AMHERST - Well before basketball practice Monday afternoon atCurry Hicks Cage, University of Massachusetts senior forward RashaunFreeman finished a conversation with his grandmother on his cellphone, then started chatting with fellow senior Matt Pennie. Thetopic drifted to tonight's home finale against La Salle.
'You gonna cry, Ray?' Pennie asked.
The fifth-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder in schoolhistory considered the question, then shrugged and said, 'You?'
'Yeah,' said Pennie. 'I'm an emotional dude.'
Seconds later, Pennie bounded onto the court, summoned by GaryForbes, the star-on-the-rise junior who has been leading theMinutemen in scoring in league play. Seamlessly, the pair re-createdthe last-second steal that Forbes made Saturday night against SaintLouis to give UMass a critical win, preserving a share of first placein the Atlantic 10. After relishing the replay, Forbes gave Pennie aplayful nudge.
As Matt Pennie, the pride of the small South Shore town of Hanson,broke into a broad smile, one thing was abundantly clear: Hebelonged.
Tonight will be a sweet farewell for five UMass seniors, each ofwhom has played a role in the resurgence of a 21-7 team that is incontention for an NCAA Tournament spot for the first time in nineyears. Freeman and center Stephane Lasme are both A-10 Player of theYear candidates. Feisty guard James Life is a double-figure scorerwith 3-point shooting prowess. Swingman Brandon Thomas is a classyand versatile presence off the bench.
Pennie, though, has a story all his own. A fan favorite, he haslived out a common but almost never realized dream: going from teammanager to Division 1 college basketball player - on the team heloved as a boy, no less. Two years into the transformation, thewonder has yet to wear off.
'To actually put on that jersey every day,' said Pennie, pausingto savor the moment, 'I look down and start to pinch myself.'
When he was 10 years old, he followed the Minutemen religiouslyduring their Final Four season. He was up near the rafters of thethen-newly-christened FleetCenter, cheering wildly for Marcus Cambyin the first Commonwealth Classic against Boston College. He was outin the driveway shooting hoops, pretending to be Donta Bright. He wasstudiously sitting at his desk mailing a letter to coach JohnCalipari, expressing his desire to one day play for the Minutemen.
He got an encouraging note back, coupled with posters of the UMassmen's and women's teams. 'Those both went up in my room right away,'Pennie recalled.
The game and the school were in his blood. Two aunts, Julie andMartha Ready, both played at UMass in the late '70s/early '80s. Julie(Ready) Malvoy, Matt's godmother, is the school's No. 6 careerscorer.
Matt's father, Steve Pennie, also had fallen hard for the game. Alongtime sales manager in the movie business, Steve had theprescience to buy Celtics season tickets on the day Larry Bird wasdrafted. He brought Matt to the Old Garden again and again in thewaning days of the Bird Era.
Pennie's high school days were difficult. In his sophomore year,he lost his mother to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Trying to deal withthe chasm in his family, he drew closer to his dad, his youngersister, Kelly, and his aunt Julie, who lived in the neighboring townof Halifax.
Basketball provided a measure of healing, though the game wasstill a struggle for a gangly kid who had not yet developed hiscoordination. He still played JV as a junior at Whitman-Hanson HighSchool. By his senior year, though, he emerged as a legitimateplayer, approaching his full height of 6 feet 7 inches and becoming a15-point-per-game scorer for the varsity.
Game draws him in
While he could have played college ball at the Division 2 or 3level, he chose to go to Division 1 UMass and study Sport Management,knowing that the decision almost certainly spelled the end of hisplaying days. It was time to get serious about the adult world andmap out a career.
That first year, though, was filled with longing. Watching UMassplay, he felt the tidal pull and wound up approaching the staff ofthen-coach Steve Lappas with hopes of becoming a manager.
'I just missed basketball so much,' Pennie said. 'I had to getback involved. If that involved being a manager, folding towels anddoing laundry, so be it, but I needed to be around the game again.'
He had the perfect attitude for the job. Plunging into every taskwith zeal, he stood out with his commitment and efficiency. No partof it felt menial to him. One day, he was placed on 'Deli Duty' when325-pound freshman Jeff 'Big Deli' Salovski came to practice feelingsick.
'My job was to carry around a plastic bag,' Pennie recalled. 'Ihad Kleenex in one hand and a towel in another. Any time he had toget rid of some phlegm or something, he'd cough, and I'd have to putit in the bag.'
His aptitude and attitude were noticed. When Lappas was firedafter Pennie's sophomore year, new coach Travis Ford saw Pennie atwork and quickly named him head manager. 'He was always right there,'said Ford. 'He's just a relentless worker.'
In time, Ford began to see other possibilities. Pennie seemed tobe able to hold his own in pickup games around the edges of practice.The team's numbers were down, and knowing that four transfers wouldnot be allowed to travel with the team, Ford realized he would needan extra practice player or two on the road.
The 'Rudy'-like idea appealed to a coach who had some Hollywood inhis past (he played point guard Danny O'Grady in 'The Sixth Man'after his playing days at the University of Kentucky). For Ford,though, this decision was not so much about the big screen as about aguy who could set big screens.
After talking it over with his staff, he approached Pennie the daybefore the first practice, the much-anticipated 'Midnight Madness,'to usher in a new era of UMass basketball. The next night, to theastonishment of his friends, there was Pennie in uniform, anexperience he recalls as 'surreal.'
On the scoreboard
From the beginning, he understood his role as a walk-on. His jobwas to be a practice player, to push the scholarship guys to getbetter. If he got any playing time at all, it would come at the veryend of games that were long-since decided. He had absolutely noproblem with that. He got a couple of minutes against Savannah State,perhaps the worst team in Division 1, so he could tell everyone thathe had played in a college basketball game. That was enough for him.
Last Jan. 21, UMass was set to play Temple in a game nationallytelevised on ESPN. Pennie knew all about the bitter Atlantic 10rivalry between the Minutemen and the Owls. Like everyone else, heexpected a hard-fought game.
The Minutemen could do no wrong that day, and Temple could dolittle right. UMass was up by 20 or more for most of the contest. Inthe closing moments, Ford said the magic words, 'Pennie, Pennie,' andthe junior sprang up from his seat and flung off his sweats. With 2seconds left, he got a pass from Brandon Thomas on the right wing andlet fly from behind the arc.
Steve Pennie, seated with 25 family members underneath the basket,watched the drama unfold.
'I saw the trajectory of the shot, and I knew it was going in,' hesaid. 'It was just a magical moment.'
The swish put the wraps on a 60-34 victory, as well as providing ajubilant moment on the bench, and a DVD that has, according to Steve,gotten plenty of play back in Hanson.
This year, things have been even sweeter. Pennie has been revelingin the team's success, and making the most of his limited playingtime. He has added three more baskets to his collegiate resume,earning more and more respect from those around him.
Ford said that Pennie 'does more than hold his own. He could rightnow probably be a D-2 All-American. He's got a great touch, a greatinstinct for rebounding. It's not a gimmick by any means. He canreally play the game of basketball.'
'I don't think people understand what it takes to be a walk-on,'added teammate Luke Bonner. 'It takes an extreme level of toughness.You're pretty much doing all the hard stuff, without the glory, perse. But obviously he's had his moments. He can play.'
Pennie's family continues to provide inspiration, including hislate mother.
'I know she's watching down on me,' he said. 'When I have goodthings happen to me, I know she has a guiding hand in all of this. Iwrite `MDK' on my sneakers for `Mom-Dad-Kelly.' That's who I'mplaying for.'
He has never outgrown his britches. He is extraordinarily proud ofthe Whitman-Hanson High School team that just won its first leaguetitle in 51 years. He lives with team manager Paul Kavanaugh, one ofhis closest friends.
He is very tight with his high-profile teammates. In a team votefor various media-guide categories ('Funniest Teammate,' 'Best Trash-Talking Teammate,' etc.), Pennie was the overwhelming winner in thecategory of 'Teammate Who Would Be the Best Head Coach.'
That, in fact, is Pennie's goal.
He plans to get there using a formula that has been successful forhim in the past.
'Just start at the bottom,' he said, 'and work your way up.'
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