RUDY GAY WANTS to get a learner's permit. He wants to plan for the prom, talk on the cell phone, hang out at the mall and get in more time on the PlayStation.
Rudy Gay is about to become a regular 17-year-old high school student at Archbishop Spalding again.
It hasn't been that way since last summer when Gay left the prestigious Nike camp in Indianapolis as one of the top-rated high school basketball players in the country. Kentucky coach Tubby Smith has stopped by, and so has Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. Gay made a visit to Maryland and flew up to Connecticut.
And oh, the phone calls. Just about every Division I coach in America tried to reach out and touch Gay. When a 6-foot-8 kid averages 25 points and 10 rebounds, people talk and they listen.
But in another week, Gay's career at Spalding will have ended, and he can start preparing for his freshman season at Connecticut.
Until then, he has some unfinished personal business.
"I wasn't concerned about missing out on usual things students do, because you have to sacrifice for the things you want," said Gay, an Essex resident. "Between trying to find the right college and preparing for the season, there hasn't been much time for anything."
"But I'm glad things are starting to wind down," Gay said. "Maybe now I can get that learner's permit. That bugs me, because my mom is always late picking me up."
Gay laughs. He has a warm sense of humor, which only few know. They only know Rudy Gay, national basketball phenom. They don't know about Rudy Gay, the Christian. Or that Gay likes going to the movies, listening to R&B and rap music (favorite singers are Jay-Z and Musiq), or may want to become a sportscaster.
Gay's mother, Rae Lynn, is director of a Head Start program in Baltimore City. His father, Rudy Sr., is in the landscaping business. Gay had the opportunity to schmooze with Michael Jordan for a couple of days at Jordan's camp last summer where he was a counselor, but the person he admires most is his late grandfather, Richard Austin, who taught him about keeping a family together.
Gay is polite, shy and humble, so much in fact, that he sometimes leaves church early because he doesn't really want to talk about himself or basketball.
He doesn't know what all this fuss is really about.
"I've always considered myself an average player, and still do most of the time," Gay said.
