Mark Wade completes his Degree of satisfaction

Steve Carp

Friday, May 15, 1998 | 11:36 a.m.

At 32, Mark Wade didn't figure to still be a participant in the Thomas & Mack Center.

A spectator? Probably. But the former UNLV star point guard wasn't counting on returning to the scene of some of his greatest triumphs at this juncture of his life.

But Saturday, Wade comes back to the Mack dressed not in sneakers and shorts, but in cap and gown.

He was supposed to have graduated in 1987. But like many athletes, he was too busy chasing his dream of playing for pay.

A couple of cups of coffee in the NBA, a wild ride with six different teams in the CBA. A couple of spins with the ill-fated 6-foot-5 and under World Basketball League and the dream evaporated, leaving Wade to deal with a one-on-one game with reality.

Two years ago, Wade was 39 credits shy of his degree. In less than 24 hours, he will be among the several thousand who will walk to the massive stage inside the Thomas & Mack and hear his name called as he accepts his Bachelor of Arts degree in hotel management.

"I can't imagine how it's going to feel," Wade said of the special moment that will come Saturday. "I'm sure I'll have flashes of when I played.

"But this feels as good, if not better, than playing in the Final Four in New Orleans."

Chasing dreams

It's late March, 1987. Wade is the engine that is running a high-octane UNLV team that includes Armon Gilliam, Freddie Banks, Gerald Paddio, Jarvis Basnight, Gary Graham and Eldridge Hudson. The Rebels are at the Louisiana Superdome, facing Indiana in the semifinals.

It's a true contrast in styles -- Jerry Tarkanian's breakneck bunch against Bob Knight's patterned, disciplined group. Wade is having as heck of a game, getting the ball to his teammates -- witness Banks' 38 points, including an NCAA record 10 3-pointers. Gilliam is going to town with 32 points.

Wade? He has 18 assists, another NCAA record. But in the end, it's not enough. The Hoosiers, behind Steve Alford's 33 points, including a clutch trey down the stretch, beats Wade and the Rebels, 97-93.

Afterward, Knight walked off the court with his arm around Wade. The two still talk today.

Indiana would go on to beat Syracuse for the national championship. Wade, meanwhile, decides he will pursue his hoop dreams even though no NBA team drafts him.

But he got a taste of the big time, first with Golden State, where he spent a month during the 1988 season, then in 1989 with Dallas, which signed him to a 10-day contract.

"I loved to play," Wade said. "When you're young, you don't think about things like getting your degree. You think you're invincible."

So Wade kept playing. He bounced all over the CBA. He was in Pensacola, Fla. and Omaha, Neb. He spent time in Wichita Falls, Tex. and LaCrosse, Wis.

"I must have played for 12 different coaches," Wade said, clad in a set of Sioux Falls (S.D.) Sky Force sweats, a keepsake from his basketball past. "But I learned a lot about myself, how to deal with people, how to adjust, changing teams, changing environments."

Wade said being a minor-league basketball player wasn't tough. Cheap motels and fast food weren't a real hardship.

"You love playing basketball. You wake up, you go and play," he said.

It was an education of sorts. But it wasn't enough to get him the job he really coveted -- a head coaching position. He worked as an assistant for former Rebel Sidney Green at Southampton College in 1995, but his appetite had been whetted long before that.

"When I was playing (at UNLV), I saw how Coach Gerg (former assistant Tim Grgurich) cared about the players as people and he had a big impact on me," Wade said. "His honesty and work ethic was there for me and all the guys.

"Some people want to be like Mike (Michael Jordan). I wanted to be like Coach Gerg. He saved my life."

Reality sets in

But first, the lights had to go out on Wade's playing career. It was 1992 and Wade still was thinking he could play. He was 27 years old.

But the doors were closing. And finally, the lights went out.

Even the CBA didn't need older guys when there were plenty of youngsters available. So Wade was like a soldier who had just been discharged from the army. He was going to be a civilian. What was he going to do?

Fortunately, UNLV has its own version of the G.I. Bill for its basketball players. It's called the Newman Fund, and any former Rebel can come back to school and obtain his degree. There's no time limit.

And that was good for Wade, because he had fallen way behind. He was 42 credits shy when he first looked into the possibility of returning to school.

"I've never been what you would call 'normal,'" he said. "For me, the light was always on."

However, Wade knew that without a degree, he'd never be a college head coach. So he had to put his athletic life behind him and focus on being a student. There were serious adjustments.

"It was very tough at first," he said. "Times have changed since I was here full-time. I wasn't there to party. I treated it like a job."

He already had a job at Boulder Station in the slot department. So he found himself like thousands of other UNLV students -- trying to juggle school and work.

"I was struggling with it," Wade said. "I felt like I was in this big ocean and I didn't see any land. I was drowning."

Sage advice

Fortunately for Wade, someone at UNLV threw him a life preserver.

Dr. Skip Swerdlow, an associate professor in the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration saw Wade's problem. He was trying to meet the challenge like an athlete would, trying to get it all under control at once.

His advice to Wade? Quit being an athlete in the classroom and learn to compete as a student. Don't try and conquer the entire ocean, but rather, look at the challenge as a succession of small pools, and go from pool to pool.

Wade listened. Little by little, he chipped away. His confidence in the classroom grew to the point where if he had a chance to get an A in a course, he went the extra mile to do so. Settling for a B was not an option.

During his first go-round as a UNLV student, Wade struggled to maintain a minimum grade-point average of 2.0. It was a survival mentality, doing just enough to remain eligible to play. Saturday, his GPA will top out right around 2.70.

"My biggest regret about this whole thing was I didn't apply myself then like I do now," he said.

But he wasn't mature enough back in the mid-80s to apply himself.

"I needed to take control of my life, to be able to think for myself," he said. "The people at the hotel college believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. They taught me to be an independent thinker.

"They challenged me academically the way Gerg challenged me athletically."

Helping others

Wade believes in paybacks. He thinks the best way to pay back those who helped him get to this point is to apply what he learned to today's college athletes and try and help them avoid making the same mistakes he made.

"I've been there," he said. "I've played at the highest level. I can still relate to kids.

"But when I look back on what I've went through these last two years, I think that's a more important message I can send the kids. I got a chance to experience what it's like to go to college and not be an athlete.

"The thing is academics and athletics go hand-in-hand. You can succeed in both."

Wade said coaching is in his blood. And when you're a point guard, you're essentially coaching on the floor. After all, he who has the ball is in control.

"My heart's in coaching," he said. "I saw that three years ago when I worked for Sid. I really believe I can make a difference. I can't save everyone, but I believe I can save a few."

And with a new challenge in tow, Wade is hoping for a shot to join someone's staff and work his way up through the ranks. Time, it seems, is always on his side.

"I'm no smarter than I was 10 years ago," he said. "What I am is more mature than I was. I'm more responsible."

And he's a mature, responsible person with a degree. One which took him 15 years to obtain, but one which was worth the wait.

So when he re-enters the building Saturday where walking is frowned upon for those who wear sneakers and shorts, Wade won't be mind if he's caught walking.

This time, walking in the Mack is not only a good thing, it's the best thing.

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