Mater Dei's Franklin pursues future he almost lost

SANTA ANA – Gary Franklin probably should not be playing Saturday. He probably should not have played last week, or the week before. Or even all season, or the season before.

But here is Franklin, one of Mater Dei's top players as the Monarchs get ready to play Westchester of Los Angeles on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the CIF Southern California Regionals Division 1 championship game at USC Galen Center.

Click here for a preview capsule for Saturday's Mater Dei-Westchester game.

Franklin, a 6-foot-3 senior guard who signed with Cal, is Mater Dei's second-leading scorer at 17 points a game, and leads the team in 3-pointers made, with 92, and free throws made, with 117.

It appeared very unlikely Franklin would become such a player in his freshman year. Franklin was in the Monarchs' football program as a ninth-grader and participating in a one-on-one hitting drill, during which Franklin broke the humerus bone in his left arm.

Surgery was required to repair the break. During the procedure, the radial nerve, which closely follows the humerus bone along a spiral path that runs from the neck to the back of the hand, was severed.

"We went to a neurologist," Franklin said, "who told me I would never play basketball or any sport again."

The Franklin family sought another diagnosis, and found a neurologist who slipped the radial nerve into a tube to repair the nerve.

For all of his freshman and sophomore years, and for some of his junior year, Franklin suffered from wrist drop, which is the inability to flex a wrist. In his case, his left wrist (hold your arms out parallel to the floor and flex your wrists so your fingers point upward – Franklin could not do that with his left wrist).

"Basically, I was handicapped for two years," Franklin said. "But it actually helped my shooting, because I couldn't use my left had as much, so now I don't rely on my left hand as much as some other guys do. It also made me a better free-throw shooter, because when I was in the cast I couldn't move around, so my set shot got better than my jump shot."

Franklin worked hard to get himself into the Mater Dei starting lineup, and was successful. He was All-Orange County first team last season, and played like a top All-County candidate this season. That tube still is in his left arm, and the radial nerve continues to grow and repair, although Franklin feels his arm is healed.

"Gary had a very serious injury," Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said. "He battled back to where he's near 100 percent now, and I'm very proud of how he handled this situation. I never saw him pouting about it or heard him say, 'It's not fair.'"

Franklin has made his mark on Mater Dei basketball as one of the program's all-time great outside shooters. But he contributes much more, including resuming the point-guard role he had as a junior, having moved from shooting guard last month when Monarchs starting point guard Tommy Stangl suffered a season-ending foot fracture.

"Gary's got that great outside shot," McKnight said. "But he can take you on the dribble, too. When other guys get hot, he gets them the ball. He's very smart about what's happening on the court."

Franklin, a Mater Dei team captain the past two years, had committed to USC but retracted his commitment when USC underwent a coaching change. He re-entered the recruiting process, and signed a letter of intent with Cal during the November signing period.

He is focused on Saturday's big game against Westchester, which matches the top two teams in the state rankings with Mater Dei at No. 1 and Westchester at No. 2. But Franklin is looking ahead to what he needs to do to get ready for the Pac-10.

"I'll have to get more athletic, as far as running and jumping," Franklin said. "I need to just keep being a student of the game, too, which will help my overall development in the future."

It is a future that Gary Franklin did not seem to have, just a few years ago.