RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The freakishly tall man with the towel around his neck is immediately recognizable to baby boomers and a virtual stranger to teenagers.

But as 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson instructs some of the nation’s top high school big men in playing the low post, they have no idea that the three-time college player of the year’s advice about basketball is only a part of what he can offer.

Sampson could be the poster child for the NBA Player Association’s Top 100 Camp for elite high school players, held last month at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The camp combines drills in basketball with lessons in life, and uses some former players who took a wrong turn somewhere along the way to try and make the players understand that there’s a right way to chase their goals.

“Every one of these guys here has had the red carpet rolled out in their hometown for a number of years. They’ve been treated that way,” Sampson said. “Here, the first thing they’re told is, “You might never make it in the NBA. Chances are you won’t.”‘

And that makes school, and responsibility, more important than basketball.

Highs and lows

Once the most sought-after prep player in the country, Sampson has experienced it all, and knows how quickly it all can change.

The No. 1 overall draft choice of the Houston Rockets in 1983, he was the NBA’s rookie of the year and a four-time all-star before mounting knee injuries sent his career on a downward spiral that left expectations of greatness unfulfilled.

In the years since, he’s had failed business ventures and a slew of legal trouble resulting from his failure to pay child support to some of his children by five women. This month, he’s due to appear in federal court in Richmond to set a trial date on perjury and other charges, which could land him in prison for 20 years and bring $1 million in fines.

Sampson has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but acknowledges having made mistakes in the past, and a willingness to let others learn from his experience.

“I feel like that publicity and things that I’ve been through, along with my basketball side, is a great story to be told to kids of this age,” he said. “This summer is the 20-year anniversary of all my dilemmas and my mess, which is good.

“But I’m prideful and knowledgeable enough to say that it stops this year.”

While Sampson’s interaction with campers was on a mostly individual basis, others took center stage to share their stories. Former NBA players Cliff Robinson and Dirk Minnifield, for example, told of how drug use shortened their promising careers.

Skits sends message

The camp also uses professional actors for skits involving issues such as recruiting, sex, hangers-on and other areas where a bad influence can wreck things.

James Tyler, a 7-foot-2, 350-pound rising junior at The Pendleton School in Bradenton, Fla., attended the camp for the second time this summer. He’s slimmed down from nearly 400 pounds a year ago with the help of a trainer, and said he’s learned his progress toward a college career won’t matter if he listens to the wrong voices.

“I liked the skits and the discussions. They really help you think about a lot of things in life,” Tyler said. He also spent time talking with Sampson, who not only showed him things to work on on the court, but highlighted the value of education.

“He told me I had to get on my books and stuff like that,” Tyler said.

Tyler plays for an AAU team and attended the Top 100 camp with one of his teammates on the Richmond Squires, Karron Johnson.

Reality check

A city native, Johnson now attends a prep school in North Carolina, where AAU coach Tony Squire found a spot for him after receiving an appeal from Johnson’s family.

“I was a troublemaker,” said Johnson, a 6-8 rising sophomore. “The road I was heading down, right now I would probably either be selling drugs or in jail.”

Tyler and Johnson are just two of the many at-risk players Squire has coached in 18 years running the AAU program, and he said most face the same reality checks.

“All of them think that they’re going to make the NBA, and they’re going to have people around them that won’t tell them anything different, that won’t talk about “what if’ or when the ball deflates,” he said. “Some of them don’t want to hear that stuff.”

Some parents don’t either, which is why the camp has offered classes for parents for the last four years, warning them of many of the same issues they will face.

“There’s a lot of parents that look at their son as the lottery ticket, and that puts a lot of pressure on the kids and creates a sort of false relationship,” said Tim McCormick, a former pro and now the director of the camp.

Besides large group sessions, the campers also break down into groups of 10, joined by two former players and someone to get them talking about the topics.

“We want these guys to dominate in basketball, but also to have a chance to be unstoppable in whatever else they want to do,” McCormick said. “It’s important to expand your vision. Don’t look at yourself as just a basketball player.”