After a late start, Flavin finds he has a talent for basketball

Growing up in his Lake Street neighborhood in Weymouth, Mark Flavin's fantasy was to play for the Boston Red Sox. But he grew out of those dreams.

In fact, physically, he just kept growing. Between eighth and ninth grades, Flavin hit a growth spurt: ''I went from something like 6 feet to 6-5 in one year. So I gave up baseball and picked up a basketball."

Flavin has continued to blossom -- on and off the basketball court -- over the past eight years. He doesn't want to stop now.

Basketball helped transform him from a youngster who didn't care about his studies to an honor roll student. On the court, he earned All-Scholastic honors at Weymouth High School. He selected the University of Maine, over several scholarship offers elsewhere, and ended his college career March 6 when his Black Bears were eliminated by Northeastern University in the semifinal round of the America East Conference tournament in Vestal, N.Y.

But he says he hopes his basketball days aren't over. He wants to continue playing, perhaps in Europe.

Citing the former University of North Carolina basketball coach, ''Dean Smith says that big men don't reach their peak until they are 27 or 28 years old. I think I still can play somewhere," said Flavin, who now stands 6-11.

Flavin, 22, never played organized basketball until the ninth grade -- a late start in the game, considering that most collegians played their first organized game in grade school, and advanced to travel squads and eventually Amateur Athletic Union teams to hone their skills. Most play as many as four or five years of organized ball before their first high school game.

Flavin made up for lost time quickly, thanks to coaches like Billy Endicott and Steve Gregg.

Endicott, a former Somerville High School star, became Flavin's coach for the Greater Boston entry in the summer AAU program, and ''was more than just a coach," said Flavin. ''He was a mentor."

Gregg provided Flavin his entry into organized basketball, as the youngster's first coach on the Weymouth High freshman team, and remembers Flavin as a raw and inexperienced ninth-grader. Flavin has only good memories of Gregg, a star at Weymouth High in the 1960s who led the team to the state championship.

''I loved that guy," said Flavin. ''Mr. Gregg was a big influence on me. That was my first really organized basketball, and he pushed me. He prepared me for playing high school basketball in a very short time."

Gregg, now retired but still living in Weymouth, said Flavin ''really wasn't that awkward for a kid who grew so quickly."

''You could see he had some skills. Mark had quick feet and soft hands. That is a wonderful combination," he said.

Gregg said Flavin's talents were minimized at Weymouth because they didn't take advantage of Flavin's dominance under the basket. ''Weymouth tried a full-court pressure defense. They had Mark playing the point," said Gregg. ''It didn't showcase his skills."

Looking back at his senior year at Weymouth, Flavin said, ''the program wasn't what it used to be." That year, the Wildcats finished with a 4-16 mark. But Flavin was selected to the All-Scholastic team. College recruiters noticed his abilities, especially when he played for Endicott's AAU team.

''I got a lot of letters when I was in high school," said Flavin. ''[Boston University coach] Dennis Wolff recruited me. Northeastern wanted me. I got letters from a lot of small schools. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I was tall, yes, but I was underweight. I was 190 pounds and 6 foot 9. I thought about prep school. But I decided I wanted to go to college. I took a visit to Maine, and I fell in love with the place. Maine was so me; it was home. The coaching staff was terrific. It was like I was one of their sons."

Until his junior year at Maine, Flavin spent most of the time on the bench -- with good reason. He played behind Justin Rowe, a three-time America East Conference all-star who went to Europe to play for Ujbuda-Budapest for a year in the Hungarian pro league, and then signed with the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. Rowe is now playing for the Fayetteville Patriots of the NBA's developmental league.

''I'd like to play somewhere next year," said Flavin. ''Others have done it from Maine. I'll play anywhere. I want to continue playing."