The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/sports/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-0107110188,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- City school chief stays on the ball By Mike Conklin For all of outgoing Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas' accomplishments, you can bet he never hit a winning three-point basket in overtime to take his basketball team to a final four in a national tournament. That's one vivid image some of the closest pals have of incoming CPS boss Arne Duncan. It's a recollection made even more colorful by his having a broken nose when he launched the shot. "Arne had been smacked pretty good and there was blood all over the place," recalled teammate John Rogers. "It didn't bother him a bit. He plays right through pain." When he was named Chicago schools CEO last week, there was much talk that the 36-year-old Duncan, a basketball star at Harvard, was good enough at the sport to work out periodically in Chicago with Michael Jordan. Well, yes, he is, and undoubtedly that's a nice tidbit for the grandchildren some day. But his love for hoops, years after hanging up his college uniform, followed by four seasons in an Australian pro league, runs deeper than sessions in yuppie gyms and health clubs. "I've been fortunate to go to some of the top schools in America," said Duncan, a University of Chicago Lab School grad before attending Harvard. "But I can tell you, without doubt, that some of the best lessons I've learned in life are from playing basketball on Chicago's inner-city playgrounds. There's nothing like it. "I consider myself fortunate growing up and having [NBA] players like Ricky Green and Maurice Cheeks accept me and take me under their wing playing in summer league games. It's an important part of my education." It's a continuing education too. Duncan, still lean and rangy at 6 feet 5 inches, can be found playing regularly in such Chicago spots as the Broadway Armory, Avalon Park, Margate Park, and 63rd and Lake Michigan in Jackson Park--decidedly not the East Bank Club or Hoops The Gym in ambience. "I can't tell you the number of times I've been driving home at night, looked at a pickup game in a park, and there was Arne, the only white guy, pounding away," Rogers said. "He's remained true to the game. I know he's the heart and soul of our team." That would be Slow and Steady, a 3-on-3 team sponsored by Aerial Capital Management, Rogers' money management firm. The team, with Rogers, Kit Mueller and Northwestern assistant Craig Robinson--all ex-Princeton stars--as core players, regularly competes on the NBA's Hoop It Up national circuit. Other players rotated into the mix have been Sean Jackson and James Fleming, also Princeton alums. For years they've traveled the country playing in such cities as San Diego, Nashville, St. Louis, Dallas, Boston and San Antonio. The team won the overall title in the last three "Shoot The Bull" 3-on-3 tournaments in Chicago, an event canceled this year. Only a few weeks before Mayor Richard M. Daley named him Vallas' replacement, the new CPS boss helped his team win a tournament in New Jersey that qualified them for the NBA "Hoop It Up" championship later this year. Another ex-Princeton player, a guy named Bill Bradley, was in the audience watching the games. "Arne was the coolest player out there, just the way he always is," Robinson said. "He made shots, played hard and didn't make any mistakes. "If he was thinking about a new job, you couldn't tell whether his stock was up or down the way he played. I've seen him play with casts on his wrist and a sprained ankle, but he never shows a thing." Princeton recruited Duncan, but he opted for Harvard after being told by then-Tigers coach Pete Carril that he wouldn't see much playing time. He's the only non-Tiger on Slow and Steady, Rogers jokes, only because of their friendship extending to their mutual Hyde Park and Lab School roots. After spending his freshman year on the junior varsity, Duncan scored enough points in three varsity seasons to rank No. 12 on Harvard's career scoring list. As a senior he was co-captain of the team, started all 26 games, maintained a 3.5 grade-point average in sociology and was named All-Ivy and an Academic All-American. Harvard buddies recall--and this is something Daley and CPS officials may wish to note--that Duncan had the ability to take over a game. In a memorable match against traditional Ivy power Penn, he brought the Crimson back from a 10-point deficit with 4 minutes 21 seconds to play by scoring 14 consecutive points before he and his teammates pulled out an overtime win. Only a day later in his senior season--and this is something his current ex-Tigers teammates should be aware of--it was his three consecutive three-point baskets in the second half that broke open a tight game to lift Harvard to a rare 24-point victory over Princeton. The immediate concern is winning the national 3-on-3 championship, scheduled for later this year. The team has qualified for the final four the last two years--Duncan's memorable OT shot with the broken nose doing it once--but failed to win the title. "I love being with these guys," Duncan said. "The friendships and the fun are great, but I find the basketball itself keeps me sharp and gives me a sense of balance. All that helps with a high-stress job." -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. 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