.

“He has to be the best.”

And if he’s not?

“Then he quits,” Kirby said.

Carr is not close to being UCSB’s best player--he plays about 15 minutes a game, averaging about three points, two rebounds and one assist as the Gauchos’ No. 3 guard--but he’s not about to walk out.

He has lost about 20 pounds since last summer, he said, because the food served in his off-campus dormitory is “horrendous,” but the school in general is “great” and Pimm is “a really cool guy.”

Pimm said Carr has matured greatly in the last year.

“He’s more confident in himself,” Pimm said. “He’s more solid in his approach to people. He’s not as shy and backward socially. . . .

“He’s learning to be coached and to be taught--to be criticized without striking back with the defense mechanism that he’s always had. He’s coachable now, whereas last year it was hard for him to be coached. . . . I think Richard Carr has made some great progress in the lessons of life.”

As for his performance on the court, Carr said his two-year layoff may have contributed to his inconsistent play, “but I’m not going to say that’s the problem. . . . I can’t really say why I’m not playing well. If I knew, I’d do something about it. . . .

“I’m trying. It’s mostly mental. I’m physically back in shape. I’m not sore. I can’t attribute it to that. It’s still my freshman year, so I’ve got some time.”

Said Pimm: “He’s going to be a good, solid college player if he keeps working at it. There’s no doubt about it.”

The 6-7, 185-pound Carr is a fluid, active player. He averaged more than 17 points a game in high school, but he seems reluctant to shoot this season, attempting only 26 shots. That’s because, on a senior-dominated team, he doesn’t feel comfortable, he said.

“I’m basically more of a role player,” he said. “I just come in, play tough defense, get some boards, shoot when I’m open, hit the inside players. I’m not called on to shoot very much.”

But Pimm said: “I keep encouraging him to take open shots. . . . He’s got to learn to play with his knees bent, down lower and a bit more under control. It comes with maturity, with patience.”

So, too, it seems, does his new attitude, which allows him, despite his struggles on the court, to say: “It’s working out well. I definitely can play on this level. That’s not a problem at all. I’m just not playing as well as I’d like. It’s working out fine. . . . I’m not going to quit or anything.”

For Carr, that’s saying a lot.