Former Saddleback High School basketball star Malru Dottin has become the barber to the stars, not to mention the role players and reserves.
Dottin is sitting out the season at the University of North Carolina Charlotte because he didn't meet Proposition 48 requirements, but he has found a way to stay close to his teammates. He cuts and, sculpts, their hair.
During the preseason, Dottin began designing hair styles for his roommates, Tim Goodman and Darryl DeVaul. He shaved symbols and letters into their hair for a unique look.
"I did some real wild stuff for Darryl," said Dottin, a 6-foot-7 forward. "He let me experiment, so I cut a heart with an arrow through it into his hair. Pretty soon almost all of the guys were coming to me to get their hair cut."
North Carolina Charlotte Coach Jeff Mullins has found that Dottin's talents as a barber have come in handy.
"He's building quite a reputation," Mullins said. "We knew we were on to something when a couple of recruits we had visiting asked (him) to give them a hair cut."
Dottin learned to cut hair when he was in eighth grade. He and his brother, Gaylan, learned the technique while visiting their cousins, who live in Cambridge, Mass.
"They used to cut hair for all our relatives," Dottin said. "When my brother and I went back to visit one time, they cut our hair. I liked what they did, so we asked my dad to buy me some hair clippers."
Dottin received electric hair clippers the following Christmas. He and Gaylan, who now plays basketball at Cal, took turns trimming each other's hair.
That is, until the day, a few weeks after he received the clippers, Gaylan made a mistake. Malru Dottin had wanted an arrow cut into his hair, but his brother's hand slipped and he took out a little more hair than intended.
"It looked like a pitch fork," Malru said. "I was so mad. I've been doing my own hair ever since."
Malru trimmed his teammates' hair through high school. During his four years at Saddleback, he began to experiment even more.
"It was like therapy for him," said Saddleback Coach Pat Quinn, whose team reached the Southern Section 5-AA championship game last season. "We would have a study hall every day and after it was over, Malru would get the clippers out."
Dottin's styles at North Carolina Charlotte have varied. He said he doesn't have any set designs, but borrows from other styles he has seen or makes them up.
But he does have a few specialties.
The Box: "That's like a flat top, only higher," Dottin said.
The Fade: "That starts real thick on top and then thins out as it goes down your head."
And Dottin's personal favorite, The Spike Lee Fade: "That's a spiked hair cut that thins out like the fade," he said.
Dottin, who said he has improved his grades, will be a key player for the 49ers the next three seasons, Mullins said. Afterward, though, Dottin might cut hair as a career.
"I've always cut hair as a hobby," he said. "But I think it might be fun to do it for a living, both men and women."
Ken Spancil, Santa Ana Valley basketball coach, was a little bewildered at the manner in which the Las Vegas Valley tournament was run.
The tournament, which was played the week after Christmas, featured 14 teams, 12 of which were from California. Santa Ana Valley received a bye in the first round, but had to play two games the next day.
"We lost the first one at 2:30 p.m. and had to play another one that night at 7:30," Spancil said. "If we'd had lost that one, we would have been out of the tournament. That would have meant we would have driven six hours, played two games, and been done. We would have had to turn around and go home. I can't figure that out."
Fortunately for the Falcons, they won the second game after losing the first. But that brought more problems and confusion the next day.
Santa Ana Valley was scheduled to play Morningside in a consolation game at 6 p.m. However, when Spancil arrived at the gym, he was told that the Falcons would be playing Royal.
The problem was, Spancil says, no one had informed the Royal coach. The Highlanders were originally scheduled to play a 7:45 game and showed up for that game at 6:40.
"The tournament officials said they were redoing everything to give the California teams more games," Spancil said. "But when they called the hotel where Royal was staying, they weren't in. They wanted us to play the game anyway to keep the tournament on schedule. I let them know I was displeased."
After all that, Santa Ana Valley lost.
Tricia Andrews, a junior guard at Mills College in Oakland, is the nation's assists leader among National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division III schools. Andrews, who played at Tustin, is averaging 12 assists a game.
Andrews, who was the most valuable player in the Sea View League in 1987, also is third in the nation in three-point field-goal percentage (50%).
