Here are the facts. The date was March 31, 1985, and Kathleen and Michael Nawrocki gave birth to a child named Danny. Eighteen years later, the young man left home to play basketball for Hopkins. In his fourth year on the team, he was named the News-Letter Athlete of the Week. This is where our story begins.
This week, the Blue Jays won all four of their games, defeating St. Mary's (78-60), Goucher (85-69), Salisbury (71-60) and Swarthmore (73-57). Nawrocki was named Centennial Conference and PrestoSports Men's Basketball Player of the Week. He averaged 14.7 points and 9.7 rebounds for the weekend, putting him 10th in the Centennial Conference for scoring and second in rebounding. On Tuesday night's game against Swarthmore, he scored 12 points and made 12 rebounds.First, it must be stated that the rest of this tale is subject to at least exaggeration, weak truths, and perhaps even complete lies. Rest assured, however, that the words flow from the sincere-yet-atypical mouth of an honorable Hopkins athlete.Here goes: Nawrocki said the stats, the wins and the trophies of the week all emerged from a relaxing hour in the sauna.Story #1: On Friday, our main character claims he headed to the gym not in his jersey, but his bathrobe. After all, he believes, a pre-game sweat is the secret to success.
"The five seniors always have a sauna session before the game," he said. "It's a good time to discuss ideas about the upcoming game and opponent and assess our team's strengths and weaknesses."But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let us first gather a short history -- a "character sketch," if you will -- of the enigmatic Danny Nawrocki. Though the date of his birth is known, he will only say that the location was either Honolulu, Hawaii or Long Island, N.Y. As a child, he said, "my mother dropped me on the head a few times." When asked to describe his childhood experience, he simply stated that he was short and fat. Despite a growth spurt in 7th grade, he didn't have a date to the eighth grade dance.
"No one really liked me," he reflected.After a successful basketball and volleyball career in high school, Nawrocki was on to college. Although he considered playing for other schools, he ultimately selected Hopkins for a number of reasons.
"At UCLA and Pepperdine, there were too many gorgeous blonde, blue-eyed girls. There was no way I'd be able to focus on my studies," he added, "I wanted to be a part of Hopkins' history of outstanding, good-looking student athletes."Perhaps you're thinking, why didn't this master of the court play for a Division-I team? But don't fret: Nawrocki holds the answers.
"Who wants to be a standard D-1 athlete?" he said. "I'm a different kind of person. D-3 is creative, exciting. No D-1 team is like ours -- we're the most out-of-control bunch of hooligans and I love it. I would never trade that for D-1."The combination of D-3 creativity and Hopkins unattractive-yet-attractive appeal led Danny to consider Hopkins. It was the city of Baltimore, however, that put this Honolulu/Long Island native over the edge.
"It's such a safe city. I couldn't resist the low crime rate."And that's how he ended up here. Even though he's been a starter for the Jays since he was a freshman, his game has improved since 2003. "I would say that I'm better at basketball this year than I was last year. And I would accredit this to a three-week stay in Alabama."Story #2: Nawrocki spent 21 days over the summer with 16-time World Champion WWE pro wrestler Ric Flair. He claims Flair taught him "mental and physical toughness" by having him wrestle alligators ("I mean c9 not big ones or anything") and cut down trees.
With a distant look in his eyes, Nawrocki waxed, "He beat the crap out of me. I became more of a man, more of a human being."This weekend, the Blue Jays won all of their three games and went home as the provident pride of Maryland Tournament champions. Nawrocki, however, didn't elaborate much on this part of the story. Instead, he decided to talk about vanilla milkshakes.Story #3: The five seniors of the Hopkins men's basketball team, along with Head Coach Bill Nelson and four assistant coaches, all drink vanilla milkshakes regularly. "I don't know any other team that sips on vanilla milkshakes after every game," he mused. According to him, its Blue Jay tradition to sip on vanilla (and only vanilla) milkshakes at Pete's the morning after a game. "It's a time to reflect on the game and discuss plans for the future," he said.Nawrocki currently holds a number of records for the school. His 1,081th point placed him eighth in Hopkins history for scoring. His 682nd rebound ranks third in school history, and his 486th defensive rebound makes him a record holder.
To end this tale, Nawrocki would like to play us a tune on his jazz flute. Along with teammates Chris Morley (bass guitar), Patrick O'Connell (vocals), T.J. Valerio (triangle) and Collin Kamm (piano), he is part of Moneyshot, the men's basketball jazz band.So forget the points, records, buzzers, pep talks, and team cheers of most basketball success stories. Here at Hopkins, as Danny Nawrocki has revealed, real basketball is actually about vanilla milkshakes, pro wrestling, sauna sessions and jazz music.
