His story is one of rags to riches in the diving world.

An athlete who did not really start a serious diving career until he came to Penn State, Chris Devine now has a chance to take himself all the way to the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Despite all his talent, Devine is hoping for nothing more than a chance to make it to the Olympic trials.

A native of Allentown, Devine has been around pools most of his life. He describes himself as a "very adventurous child who liked to try the most adventurous things at the pool -- the dives."

Devine had little serious instruction until he came to Penn State for diving camps during his high school summers. It was there that he met Diving Coach Craig Brown.

But Devine wanted to come to Penn State even before he was recruited by Brown.

"In diving camps, I got to learn the area, the team and Brownie as a coach," he said. "Nobody had anything to offer like Penn State."

Now a fifth-year senior, Devine doesn't hesitate to say who has influenced his diving career most: "Brownie," he said without pause, adding his mentor relates to the divers as a friend as well as a coach.

"He's taken me from nothing to where I am now," Devine added.

And where Devine is now is quite impressive.

He is a member of both the U.S. National Diving team and the Pan-Am team. He is the reigning Big Ten Champion on 3-meters, and he finished third and fifth at the 1994 NCAA championships on the 1-and 3-meter dives, respectively.

He has been an All-American three times in his career and he was named 1994 Big Ten Diver of the Year.

The oldest member of the Lions, Devine says he is the grandpa of the team, but he does not think that automatically makes him a leader.

"The example I can best give is to show the other divers what it's like to compete in a big meet with a lot of pressure," he said. ''It took me a long time to figure out a way to do my best on every dive throughout a contest."

But teammate Drew Jackson said he definitely thinks of Devine as a role model.

"He is the best diver in the country, so he must be doing something right," the freshman added. "What he does works, so we obviously try to emulate him."

Brown compares his star diver to 1992 Olympic gold medalist Mark Lenzi of the United States.

"Chris has done the same thing in college with his diving career that Mark did, and five years later (Lenzi) took the gold," Brown said. "Chris is technically as good as or even better than Mark, although he doesn't jump as high."

Brown attributes much of Devine's success to his unique style.

"Devine comes to competitions with his lunch pail in hand," he said. "The judges can overlook his flaws because they like his grittiness."

Devine, who plans to graduate in August with a degree in exercise and sport science, said he usually does not set long-term goals, but he does want to make the Olympic trials.

"Since they only take the top two people, the Olympics may be out of reach," he said, adding he will continue to train with Brown next year for the trials.

"Chris knows all the parts," Brown said."We just need to clean them up and put them all together."