Wormely towers over foes

Just more than a week after Nate Robinson won the NBA slam dunk contest, Vanguard University’s little big man, 5-foot-6 Horace Wormely, was recognized as the Golden State Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year in men’s basketball.

But unlike the 5-9 Robinson’s controversial victory ? he missed more than two-dozen attempts in the final ? there was little dispute about whether or not Wormely deserved his honor, despite the fact that he represented the third-place team.

Vanguard Coach Bob Wilson said Wormely, a senior point guard averaging 14.9 points, 7.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds heading into tonight’s GSAC Tournament quarterfinal at home against Westmont at 7:30, was among three nominees for Player of the Year.

After one round of voting eliminated one player, Wormely won the head-to-head voting, for which, Wilson said, the numbers were not divulged.

Wilson said he was anything but surprised.

“Horace has been the driving force and has been the leader of our team,” Wilson said. “You take him off our team, and it would have been very difficult for us to have the success we have had. I think [conference] coaches felt like our third-place finish was a direct result of his ability to make our other guys better.”

Wilson said quickness and unselfishness helped Wormely overcome his height disadvantage to stand tallest among the conference’s elite players.

“I’m not sure anybody in the conference could match up with him,” said Wilson, who also believes Wormely is motivated by those who try to define him by his stature.

“He’s an ultimate competitor, no question,” Wilson said. “I think for most of his life, he has had to live with people telling him he couldn’t do things because of his size. He took that as a challenge and he refuses to back off of challenges.”