By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops Columnist | ARCHIVES
2020 WCC HALL OF HONOR PROFILES
 
When Randy Lavender arrived at the University of the Pacific from junior college in the fall of 1990, Tigers basketball coach Bob Thomason paired him with Dell Demps as roommates on the road.
 
Not because Demps could help make Lavender a better player, but for the other ways the veteran could influence the new guy on the team.
 
“It had a lot of impact on me,” Lavender said recently. “Dell was a great student. He would sit there on the road doing his work. It took me a minute, but it did rub off. I saw how he was getting stuff done and he had more time to do other things.”
 
Since leaving Pacific in 1992 as the program’s No. 2 career scorer, Demps has done plenty. He sipped the proverbial cup of coffee in the NBA (20 career games), but also played professionally in the old Continental Basketball Association as well as in France, Croatia, Greece, Turkey and Philippines for a decade.
 
He did some coaching, scouting and got his feet wet in an NBA front office as the director of player personnel for the San Antonio Spurs. Then he spent nine seasons as general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans.
 
But Demps, who turned 50 this month, achieved enough in just his four years at Stockton to be named Pacific’s 2020 inductee into the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor.
 
Demps said the recognition feels good. “When everything’s going on, you never think there’s a Hall of Honor or about getting your jersey retired,” he said. “It’s all happening right now, and this makes you think back and reflect and appreciate all the good times and the people who helped you.”
 
It’s about time, says Lavender, now the basketball coach at Centennial High School in Phoenix, who is a bit amazed it took until last year for the program to retire Demps’ jersey No. 5. “All that stuff is well overdue,” Lavender said.
 
No argument from Thomason, now seven years into his retirement. Thomason was in his first year as the Tigers’ coach when Demps — recruited by the previous staff — arrived on campus, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard who didn’t shoot particularly well.
 
“He didn’t shoot a lot of 3s in high school,” Thomason said. “He just developed as a player. And as good a player as he was, he was probably a better student, a better person.”
 
Demps certainly was accomplished on the court. He scored 1,742 career points, averaging 15.1 per game over his four seasons. He earned all-Big West first-team honors as a senior after twice being named to the second team. He was a two-time team MVP and in 2004 was elected to the Pacific Athletic Hall of Fame.
 
Demps gives all credit to Thomason. “It starts with him. He was awesome,” Demps said. “I tell people all the time, I grew as a player because of him. He gave me a great mix of freedom and yet pushed me at the same time. I learned so much from him.”
 
But not how to shoot. Demps actually learned that from his coach’s father, Bob Thomason Sr.
 
“I was in the gym one day and Coach Senior said, `You want to learn how to shoot? Be here in the morning,’” recalled Demps, who was there bright and early the next day. “The first day was awesome. I asked him if we could do it again. I can’t even count how many times we met through the years. I was lucky to play 10 years after I left Pacific, and I don’t know if that would have happened if I didn't learn how to shoot.”
 
Demps left Pacific as a capable 39-percent career 3-point shooter.
 
Thomason appreciated Demps for a range of reasons, including how seriously he approached all things. Well, most things.
 
During Demps’ junior season, the Tigers played at a tournament at Missouri State, where they felt disappointment after splitting two games. Demps decided his teammates needed something to ease the tension of the season.
 
“He called everybody at 4 in the morning and told all the guys the bus was ready to leave,” Thomason said, laughing at the memory. “All the guys went down to the lobby.”
 
Of course, there was no bus.
 
“We were trying to turn the program around and everyone wanted to succeed,” Demps said. “Sometimes when things get tough, you've got to find a way to have some fun.”
 
Demps just had a natural way with others, Thomason said. He handled himself well with teammates, boosters, even opponents. “It’s just kind of a natural what he’s done,” Thomason said.
 
A year removed from his stint with the Pelicans, Demps and his family now reside in Miami. But he has spent much of the past year traveling in Europe, South America and throughout the U.S. as he considers the next chapter in his life. It may involve basketball, but Demps isn’t sure.
 
“I just wanted to sit back and breathe and learn,” he said. “Some of (the travel) has been sports related, some of it’s been vacation. I also want to explore other parts of life. I haven’t made any decisions.”
 
When he does, Lavender won’t be surprised if Demps will find success again.
 
“I remember one day after practice, I felt like I didn’t put in enough work,” Lavender said. “We were sitting there with our shoes off. I put my shoes back on and started running sprints.
 
“All of a sudden I see he was lacing up his shoes and he was back out there. He wouldn’t let me outwork him.”