Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.
Two hours before his plane was due to leave, Nate Schulte sat at a barbecue restaurant in northwest Las Vegas, eating a sandwich and saying goodbye to friends and family.
Schulte, the Sun All-State boys' basketball player of the year as a sophomore at Palo Verde, was slated to leave Wednesday night for New Hampshire, where he will attend the Brewster Academy prep school to advance his basketball career.
The news disappointed Phil Clarke, Schulte's coach at Palo Verde. The Panthers won the 4A state basketball championship last winter.
"He's got some real lofty goals. According to Nate, the only way he's going to reach them is at basketball school," Clarke said. "I tried to explain to him I think he's making a huge mistake. A lot of local kids went on to (college) and never went to a prep school."
Seven of the 12 players on Brewster's roster have already graduated high school, and many have made commitments to Division I colleges. One of the players on the Brewster roster is Harvey Perry Jr., who played for three Southern Nevada high schools in four years before heading to Brewster this season.
Perry, whose father has been active in trying to get his son exposure to college recruiters, told Brewster coach Jason Smith about Schulte's abilities, according to Nate's father, Tom.
Brewster staff saw Nate at this summer's basketball tournaments in Las Vegas, and once they talked to Nate, he was sold.
"I think it's his idea and I think both (Nate and his father) got caught up in it," Clarke said. "These kids can't qualify -- they didn't graduate. They're fifth-year seniors."
Nate said he is not concerned about being one of only two 11th graders on the Brewster roster.
"I'm not worried about it at all," he said. "I'm always usually the underdog. My freshman year I was playing against people three years older than me. I'm used to it. I look at it as a growing experience. I can only get better playing against guys older and better than me."
Clarke said he tried to convince Tom Schulte that the move was a bad one for Nate.
"Your son is going to be a junior with good grades. It's not the right kind of mix," Clarke said he told the elder Schulte. "He's a hard-working high school kid. I really think Nate pushed for it and Dad likes the idea."
Tom Schulte said it's simply a matter of getting his son the best basketball education possible.
"It's been great at Palo Verde, but he feels like to expand his game, he's got to move out to the perimeter and develop his skills there, because he's basically been low-post," Schulte said. "If he doesn't grow, he'll be in a tough situation (when) he gets a few years older. He feels he might have to take a step back to get better because he's going to be moving out to the wing."
Nate Schulte said the decision was only tough in that he'll be leaving his friends and family behind.
"Overall, it's the best decision to make as far as me getting better as a basketball player," he said.
Clarke said that Schulte may be a victim of his own expectations.
"That's the only way he thinks he's going to get good enough to go on," Clarke said. "I tried to say that this is supposed to lead to a good education and good college, and he's thinking above that. I tried to bring him down a little bit. I tried to explain, one injury, one this and that can take it all away."
Without Schulte, the Panthers are left without one of the biggest components of their state championship run. He averaged 17.6 points per game with 8.9 rebounds in his sophomore season, both tops for Palo Verde.
"It's going to hurt, definitely," Clarke said. "I've never had a kid that had that kind of work ethic, which is really sad. We've tried to set our sights on three state championships as a goal, and that takes a huge chunk out of that."
But Clarke said he also hoped to leave things on good terms.
"If it doesn't work out, hopefully he can come back here," he said. "We'll have to wait and see I guess."
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