DATE: Thursday, March 13, 1997              TAG: 9703130582

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   92 lines

MONARCHS' MAIN FAN HAS THE FAITH BALLBOY DOESN'T LET CEREBRAL PALSY STAND IN THE WAY OF HIS JOB OF PROVIDING LUCK.

Old Dominion's basketball team was mired in a slump. Who better to provide a lift than the Monarchs' No. 1 fan.

Mike McLellan's body may be wracked by cerebral palsy, but his mind is wrapped up in ODU basketball. Just before ODU took the court to play Virginia Commonwealth last month, coach Jeff Capel read a letter from McLellan to the Monarchs, who had lost three in a row and six of their previous seven games.

It read in part: ``Don't give up on yourself. I know you guys are a good team. Look at me, you don't see me giving up on myself, do you? No!!! I had to fight for everything I have . . . to get where I am now. Just go out and play your game and you will win. I believe in you.''

Capel said the players' reaction was silence first, then fiery resolve.

``It was great,'' Capel said. ``I couldn't have said anything any better.''

The Monarchs won't have a better fan than McLellan at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena Friday when they meet New Mexico in the NCAA tournament (7:40 p.m., WTKR). McLellan, 30, will be in the stands with his parents. He'll be happy to be there, but normally he has a better seat.

McLellan is normally at the base of the basket as a ball boy at all ODU home games. He wore an ODU warmup and was seated alongside the players on the bench during the Monarchs' successful run through the Colonial Athletic Association tournament in Richmond. Cal Bowdler presented him with a piece of the Richmond Coliseum net after ODU's victory.

McLellan interacts with the players before the games and comes into the locker room to slap five with them afterward. On Tuesday, he visited ODU's practice and was greeted warmly by players and coaches alike. McLellan has become a part of ODU's program.

``We all look for him as soon as we get to the games, and he's always there,'' ODU guard Mike Byers said. ``He's the one guy we feel we don't want to let down.''

The past two seasons, Capel and McLellan have conversed on the phone once a week for about 30 to 45 minutes. Actually, McLellan cannot talk, but he communicates via the Virginia Relay Service. He types with one finger on a keypad and sends his words on to an operator, who receives them on a computer screen and then reads them to the person McLellan is conversing with. The operator then types in responses to send back to McLellan.

It's a tedious process. A conversation that two people with normal verbal skills could conduct in maybe 15 to 20 minutes takes about 40 minutes.

In addition to his speech, McLellan's fine motor skills are affected by the cerebral palsy. He walks with a limp and his arms and hands don't function properly.

Despite the disorder, McLellan is independent, living in his own apartment in Norfolk and entering data into a computer at the Norfolk Naval Base.

``What he goes through every day inspires us,'' Capel said.

McLellan thinks of himself not as inspiration, but as good luck for the Monarchs. He missed the William and Mary game at Scope because he was sick, and ODU suffered its only home loss.

``It was my fault,'' McLellan said of the loss. ``I feel like I'm their good luck piece.''

The next game, forward Mark Poag pointed to him while running onto the court for introductions.

``He hadn't been there the game before and we had lost,'' Poag said. ``I just wanted to point him out and acknowledge we were glad to see him back.''

McLellan has picked up some of Capel's superstitions. Just like the coach, he had a penny in his shoe when he sat on the bench at the tournament. And he will go down near the floor Friday so the players can see him before the game.

``If they know that I'm there, they will play harder and they know I'm good luck to them,'' McLellan said.

Before every game McLellan said he has ``a feeling'' whether or not ODU will win, and nine of 10 times ``I'm right.'' So how's he feel about the Monarchs in the NCAA tournament?

``They should win (Friday),'' McLellan said. ``I think they are going to the Final Four, but lose to Kansas.''

Bonnie McLellan said her son was the first handicapped child to be mainstreamed in the Norfolk public schools when he enrolled at Larchmont Elementary. He graduated from Maury High School and has worked at the Naval base for six years.

McLellan has been an ODU fan since he was a boy. His family served as a host for Kenny Gattison in the mid 1980s. Bonnie McLellan said Paul Webb was the first ODU coach to allow Mike into the locker room after games.

``Every time there was a new coach, Michael made sure somebody told the new coach about him,'' Bonnie said.

She said this ODU team has embraced her son like no other, sparked by Capel's friendship with McLellan.

``Jeff has been absolutely wonderful to Michael,'' Bonnie said. ``It's just a great relationship. I feel the way the team has accepted Michael has a lot to do with Jeff's character. He's just a very caring, giving person.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Photo]

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Mike McLellan sits in his Virginia Beach apartment with his ODU

memorabilia. He'll be in Pittsburgh rooting for his team Friday

night.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu