Bailey excels through life's growing pains

When Ryan Bailey signed a letter of intent with Penn State on the final day of the late-signing period last year, he thought he was going to spend his freshman season learning from Dan Earl, one of the best point guards in the Big Ten.

The freshman already had been tossed into the frothy waters of Division I basketball. Bailey had started four games before Earl's announcement and already had been forced to take the reigns. In those four games, as he struggled to stay afloat, his expected mentor could do nothing more than watch from the beach -- without a rope to pull him along or a life preserver to keep his eyes above the water.

"I came here to play behind Dan Earl my freshman year and learn from him," Bailey said. "He's a great point guard. He helps me a lot on the sidelines, but it's not the same as watching him. I really have to learn on my own."

Earl's announcement simply insured that Bailey would learn on his own for the entire season. It insured that Bailey, a well-known player in Los Angeles but a virtual no name on the East Coast, would be the starting point guard for Penn State.

No one really knew what to expect -- except Bailey. Because of the competition he always has faced, confidence has never been a problem.

"I was always the youngest player as a kid, and my dad always played me against the older players," Bailey said. "You really have no fear when you're young. So once you get old enough to think about it, there's really no problem."

Bailey has played with, and against, some of the best young talent in the country. He's played with UCLA's Jelani McCoy and Cameron Dollar and against Felipe Lopez of St. John's. Plus, he grew up in the same house with Toby Bailey.

Toby Bailey, UCLA's junior guard who helped lead the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA title, is Ryan's older brother.

"Playing against him every day, one-on-one, has got to get you better," Ryan said of Toby. "He was always the All-American, always the all-state. Trying to strive to get where he's at has helped me a lot."

Striving to reach the level of play his brother has established, the younger Bailey discovered there are few players he can't compete with. There was a time, though, when the thought of Ryan competing with anyone on the basketball court seemed unlikely at best.

When Ryan was two-years-old, doctors told his parents, John and Taffy, that their youngest son would probably grow to be no more than 5-feet-7, making a successful basketball career nearly impossible.

To make his son feel bigger, John began calling him "Moose."

"Ryan will deny this, but we used to watch wildlife programs on TV," his father said. "One time a moose came roaring out of the bushes, and I said, 'That's a lot like Ryan.' He was a real physical little kid. The nickname just stuck. If you were to say Ryan Bailey in L.A., nobody would know who you were talking about. Everybody knows him as Moose."

So, armed with a larger-than-life nickname, "Moose" began his ascent through the Los Angeles basketball ranks just two years after that fateful height prediction. Despite being nearly two years younger than Toby, John's youngest son was added to his eldest son's youth league team. It's a tradition that continued until Toby graduated from high school in 1994.

"Toby was two years older," John said. "After he would leave a team, Ryan would take over. It was a stair-step-type thing."

The stairs from the youth leagues of Los Angeles eventually led the Bailey brothers to Loyola High School, a private, all-male, Jesuit school. Toby arrived in 1991 and immediately made an impact. Following the season he was named the California Freshman of the Year by Cal Hi Sports. He eventually became the only four-year starter in Loyola history.

While Toby was turning heads in high school, Ryan continued to shine in junior high.

"I coached at their Catholic school in the seventh and eighth grade," John said. "When Toby left, it was just Ryan. Whenever we needed a basket, Ryan would do that."

But when Ryan arrived at Loyola the following year, he wasn't the star anymore. That title still was reserved for his brother. Ryan played on the JV team his freshman year, while Toby continued to sparkle on the varsity squad. But then, as now, Ryan didn't feel overshadowed by his brother.

"My brother's a role model," Ryan said. "He does well in school. He has his head on straight. The way I look at it is people are talking about him. That means he is doing well. I'm happy for him. When they stop talking about him, that's when I have to worry about it and go talk to him because that means he's not doing that well."

Finally, the brothers reunited for the 1993-94 season. Together, they led Loyola to the quarterfinals of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) tournament and a 20-7 finish.

Ryan became a true impact player the following year, his last season with his brother by his side. The pair led its team to the league championship, the semifinals of the CIF tournament and a 22-6 record.

Going into his senior year, Ryan had several big-time college programs recruiting him, but most slowly lost interest. He decided to sign with Portland during the early signing period.

"Some teams dropped off and some had coaching changes, but Portland came on strong all the way," said Bill Thomason, Loyola's coach at the time. "I thought it was a good choice. It was fairly close but far enough away to be out of his brother's shadow."

With the choice made, Ryan suffered through stress fractures in both legs and a mediocre 15-10 senior year. Nonetheless, he still was named the MVP at the Jesuit, Loyola and Beverly Hills tournaments as well as to the Los Angeles Times All-Central City team.

With the high accolades came higher ambitions. After the season, Ryan decided Portland was not the right choice. He withdrew his intent to play for the Pilots and made plans to attend Hargrove Military Academy in Chatham, Va.

"It was very difficult," Taffy Bailey said of sending her son across the country. "We're still having a very hard time. The way I look at it is it's four more years and then he'll hopefully come back."

Life at Hargrove was different than anything Ryan had experienced before. Situated in the mountains of Virginia, among the trees and clean air, it is a vastly different world than Los Angeles. The students rise at 6 a.m. and are in bed by 10 p.m. Nearly every second of every day is planned out.

"He was in complete culture shock when he came," Hargrove basketball coach Scott Shepherd said. "He had that look in his eyes like, 'What did I get myself into?' Once he started playing, though, he came around. I think he ended up enjoying it."

Ryan averaged 10 points per game at Hargrove, which finished 26-3 and sent 10 players to Division I teams. At Hargrove, Ryan played the recruiting game once again. Maryland, Nebraska, Minnesota and Southern California all expressed interest.

He chose to attend USC, but then the coach was fired. He finally decided on Penn State.

As the starting point guard for Penn State, the team has had its ups and downs -- but mostly downs. It's the first losing team Ryan ever has been affiliated with.

"It's been rough, especially going through a losing season," he said. "When we lost those six in a row, times were down, and I wanted my parents to be there for me. I couldn't hug anybody. It hurts, but I had to deal with it, and it's made me stronger."

On an individual level, Ryan has seen his ups and downs as well. He has had some turnover-plagued games, received crank calls on his answering machine and constantly been compared to Earl.

Through it all, though, Bailey is averaging 8.2 points per game and has 102 assists. As a comparison, Earl averaged 9.7 points per game his freshman year and dished out 113 assists.

So the question arises, if Earl returns next season, who will start?

"I think it's my starting spot to lose," Ryan said. "I'm confident in my game. Dan's a great player, but he's going to have to come in and prove it. If he plays well, if he plays better than me, it's his starting spot. If he takes the spot from me, that's his spot. I'll have no problem with that."

Whatever happens, Ryan already has exceeded many expectations. The doctors who told his parents he would only be 5-feet-7 apparently forgot to tell Ryan. He is now 6-feet-2.

He also has managed to emerge from his brother's shadow, although he never really allowed himself to be immersed in that shadow. And finally, Ryan has yet to drown in the cold, dark waters of the Big Ten.

"I don't think he has reached his potential yet," Toby said. "Having to conform to a different style this year will make him a better player in the future."

Ryan almost has made it to dry ground. Next season, when the future becomes the present, the water should seem much more inviting.