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Tim Dunegan’s performance and leadership have been welcome additions to Cabrillo College’s basketball program. Sentinel photo by Dan Coyro

Sentinel staff writer

APTOS — Tim Dunegan, tired of losing — and the game in general — peeled off his basketball jersey four years ago, vowing to never wear one again.

"I didn’t think about playing once," he said.

After a relatively uneventful — and unsuccessful — season at Cabrillo College in 1995-’96, Dunegan knew his heart was no longer in it. Even though the team’s nine wins were enough to reach the state playoffs, the constant losing took its toll.

You could tell, he says, by his body language. He wasn’t having fun, grinding it out in practices and workouts for a discouraging reward: blowout losses in front of paltry crowds.

So Dunegan, who starred at Harbor High, decided he’d had enough. He dropped playing basketball competitively in order to pursue other passions, other dreams. He played a different tune, so to speak.

He went out on his own, and the journey took him from junior high basketball coach, to bassist in an upstart punk-rock band, to full-time caretaker for a special-needs child.

Now it’s taken him back to where he started, stronger for the adventure and hungry to reach his goals. And he’s using basketball to get him there.

Dunegan, 23, is averaging a team-high 17 points for Cabrillo (7-15, 2-3). He’s been a welcome addition for first-year coach Tony Marcopulos, who is trying to resurrect a program that did not record a winning season in the 1990s.

Dunegan wants to teach school for a living and a basketball scholarship will give him the education he needs. Marcopulos said several NCAA Division II schools are recruiting the 6-foot-8 forward, who has a solid inside-out game.

He would prefer to work at Shoreline Middle School, where he attended junior high — it was Del Mar School then — and where he developed a special friendship.

A few years ago, Dunegan was coaching the eighth-grade Shoreline boys team when a woman asked him if he’d be interested in mentoring her son.

Karen Jones was attending a game because her daughter Celina was a cheerleader. She noticed Dunegan was good with kids and knew her son, Ryan, needed a dependable big brother. Ryan Jones had suffered a stroke at birth that left him unable to speak.

Dunegan accepted, learned some sign language, and helped Ryan make a much publicized adjustment to Shoreline. Ryan is 13 now, and Dunegan still sees the eighth-grader on weekends.

"It’s literally the best thing I’ve ever done," Dunegan said. "There were tons of challenges."

Karen Jones says Dunegan, "has been a dream, an angel in our life," and she’s starting to see a lot of him in her son.

"He likes to wear things Tim wears," she said. "Tim used gel in his hair, so now Ryan uses gel. Tim listens to horrible music, and Ryan likes that stuff now."

That stuff, hard-hitting punk rock, was a hobby turned quasi-career for Dunegan. Though never a big music fan, he did admire the work of his older brother Micky, a member of the popular local band Fury 66.

Dunegan took up the bass, and along with friends Luke Clements and Jalal Jemison, a novel band called A Great Divide was born.

Dunegan had played in championship basketball games before thousands of screaming fans, but the first time he walked on stage he could hardly move.

He gave himself lessons in public performance, in part by viewing some old ‘‘Game of the Week’’ videos. The basketball clips boosted his confidence, and the band played at some local venues.

In the summer of 1998, A Great Divide took its show on the road. The band, fueled by the influence of punk immortals Fugazi, booked its own mini-tour throughout the West, going as far east as Chicago.

But it was a less-than-glamorous existence. Performing gigs for an average fee of $20, the trio shared residence in an old Dodge van on sultry summer nights in Arizona and New Mexico. They struggled to come up with meal money, and a couple of their shows on the 25-day tour were canceled. Some went on before crowds of five.

"I can’t believe I even got through it," he said. "I‘d never done something like that before."

While holding no aspirations of becoming a rock star, Dunegan’s band still caught a break. Playing a show in San Francisco, an executive from Frenetic Records heard A Great Divide jam and liked the sound.

The band cut a 10-song CD in July 1999 and it was released last December. Streetlight Records in Santa Cruz carries the album.

Dunegan doesn’t expect to make millions off the CD — the company will share profits after covering its expenses — but Dunegan wouldn’t trade a minute of the experience.

"I honestly don’t regret my time off from basketball," he said.

Even so, he couldn’t stay away forever. Dunegan played in some city leagues and, in a conversation with Harbor coach Mike Gruber, mentioned that he might again take it up seriously.

Gruber recommended Dunegan to Marcopulos, who was busy trying to fill out his roster with area high school graduates.

Marcopulos concedes he "wasn’t overly excited about a guy who’s been off for four years," but had little to lose by giving Dunegan a chance.

The new Cabrillo coach saw Dunegan play in a pickup game, and although the Harbor graduate was the youngest and tallest guy on the court, Marcopulos was unimpressed.

"He wasn’t even the best player out there," Marcopulos said.

To the coach’s delight, Dunegan was a lot better than he looked on first impression. He worked hard to get in shape, and Marcopulos knew he’d be a weapon with his perimeter range and creative moves inside.

Once Cabrillo was decimated by the defection of Louisiana imports Trone Triggs and Eric Hammond, it was clear Dunegan was the school’s best player.

Marcopulos said while Dunegan’s performance has "far exceeded my expectations," the coach is most proud than Dunegan believed in the program’s new philosophy.

They talked extensively before the season, and Dunegan was confident his second time around at Cabrillo would be a better experience. It has worked out better than either man anticipated.

"If I could model around one kid, what a program is about and should stand for ... he’d be the one," Marcopulos said. "He goes to class, knows how to say to please and thank you. He’s a class act."

Dunegan, who has served as a leader to his younger teammates, says he’s glad he returned.

"It’s been great, especially my teammates," he said. "The first year I was here we lacked the closeness. At first this year I didn’t know if we’d jell, but it’s definitely been the greatest thing about coming back to play."

But apparently his teammates aren’t big fans of A Great Divide.

"It’s loud and screamy, and they just can’t make out any words," he said. "I gave CDs to a lot of guys on the team, but I know they never play them."

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