ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603140041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
It's been more than a decade since Jim VanderHill saw Hope College play basketball. It's been more than three decades since he played at the Michigan school.
But this week the gods have looked down on the small school, affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, and allowed for a heavenly happenstance. The Flying Dutchmen are coming to town, thanks to a victory Saturday in the West/Great Lakes sectional of the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament. VanderHill and his family, who have lived in Roanoke since 1988, have been walking a few feet above the ground since they heard the news.
``The thing I was really excited about was the fact that [the Final Four] was being held here,'' VanderHill, 53, said Wednesday at his home near Cave Spring Corners. ``The year they finally get here, it's right next door to me.''
Just as Salem brought the Final Four to the Roanoke Valley, VanderHill brought a ton (of points) to Hope and its basketball program. Many big and not-so-big programs, from Maryland to Randolph-Macon, recruited him in his New York City high school days. He went to the Holland, Mich., campus mainly because his father, Laverne, had gone there. ``He was the kind of player coming out [of high school] that could have gone a lot of places,'' said VanderHill's former teammate and Hope's current coach, Glenn Van Wieren. ``He decided on a small, liberal arts college and a great education.''
VanderHill led the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in scoring for three consecutive years and was named the league's Most Valuable Player in 1963. There were so many outstanding games, few stand out in his mind. His wife, Mary, suggested a game during his senior year against archrival Calvin College. Jim's parents were in the crowd that night.
``I had three fouls in the first five minutes,'' he said.
``Well, it was memorable to me,'' said Mary, also a Hope graduate.
VanderHill graduated in second place on the school's all-time scoring list, with 1,638 points. Today, he's seventh. Second place now belongs to Hope's senior center, Duane Bosma.
But VanderHill still has lots of space in the Flying Dutchman record books. No one has topped his single-game 13-of-13 free-throw performance against Taylor (Ind.) University on New Year's Day 1962.
Van Wieren graduated from Hope in 1964 and took over as head coach in 1977. He remembers VanderHill, known as ``Spider'' in his playing days, as a player whose skills were ahead of their time.
``My job was to set screens to get him open,'' Van Wieren said. ``He could do things in the '60s that very few people could do. It came from his body type, which certainly was ectomorphic. He could find an opening and weasel through it.''
VanderHill doesn't have many mementos from his days of playing with Van Wieren, but one is priceless. It's an old Valparaiso University basketball program. Pictured on the cover, wreaking havoc on the Valparaiso players, are VanderHill and Van Wieren.
``That's a nice thing there,'' VanderHill said, ``but the bad thing is that it was found in an antique shop.''
VanderHill called Van Wieren the day he learned Hope would be coming to town. A day later, after Van Wieren had spread the word around Holland, Mich., that ``Spider'' lives where the Final Four is played, the calls started pouring into the VanderHill house. They all wanted to get in touch with their basketball roots.
``He's never forgotten about Hope College,'' Van Wieren said. ``He was a great person to be around, and he was unquestionably the best player I played with at Hope.''
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. 1963 team photo. 2. ERIC BRADY/Staff. Jim VanderHillby CNB(left) greets former teammate and current Hope College coach Glenn
Van Wieren as the Flying Dutchmen arrive Wednesday at Roanoke
Regional Airport. Graphic: Chart. color.