DATE: Wednesday, September 3, 1997          TAG: 9709030660

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  138 lines

NIKE IS HOPING TO CURRY FAVOR WITH HAMPTON HIGH STAR

On top of everything else he has accomplished in his career - three state titles, two state player-of-the-year awards, near-icon status in his hometown - Hampton High's Ronald Curry has one more item on his resume that certifies him as a can't-miss talent:

A Nike deal.

Curry does not profit personally from the deal. But because of him, Nike will ship free basketball shoes and gym bags to Hampton High for the third consecutive year.

What's more, Nike's interest in Curry - a top quarterback and point guard prospect - extends to the very highest levels of the company, to the office of Howard White, ahigh-ranking executive who is a Hampton native.

As director of athlete relations, White works with Nike superstars like Michael Jordan and Deion Sanders. He would not mind adding Curry to that list someday.

``He's such a nice young man,'' White said. ``That definitely is the type of person I'd like to see in our product.''

Nike targets potential major league athletes early, particularly basketball players. Each summer, Nike and rival company Adidas compete to get the top high school players at their basketball camps, which are held during the same week in July.

(Football is not a battleground in these ``shoe wars.'' Hampton's football team has no sponsorship, principal Michael Canty said.)

The idea is to establish relationships with players early, to improve the chances of signing them should they become the next Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett or Kobe Bryant.

Nike also sponsors roughly 100 high schools across the country, through its grassroots program.

A few powerhouse programs are on the list every year. Other schools come and go, depending on whether they have a blue-chip player who interests Nike.

The company sometimes will go to great lengths to outfit a star player in its shoes. According to the Arkansas Democrat, when Nike approached Fair Park High in Shreveport, La., home of star center Stromile Swift, the school board said no to the company's sponsorship offer. Nike then offered to sponsor every team in the school district, and authorities changed their minds.

Curry's also clearly a high priority.

Asked about Hampton, George Raveling, the former Southern California and Iowa coach who is head of Nike's grassroots program, initially said the school had been sponsored ``for a number of years, before Ronald Curry came along.''

How many years, Raveling was asked.

``Three years.''

Hasn't Curry been at Hampton that long?

``Then that might have something to do with it,'' Raveling said.

Hampton coach Walter Brower strongly disputes suggestions that Curry is the reason for the Nike sponsorship.

``I'm very fortunate because Nike has made a five-year commitment to me and my program,'' Brower said. ``It doesn't have anything to do with Ronald. When Ronald leaves, this will continue.

``I don't know how many kids come through Hampton High school,'' Brower said. ``It's not just Ronald. They have made a commitment to me at Hampton High School for five years.''

Under Brower, Hampton certainly has had a strong program, winning state titles in 1989 and '96. And Hampton certainly has other talented players.

One of them, Johnnie Story, will be one of the nation's top sophomores next year. He'll be at Hampton two years after Curry leaves.

Which is exactly how long Nike has committed to Hampton.

But while Nike's commitment will run through Story's career, local AAU coach Boo Williams said there's no doubting the reason the company became interested in Hampton.

``It's 100 percent because of Curry,'' he said. ``Look, the guys they target are big time. There's nobody that's a question mark. Nobody's ever a sure shot. But they're the closest thing.

``The game's getting younger. Kids are going from high school to the NBA. It's just a younger production.''

Curry is not the first local high school athlete to receive Nike's backing, but the list is short. Indian River received shoes when Alonzo Mourning played there in the late 1980s. Indian River was supplied shoes again during the 1995-96 season, when star player Jason Capel was a sophomore. When Capel transferred the following season, Nike stopped supplying shoes, said coach Fred Spellman and Don Crenshaw, manager of Nike's high school basketball division.

The Virginia High School League has no problem with the practice, as long as the school approves, executive director Ken Tilley said.

Canty, the Hampton High principal, said he's comfortable with the sponsorship.

``From an administrative standpoint, I don't have any problem with them (Nike) donating equipment,'' he said. ``If some outside party wants to do that for our school, we don't have a lot of problems with that.''

Canty compared Nike's sponsorship to businesses that buy advertisements at Hampton's baseball field. The money from one sponsor, a garden center, enabled the team to buy new caps, he said.

Hampton is currently the only state public school on Nike's list. The only other Virginia school with a sponsorship is Oak Hill Academy, a perennial national power.

``I wish we had one,'' laughed Phoebus High coach David Blizzard. His son, Bobby, plays for Hampton, and Blizzard is a former junior varsity coach at the school.

Mike Head, a veteran coach now at Ocean Lakes High, said finding affordable shoes that players like is ``one of the biggest headaches I have to deal with.

``I don't begrudge (Hampton),'' Head said. ``I think some of those companies could help themselves if they did more for schools, but I guess they don't need us.''

The two biggest players to come out of the area in recent years - NBA No. 1 draft picks Joe Smith and Iverson - never had shoe deals. Smith was relatively unheralded in high school. Iverson missed his senior year at Bethel High after being jailed for his part in a bowling alley brawl.

Iverson's convictions were overturned, and he went on to star at Georgetown - a Nike-sponsored school. After leaving Georgetown, however, Iverson signed with Reebok.

White is determined not to let another hometown prodigy slip away, a source close to Curry said.

``Nike didn't get behind Bethel this strong,'' the source said. ``They're trying something different with Ronald.''

White, a former basketball star at the University of Maryland, said he regrets not signing Iverson.

``My homeboy,'' White said. ``Sometimes things don't work out quite the way you foresee them. I still feel like he's part of the family. He's just not with Nike.''

White met Curry on a trip home to Hampton, where he sometimes speaks to youth groups. He was introduced by Williams. Nike is a major sponsor of Williams' program, which is one of the largest and most successful in the country.

``I talked to him about work ethics, working hard, getting good grades, just basically about life,'' White said.

For his part, Curry downplays Nike's interest in him.

``I don't know if they give us shoes or not,'' he said.

Curry said he's attended the Nike camp the last three years largely because of Williams. Someone from Adidas called Brower this year, but Curry wasn't interested in the rival camp.

``It wasn't a hard decision,'' he said. ``I've never worn Adidas in my life.''

North Carolina, one of two schools remaining on Curry's list, recently signed an $11.1 million deal with Nike, the largest ever for a University.

But Curry said his history with Nike won't be a factor in his college decision.

``If that was the case, I wouldn't be considering Virginia,'' he said. ``They wear Reebok.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Hampton High's Ronald Curry...

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