2003 JC transfer Diego Romero is all smiles as he finally takes the court for FSU after winning a legal challenge.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published November 18, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - The smile is the first thing you notice about Florida State forward Diego Romero.
"I don't even know if I can explain how excited I am right now," he said. "Every day, I'm one practice closer to my first college game. That's what I'm waiting for."
Or more precisely, been waiting.
And waiting.
Romero arrived at FSU in the summer of 2003 as one of the top-ranked junior college transfers, but the NCAA ruled he had violated recently amended amateurism rules as a teenager in his native Argentina. By the time FSU officials had won an unprecedented reversal, Romero decided it would be prudent to sit out the season.
"A year and a half," he said.
You might expect to see a rueful or angry expression. You don't. Just that grin for what's to come, finally, beginning Friday night against Texas Southern.
Don't think the Seminoles aren't beaming, too. Although he's cautious to downplay expectations, coach Leonard Hamilton sees in Romero an unselfish, savvy high-post passer who can shoot well enough to force defenses to extend and perhaps overextend.
"He has the ability to make his teammates better," Hamilton said. "Larry Brown has coined the phrase, "Playing the game the right way way.' He plays the game the right way."
* * *
Romero, 22, grew up like most youngsters in Argentina with dreams of playing soccer. He had soft hands, quick feet and the peripheral vision to one day become a big-time goalkeeper.
But he just got big.
In the months before he turned 15, he grew 10 inches and outgrew soccer. He switched to basketball, a transition few doubted he could make, at least after seeing him on the court.
"He was very strong and quick," said Carlos Delfino, who played with the 6-foot-10 Romero on Argentina's junior national teams, helped Argentina win the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and now is a rookie with the world champion Detroit Pistons. "He was a real good shot and he could play good defense."
Someone else with Romero's potential - Delfino envisions him being an NBA draft pick - would have been aiming for a professional career. Not Romero, at least not right away. He had seen the success of fellow Argentine Pepe Sanchez at Temple and wanted to follow his lead. "I was the only player on the national team who never got an agent," he said. "Never. Every single agent would look at me and I'd say, "No. I've got something going on and want to do it.' "
* * *
He left home for Texas' Lon Morris Junior College in 2001, the first step toward his eventual goal, but life on and off the court proved challenging. Although fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, he knew only "hi" and "bye" in English.
Classes helped, as did DVDs. He would watch movies, such as 2 Fast 2 Furious, over and over again not so much to enjoy the film but to read the subtitles.
Basketball, like any sport, has a universal language. Still he needed translators and would often just nod. "Diego's a big goofball," said forward Aaron Curtis, a former teammate at Lon Morris who's now at Texas Christian, a team FSU plays Nov. 28. "He was always joking. Him and other (international) guys say stuff in Spanish and say, "Oh, that means have a nice day.' It'd mean something totally different, and they'd tell you later and get a good laugh out of it."
Romero chose FSU over Indiana, Texas Tech and Kentucky for his next stop, never imagining he'd have a detour through Indianapolis: the NCAA headquarters. * * *
In Romero's country, the only outlet for aspiring basketball players were club teams that required signed contracts. He actually signed two underage contracts and received the equivalent of $2,400 for traveling expenses and shoes and uniforms.
Under old rules, the NCAA likely would have suspended him for seven or eight games. But in October 2002, just weeks before Romero signed with FSU, the NCAA made its rules simpler and harsher. Sign a contract and earn money and forget about collegiate athletics.
"I was looking for anything he tried to do, any little thing to skirt the rules. I found nothing," said Bob Minnix, FSU's associate athletic director for compliance.
Instead of playing, as expected, Dec. 14 against Miami, Romero remained in Tallahassee, watching on TV.
"I think that was the worst moment," he said, refusing to give up and go home after the NCAA rejected several appeals. "I never quit. Whatever I had to do to see my dream come true, I would do."
Minnix, who put together hundreds of pages of argument and evidence in a binder the size of the New York City phone book, took the almost unheard of step of going to the NCAA Division I Management Council.
It restored Romero's eligibility Jan. 12, essentially admitting the effective date of the rule was flawed. Although tempted to return for the rest of the season, Romero listened to his parents, who told him that he wasn't emotionally ready and should begin readying himself for the 2004-05 season.
"I'm practicing hard every day to give it my all and I will try my hardest to help the team go as far as we can," he said. "I just can't wait. I'm so excited."
