AUBURN – Never say never? Phooey. Let’s live dangerously and say that the tri-captain of an NCAA Division I men’s basketball team has never laced up his sneakers the next winter for a community college.
First of all, he’d never be eligible. And certainly his ego would never allow it.
Draw those conclusions and it’s clear you’ve never met Jon Wallingford.
“It would never come out of his mouth that he was ever captain at Maine. He just wants to play basketball,” said Central Maine Community College coach and athletic director Dave Gonyea.
Never has arrived. Wallingford will spend spring semester taking business courses at CMCC. And yes, he’ll use his fourth and final season of college hoop eligibility. Three games into his encore, Wallingford is averaging nearly 30 points per game.
Many players spend a season or two running the floor for Gonyea at cozy Kirk Hall before moving on to a larger program. They don’t come back after achieving the highest available honor at the state university.
But there’s another never. When Gonyea opens a door, he never closes it.
“He always said come play for a year, take 10 years off if you want and come back,” Wallingford said, “as long as you’re a good kid and work hard.”
Gonyea recruited Wallingford at nearby Edward Little High School, where the 6-foot guard drained an astonishing 12 3-pointers in a game against Lewiston his senior year. NCAA Division III schools showed interest, also.
Wallingford elected to enter the University of Maine’s chemical engineering program. Basketball was reduced to a hobby. He quenched his competitive thirst in intramural games and men’s leagues.
“I thought I’d played my last real game,” Wallingford said.
Chance meeting
You never know who’s watching intramurals. One night, Wallingford caught the eye of Ed Jones, then assistant to head coach John Giannini and a former star for the Black Bears. He approached Wallingford about his interest in walking on.
Wallingford stuck as a practice player his freshman year before breaking his wrist as a sophomore. He played sparingly as a junior.
“Show me one kid who would do that,” said Gonyea. “One kid who would put in that time for two, three years and never see the court, knowing he would never see the court.”
Teammates dwarfed Wallingford by six or eight inches. He’d sweat two hours in the gym, morning after morning, and still spotted defenders 25 pounds of muscle.
And he cherished every floor burn.
“I’d have played basketball, anyway,” Wallingford said. “Being on the team gave me the opportunity to travel, to see new places.”
Four games into the final season of his coaching tenure at Maine, Giannini, now at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, presented Wallingford the ultimate reward.
“We had one captain at the start of the season. Then Coach G walked in one day out of the blue and said he’d picked two more seniors to be co-captains,” Wallingford said. “I was shocked.”
Wallingford also enjoyed his first quality playing time. He scored a career-high 12 points against the University of New England. In a tight win over Harvard, Wallingford sank two free throws in the final minute.
Blending right in
After graduation, Wallingford spent summer days helping his parents, Peter and Denise, on their farm. At night, he’d retreat to the lakeside CMCC campus for pickup games with Patrick Dempsey and other friends from the team.
Wallingford knew he had an extra year of eligibility but made a commitment to work for his parents during the autumn apple harvest. He also said he was wary of “stepping on any toes” by bringing his mid-major college experience to a veteran team in a smaller pond.
Gonyea persuaded him to test the waters and practice with the team through the fall. Wallingford eventually played in an exhibition against Maine Central Institute, the renowned prep school program from Pittsfield. Coincidentally, MCI is now coached by Ed Jones.
Jones watched his former pupil explode for 26 points, including eight 3-pointers.
“Wally is a deadly shooter,” Gonyea said. “He is capable of keeping us in some games that we have no business being in. MCI beat us by eight. Eight points! I know MCI might be down a little, but they still have five guys going Division I next year.”
Oh, and those anxieties about fitting in? Never a concern.
Gonyea wondered what he’d have to offer Wallingford as a coach. He’s settled on prodding the quiet country kid to be more selfish.
“Some kids in his place would big-time you. Not Wally,” Gonyea said. “When you watch us play, he yields to Patrick (Dempsey). I’m the one who puts Jon on a pedestal.”
Enjoying the ride
CMCC heads into the second half of its schedule with Wallingford joining Dempsey, Taylor Caron of Brunswick, Poland’s Chris Brackett and Kaleb Violette of Maranacook in the starting five.
Gonyea tells anyone who will listen that his top eight players “can compete with any Division III team in the state.” Some schools have told the coach that NCAA rules preclude them from accepting that challenge.
He smiles. Gonyea knows this much: There aren’t any rules preventing Wallingford from wearing the Mustangs’ maroon-and-white uniform in February and March.
Empowered by his Orono experience, Wallingford enjoys playing complete games at a level in which his feathery shooting stroke can take command of a game.
“I’m just trying to soak it up,” Wallingford said. “This is the last chance I’m going to have to play against such a high level of competition, in a gym, with fans.”
And Wallingford does have fans, perhaps none bigger than his grateful coach.
“Everywhere I go in the community, there’s a buzz. You got Wally? How’d you get Wally?'” said Gonyea. “And he’s just a super, humble, country kid.
“I think they named an award for him at Maine. And I feel like this semester with us is his payoff for the work he put in there.”
Never happened before. Never will happen again. And never has a self-made, small-town star deserved it more.
Comments are no longer available on this story