Life After Killer Bees

There's life after the Killer Bees - "real life," said Maurice Manning's aunt, Sandra Roberts.

Her nephew, who led the Bridgehampton High School boys basketball team to state championships in 1996, '97, and '98, is continuing his education this fall at the St. Thomas More preparatory school in Oakdale, Conn.

A county player-of-the-year in '97 and '98, a three-time most valuable player in the state Class D boys basketball tournament - a record that may stand the test of time - and the recipient of numerous other basketball accolades, Mr. Manning is one among a number of recent former Killer Bees furthering his education.

Higher Education

Nick Thomas, the point guard on the '96 team that was the first from Bridgehampton in a decade to win a state title, is a junior at New York University.

Antwan Foster, who, with his fellow guard Fred Welch, played a decisive role in the Bees' '97 title run, is a student at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. According to his former coach, Carl Johnson, that school "plays in one of the toughest Division II conferences in the country."

And Mr. Welch is a sophomore at New England College in New Hampshire.

Thinking School

From last year's state champions, Matt White is at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus, Nick Letcher is at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, with an eye toward transferring to N.Y.U., B.J. Walker is at Fairleigh-Dickinson in Teaneck, N.J., and Tat Picott is reportedly at Cheshire Academy in Massachusetts for a post-grad year.

That leaves Charles Furman, who Mr. Johnson hopes will enroll in a junior college "by January."

"I'm really proud of these kids," said the coach. "They're all thinking school, and of bettering their lives."

The Best

As for Mr. Manning, "the best player" Mr. Johnson has coached and by all accounts a genuine Division I college prospect, "a lot is riding on Maurice's shoulders," said the Bees' coach.

"A lot of kids look up to him. If he makes it - we're just talking about college here - I think the floodgates will open. If he makes it, it will give the kids who look up to him the confidence to try."

St. Thomas More, a school of about 180 students founded in 1962 "to assist the boy who has the ability to succeed but who has not yet shown his potential through academic achievement," costs $17,300.

Most of it, in Mr. Manning's case, has been raised locally through the good offices of Joe Zucker, an East Hampton artist who is one of the Killer Bees' most ardent fans.

Grants

It is hoped that Maurice Manning will complete his senior year at St. Thomas More and achieve a college-entrance score on the Scholastic Assessment Test in the coming months.

Meanwhile, he is the beneficiary of a $7,000 grant from the Alan Morton Foundation of Sag Harbor and New York City; $1,000 from Arthur Dubow of East Hampton, $1,000 from his father, David, and $500 from the Bayport-Blue Point Foundation, of which Bridgehampton's interim principal, Fred Coverdale, is a director.

These contributions pretty much cover the first semester's tuition and room and board, said Ms. Roberts, his aunt, who, along with Mr. Zucker, accompanied the young man to his interview with the Alan Morton Foundation.

The school is proferring a grant of $3,000 for the second semester, leaving, she said, somewhat more than $3,800 to be raised.

Out, And In

As for the $500 contribution from the Bayport-Blue Point Foundation, "It's a one-time thing," said Mr. Coverdale, noting that usually that foundation's grants go to youngsters from the Bayport-Blue Point area.

But he made a convincing case with fellow board members that the contribution should go to Mr. Manning's schooling.

"I said, 'We have a chance to help a youngster today, and he might be appreciative tomorrow.' "

"I said to his father last year that we should do all we could to get him out of town and into school," Mr. Coverdale continued. "No matter what happens, Maurice Manning is a big part of this school's history."

Stick It Out

Like Messrs. Johnson, Zucker, Morton, Dubow, and Ms. Roberts, among many others, Mr. Coverdale would very much like to see Mr. Manning succeed.

If he does, said Mr. Coverdale, who used to coach Bayport's boys basketball team, "every young man who wants to play varsity basketball at Bridgehampton will look at that and say, 'Maybe I can do it, too.' "

"I told Maurice that he's not going there for basketball," said Ms. Roberts, "but to work on his academics. As it is now, I told him, you don't have a high school diploma, so your best bet is to stick it out."

No Factory This

Jere Quinn, St. Thomas More's basketball coach and its director of admissions, who years ago was a counselor at Camp St. Regis in East Hampton, echoed her words.

"I stressed to Maurice that this was not a basketball factory, that it was a school," Mr. Quinn said. "He'll have classes from 8:30 to 2:30 every day, play basketball for two hours, and there'll be a two-and-a-half-hour mandatory study hall each night before lights-out at 10:30."

"The ratio, as you can see, doesn't favor sports."

"It seems like a great opportunity for Maurice," Mr. Quinn continued. "There'll undoubtedly be some adjustments . . . everybody on the team is as talented or more so than he. Our focus, then, is on academics."

College The Goal

"He seems to be a bright kid - we believe he has the academic wherewithal," said Mr. Quinn. "We take all kinds of kids who need the skills to be developed so that they can go on to college."

As for basketball, St. Thomas More plays "everybody - you'll see when you get the schedule."

Formal practice does not begin until November. At the moment, Mr. Manning and his teammates are "lifting weights, conditioning, and there's free play." The school's first game will be in December.

Class And Mass

Terrell Dozier, a former basketball star at East Hampton High School who now is a senior at Colby-Sawyer, where he made the Division III top-five in field-goal percentage last season, spent a postgrad year at St. Thomas More.

According to Mr. Johnson, he "talked to Maurice about what would be expected of him. So Maurice has been forewarned. No TV, no video games, no phones in the rooms. Daily room inspections. Blazers, ties, class, and Mass."

"Lights out at 10:30, and their families are the only ones who can take them off-campus on weekends. Terrell told him the first two months would be critical."

Two Years Or One?

While Mr. Johnson would rather Mr. Manning spend two years at St. Thomas More - "I think he needs two years there to mature, but it's up to Jere Quinn" - Mr. Quinn said he would suggest to Mr. Manning that he go through in one.

Acknowledging that some had disagreed with the idea of a post-graduate year for Mr. Manning, proposing instead that he get a G.E.D. and begin at a junior college, Mr. Johnson said, "I have all the confidence in him. I'm not setting him up to fail. There's one thing about Maurice - he adapts to his environment. I told him he'd be nowhere without a high school diploma. That's the first thing."

"It's all on Maurice Manning now," Mr. Johnson continued. "His destiny is in his own hands. It would really make me happy if he makes it. If he gets through this year, I don't see a problem."

JACK GRAVES