THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090544
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
With a name like his, Norfolk State's Blitz Wooten was bound to be an aggressive defensive player.
With a medical history like his, he's certainly had enough practice keeping up his guard.
For much of his life, if Wooten's attention waned too long, if his interest dropped too low, sleep could sneak up and envelop him like a cloak, dragging him from a conscious state into deep REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in seconds.
``Like that,'' Wooten says, snapping his fingers. ``As soon as I slowed down, it would catch up with me.''
Occasionally, when someone finds out Wooten has narcolepsy, a rare sleep disorder characterized by sudden, recurrent episodes of sleep, they'll tell him he's lucky.
An excuse to snooze? How convenient.
``I tell them, `You don't want this,' '' Wooten said. ``It's very stressful. It causes a lot of problems.''
Wooten never had any trouble getting up in the morning. He'd bolt upright at the sound of the alarm.
Staying up, however, was a challenge.
After his morning shower, the fog of fatigue would start descending. Wooten thought it was because he usually stayed up until 11 or 11:30 at night.
``I'm in the dorm, and in not even a second, snap, it was like that,'' Wooten said.
``I used to get in trouble, I mean trouble. I used to get cursed out, literally, because I was late for (basketball) practice.''
There were some embarrassing moments as well, like during Wooten's senior year at McCorristin Catholic in Trenton, N.J., when a recruiter from Monmouth College came calling.
The coach was in the middle of his pitch when Wooten nodded off.
``He was talking and the next thing I knew, I was out,'' he said. ``My coach (McCorristin coach John Cestaldo) was like: `How could you go to sleep?' ''
Wooten found out the following year - his freshman year at La Salle - when he was diagnosed with a mild form of narcolepsy. As soon as Cestaldo found out, he called the Monmouth coach and explained.
Today, Wooten keeps his condition under control by taking medication twice a day. And after a couple of mostly unhappy seasons at La Salle, Wooten's got his college career back under control as well.
Wooten is a major part of the Spartans, and will be a key man as NSU begins NCAA tournament play Friday against Johnson C. Smith in Fayetteville, N.C.
Since joining the Spartans five games into the season, Wooten's averaged 10.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and nearly two blocks per contest. What doesn't show up on the stat sheet is the toughness he's given Norfolk State under the basket.
``He brings to our club a great deal of intensity,'' Norfolk State coach Mike Bernard said. ``That intensity at times has been contagious.''
For many opponents, anyway, trying to post up Wooten is as frustrating as trying to fold a newspaper in a windstorm. They make a move and Wooten counters with steady, tireless force.
Not content to play behind his man, Wooten will get a leg over him at the hip, extend a long arm across his opponent's chest and deny the ball.
Wooten says he's just applying the principles he learned at McCorristin and honed at La Salle and Norfolk State.
Born in Trenton 23 years ago, Wooten was named Blitz DeMan by his father, Chester. Wooten's first name comes from the football maneuver. His middle name is derived from the phrase ``The Man.''
Although his father gave him his unique handle, Wooten and his sister, Keoke, were raised by his mother, Vivian.
It was a desire to please his mom, in fact, that sent Wooten to La Salle, against his better judgment.
At McCorristin, Wooten teamed with former Seton Hall player Brian Caver to lead the school to two consecutive New Jersey State Parochial titles.
``He had a lot of looks from Division I schools,'' Cestaldo said. ``He was late qualifying, though.''
Wooten didn't qualify academically until late in his senior year. He didn't feel ready for college, and thought a year of prep school might help. But he didn't want to let down his mother, who had worked hard to raise Wooten and his sister.
``She just wanted us to do so well in school,'' Wooten said. ``I didn't want to disappoint her but at the same time I didn't speak up for myself.''
Wooten went to La Salle, and was granted a medical redshirt during his first year, after his narcolepsy diagnosis.
By his sophomore year, Wooten worked himself into the starting lineup, averaging eight points and 6.4 rebounds.
But all was not well. On the court, the team was guard-oriented. Off it, it was cliquish, Wooten says.
``Everybody was going for themselves,'' Wooten says.
Wooten began thinking he should get out after an incident on national TV, against Seton Hall. La Salle was in a 1-3-1 zone, and Wooten was caught flat-footed as Seton Hall's Terry Dehere slammed home an alley-oop dunk.
That part of the court wasn't his responsibility, Wooten said, but nevertheless coach Speedy Morris yanked him from the game and berated him on the bench. Wooten put a towel over his head and wanted to disappear.
Away from basketball, Wooten found his interest in school waning. He wanted to study art, but La Salle offered it only as an elective. He also wasn't happy about the state of race relations on the mostly-white campus.
Adding it all up, Wooten decided to transfer.
``I had kind of lost the love for basketball,'' he said. ``It felt like business. It wasn't fun anymore.''
Wooten was familiar with the CIAA - his mother graduated from Virginia Union and his sister is at Virginia State - and liked the fact that he would have two years of eligibility remaining if he transferred to a Division II school. When he visited Norfolk State, he was sold.
Wooten, who is majoring in fine arts and graphic design, sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules.
``It took me a while to get to know everybody, but I really feel a part of Norfolk State now,'' Wooten said.
``He's given us this intangible lift that's unbelievable,'' Bernard said. ``All I ask is that he keep doing it.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON
Staff
To Blitz Wooten, narcolepsy, diagnosed his first year at La Salle,
``is very stressful. It causes a lot of problems.''
by CNB