Basketball: Big Ben hammers home a point or 2

It was 1991. Comedy Central in its contemporary form was launched on April Fool's Day and, six months on, the KGB ended up pulling the plug on its covert operations.
Between those developments, one afternoon, an 11-year-old boy and his father had walked into a green grocer's shop along Queen's St, in the Richmond suburb of Nelson City in New Zealand.
The man behind the counter looked the father up and down as a tailor would before pulling out his tape to jot down the necessary measurements for making a suit. He then zeroed in on the lanky lad, showing a promising growth spurt.
"I bet you he [the boy] won't be any taller than you," the green grocer remarked to the father.
That boy was Ben Valentine who was with his old man, Chris Valentine, all 198cm of him.
The green grocer was none other than Nenad Vucinic, who went on to become a Tall Black before graduating to Nelson Giants and national men's coach.
While this moment in history is unlikely to ever make the list of global highlights, that cameo interaction forever changed the life of that young boy.
"Nenad looked me up and down and asked me how old I was," HBS Bank player Valentine says just before tonight's 7pm tip-off against the Auckland Pirates in Napier in the Bartercard National Basketball League (NBL) match.
"I think he bet with my dad I wouldn't get past six foot six [1.98m]," says the 2.11m power forward/centre for the undefeated Hawks who call him Hammer, thus avoiding confusion with the other Big Ben in the squad - Benny Hill.
So what was the bet and did Daddy Valentine go back to collect his winnings?
Enter Chris Valentine who retired last year as a fire officer after 40 years of distinguished service.
"No, it was just verbal sparring and we debated how tall Ben would be," the elder Valentine reveals.
But the then green grocer, Nenad Vucinic, who included Ben in his after-school development progamme, made another projection that left an indelible impression on Chris Valentine.
"He said Ben wouldn't become a professional player."
As it turned out, Vucinic was wrong on both counts.
Ben's paternal grandfather, the late Bill Valentine, was 5cm taller than Chris so the father knew Ben had a good chance of pipping him in the height stakes.
"He [Bill] was a policeman and they hadn't heard much of basketball in those days but he did give a few people a kick up the bum because that's how they dealt with people in those days.
"They had more respect for others too, then," Chris says.
Ben, he says, is in the mould of his late grandfather, who was well known and revered.
"Ben's done very well for himself and we're very proud of him," the father says.
The basketballer's mother, Jackie, is only 1.68m tall and Ben acknowledges if he was closer to her in height then his future would have taken a different path.
"I was a representatative soccer player and representative cricketer before that so basketball was my third choice," Ben says.
On hearing Ben's relief, Chris says with a laugh: "He [Ben] might be cursing me a bit later for that."
It did help immensely that Ben's parents were both social competitive club basketballers.
He proved Vucinic wrong on the second count when former Tall Black and the now defunct Auckland Stars coach Tab Baldwin spotted the teenager scrimmaging at Vucinic's camp one day and thought Valentine had the necessary attributes to foot it at the national level.
Three weeks later, the youngster was on the plane to the Big Smoke where he plied his trade professionally for four seasons and helped nail the NBL title in 2004.
Before that, Valentine had scored a scholarship with Pikeville College, the same university that Hawks US import Galen Young graduted from in Kentucky.
After the Stars stint, two years followed with the Manawatu Jets in Palmerston North before Valentine, armed with an honours degree in businees and mangement and a diploma in sport and fitness education, emigrated to this side of the Gorge.
It wasn't the happiest times for Valentine who ruptured his achilles tendon in December 2009.
"It took a whole year to get it right but it's back on track and it's the best I've felt in years," the 29-year-old says, lauding Hastings surgeon David Lawson for his clincial mastery.
He has no qualms about coming off the bench to make his mark on the court to help the team's cause, mindful not too many players bounce back from a career-threatening injury.
The Hawks, he says, thrive in a "family" environment, especially under ex-Tall Fern and assistant coach Kirstin Taylor who has juggled her family, a fulltime teaching job and the coaching stint in the absence of New Zealand Breakers champion skipper Paul Henare, who arrived today to assume the mantle of rookie coach/player.
"I don't think I've ever been in any NBL team that was 'six and oh' so I hope that continues," says Valentine, aware the Pirates are plying uncharted waters but adamant the Hawks are tuned in to what they can control.
He echoes the team mantra of not peaking early in the 17-week league but incrementally improving their lot towards the play-offs.
"The crowd will play a huge part in lifting us tomorrow night [tonight]," he says, having also savoured the acidity of a court-savvy Bay crowd when he graced Pettigrew-Green Arena as an Auckland Star and Jets player.