AIA Is Taking Its Show on the Road and Hopes to Win Games, Hearts

A player grabs a microphone and extols the virtues of premarital sex. Sections of the audience roar their approval. Moments later, that same player warns of its scars. More roars.

Not a typical halftime basketball spectacle. But San Diego-based Athletes in Action is hardly a typical basketball team.

While the opposition is in the locker room receiving a message of another kind, AIA members fire, at a rapid-fire pace, statistics on social issues, including drug and alcohol abuse, unwanted pregnancy and AIDS.

“The essence of all this is changed lives,” AIA Coach Rle Nichols said by phone from Dallas. “We open the program with issues, click off statistics and offer that through the power of God, lives can change.”

Nichols says the 9 or 10 minutes his zealous athletes have with the crowd can only plant seeds that must be nurtured further.

“It’s not (enough time for) a total metamorphosis, but (change) starts at that moment,” Nichols said. “We’ve had suicidal people come to us for help. What we’re saying is if (the message) can help you, great, if it’s not for you, it’s up to you.”

Although AIA is full of talent--including top former college players, many of whom have had short stints in the National Basketball Assn.--getting the most out of that talent is the challenge Nichols must face every year.

“All our players come from great programs,” said Nichols, in his 14th season with AIA, “but they can be diametrically opposed (to one another) and don’t necessarily work together well.”

AIA athletes must be of Division-I caliber and fully committed to Christ. “That’s not being judgmental,” Nichols said. “They play together better and we’re able to win more.”

And win it has. AIA basketball has a .698 winning percentage (859-372) in its 21 years. It defeated Final Four-bound Memphis State in the 1984-85 season and National Collegiate Athletic Assn. defending-champion Louisville in 1986-87.

But AIA faces unique problems.

A home-court advantage is but a dream. AIA will play only 2 games this season in San Diego--and they will both be played on its opponents’ home court. “You develop a fair amount of expertise on coaching on the road,” Nichols said. “The crowd does have an impact on the officiating. Things just don’t go your way with 15,000 people going crazy.”

Louisville Coach Denny Crum, whose team defeated AIA, 105-82, Thursday, said: “They play most of their games on the road. That’s always tough. It’s an uphill battle when you’re away.”

The schedule is excruciating. From Oct. 29 to Dec. 18, AIA plays 34 games, including up to 20 of the top teams in the country, in 17 states and 2 countries.

“There’s not a coach in the country who would take on this schedule,” Nichols said. “You run out of emotion. You can’t humanly stay peaked.”

Add to that an ever-changing roster--Nichols recognized only 3 players in the first practice this season--and one can see why AIA has yet to mesh. The team is 2-4 after Saturday’s 95-75 victory over Pepperdine.

Said San Diego State alumnus Zack Jones: “We’ll jell, it’s just a matter of time.”

Jones was the leading scorer for AIA last season (17.3 points a game) and returned for his third season after being released by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I think they have a chance to be a real good team,” Crum said of AIA. “They have great quickness, and I like their talent at inside and outside guard.”

And it doesn’t take long for AIA’s opponents to know that athletes who double as preachers aren’t wimps.

“They forget we’re playing for the Lord and that we’re going to play hard,” Jones said. “I hear guys say, ‘Hey, they’re Christians, but they can play.’ ”

“They’re always playing hard,” Crum said. “They’re always competitive. . . . and a little Christian fellowship never hurt anyone.”

Said USD Coach Hank Egan, whose team plays host to AIA tonight at 7: “Watching them, you wouldn’t know they do anything different than just play. They’re very physical. They play very tough.”

UC San Diego Coach Tom Mitchell said the first year the Tritons played AIA, some felt a potential Pandora’s box was being opened.

“People wanted to know why we’d want to play an organization like that,” Mitchell said. “They thought it would start a trend (playing message-oriented teams) or something.

Now, “we only hear positive things,” he said. “The kids see AIA on the schedule and get excited.”

Said Egan: “They’re a quality opponent. We’re really fortunate to have them in San Diego.”