Rosegreen not giving up on football dream

Steve Carp

Wednesday, May 28, 1997 | 10:48 a.m.

He may or may not have a future in basketball. But for whatever reason, Warren Rosegreen can't seem to get football out of his system.

The former UNLV power forward temporarily put his basketball plans on hold recently to work out for the Oakland Raiders. Rosegreen, who last played football in high school five years ago, made a belated comeback attempt with Jeff Horton's UNLV football squad a year ago before giving it up to concentrate on his senior basketball season.

"It was a way of keeping all my options open," Rosegreen said of the Raiders' workout. "Someone called me and asked if I was interested in working out with the Raiders, and I said 'Yeah.' I ran some pass routes, did some blocking and it went well.

"Right now, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm waiting to hear from them and we'll go from there."

Rosegreen had been playing in the United States Basketball League prior to the call from the Raiders. He was the second pick by the Florida Sharks in the territorial draft but his USBL career was short-lived. Sharks coach Brendan O'Connor left before the season started and was replaced by former NBAer Rory White.

Rosegreen, who was part of the original roster, got caught in the middle of a complete overhaul. He appeared in just one game, played only four minutes, scored four points and grabbed four rebounds. No other USBL team picked him up and he came back to Las Vegas.

"I was there for a week (in Sarasota) and it was unorganized," he said. "The competition wasn't that great. We had better competition at UNLV in practice. And they were only paying you $43 a game, and they took $17 out for your hotel.

"Besides, I'm trying to get ready for my camp and then the football thing came up. So actually, I'm pretty busy."

Rosegreen will hold a basketball camp June 16-20 at Chaparral High for boys and girls ages 8-17. He said it's a way of giving back to the community which supported him during his two years at UNLV.

"It's something I've always wanted to do," Rosegreen said. "I love working with kids and this is a perfect opportunity to do that."

In the meantime, Rosegreen's agent George Bass is working the phones trying to get his client a spot on an NBA summer league roster.

"There's some interest in Warren," Bass said from Dallas. "He had to play out of position in college because they needed his rebounding. But we're hoping once the (NBA) draft is over, we'll be able to get him on a team.

"It's all about being seen. There's a place for him somewhere in basketball."

Or football?

"The football thing's interesting," Bass said. "When you have someone with his size (6-foot-5, 220 pounds) and vertical leap (approximately 41 inches), that's going to get your attention.

"From what I heard, he did well with that Raiders workout. We're just waiting to hear from them to see if there's further interest."

Rosegreen said the next few weeks will be spent staying in shape, making sure the basketball camp comes off and that he's ready to go if the phone rings -- be it a call from a basketball or a football team.

"I know I can play somewhere," he said.

Hoop du jour

* ROSEGREEN'S CAMP: Those interested in signing up for the Warren Rosegreen Basketball Camp can call Deborah McKinney at 456-0654 or write to P.O. Box 71692, Las Vegas, NV, 89170. Cost is $175 for the June 16-20 camp.

* KEON LEAVES TODAY: Center Keon Clark heads to Colorado Springs today to join 65 other players vying for spots on the U.S. 22-and-under team and the World University Games team. If Clark sticks, he'll be the first UNLV basketball player since Larry Johnson to represent the U.S. Johnson played on Dream Team II in the 1994 World Championships in Toronto. The practices at the Olympic Training Center run through Sunday.