Buddy Bailey, the boyish-looking TV pitchman for his family's furniture business, made his name in advertising. But he's hoping to leave his mark in basketball.
Bailey, 21, a former all-state guard at Anchorage Christian Schools and Wasilla High, said he is coming home to play his senior season at UAA, leaving California Baptist University.
"When I was in high school, I never wanted to leave (Alaska)," Bailey said. "I wanted to go to UAA."
Now he'll get his chance.
Bailey, a 6-foot-3, 190-pounder, will join the Seawolves as a nonscholarship player and should provide instant depth in the backcourt. NCAA rules prohibit UAA coaches from talking publicly about Bailey until he enrolls in the fall, but the Anchorage native had plenty to say about coming home.
Several factors played a role in his decision, namely his July 30 wedding to longtime girlfriend Heather Miller of Wasilla and his desire to play in front of family. Bailey's parents have rarely seen him play college basketball, and his grandfather hasn't seen him play since he was a senior at Wasilla.
"My grandpa loves basketball," Bailey said. "He was always at our high school games. For him to be able to see games and for me to be able to have my parents and family there, it's just a blessing."
Known more for his TV persona than his jump shot, Bailey is hungry to prove himself after a roller-coaster stint at Cal Baptist, a private NAIA school in Riverside, Calif.
He had losing seasons as a freshman and junior, but as a sophomore helped his team go 24-10 and earn Cal Baptist's first postseason victory in eight years. That same season, his team beat the University of Redlands 181-153, setting a single-game record for most points by an NAIA team. (Bailey had six points and nine assists).
Individually, his career numbers don't exactly jump off the page. He scored just 5.5 points per game and made 79 three-pointers in 93 games. Last season was his finest, starting 20 games, averaging 7.8 points and hitting 40 percent of his threes.
Bailey did it last season despite a two-month bout with mononucleosis that left him feeling like a dead battery.
He learned he had mono after the season opener and returned six games later, although it took him most of the season to get healthy.
"It was way hard. I lost 25 pounds," said Bailey, who dropped to 170 at one point. "The biggest thing was that I had no energy. It took until the final two weeks of the season before I was feeling ready to go."
Bailey's college career has been hampered by injuries ever since arriving at Cal Baptist. As a freshman, he broke his right thumb. As a sophomore, he got in a nasty crash and rolled his truck. As a junior, he broke his right hand before getting mono.
"I'm waiting for a full season where I can just play," he said.
HE'LL ALWAYS BE BUDDY
When Bailey went to Cal Baptist, he dropped the nickname Buddy and went by Ron instead. It's the same first name as his dad, Ron Sr.
Ron Bailey Jr. is his real name, but everybody knows him as Buddy. He was given the nickname as a little boy by his dad because he was so friendly.
At Cal Baptist, though, he wanted to be called Ron Bailey.
"I'm gonna be Buddy the rest of my life in Alaska," he said.
Bailey went to California thinking nobody knew his name. He figured he could blend in and avoid the attention that went along with being a TV pitchman.
He was wrong.
When Cal Baptist visited Pepperdine his freshman season, a fan spotted him during pregame layup drills.
"There must have been some guy from Alaska who recognized me because right when I was taking off for a layup, I hear 'It's Buddy Bailey!' " he said. "I was like, 'Oh, no!' I totally bombed the layup.
"I started laughing like, 'They found me.' "
When he was in high school, the heckling was much worse, primarily because he was on TV.
Bailey has been doing commercials for the family business since he was 7 years old. It wasn't long before he went from cameos to reciting lines such as "Hi, folks, Buddy Bailey here" and "If I'm not in school, I'll wait on you myself."
Through the commercials, Alaskans have watched Bailey grow up in front of their eyes. So much so that he is sometimes approached by people who just know him from the ads.
Being on TV has its downside too. In high school, opposing players targeted him and opposing fans rode him unmercifully. He's been called "Furniture Boy." He's endured chants of "Buddy sucks" and "Sadlers," a competing furniture business.
"I used to get all sorts of crap," Bailey said. "But anymore, guys don't really mess with me. It seems like for the most part people grow up."
Bailey hopes the jeers become cheers now that he'll play for the hometown Seawolves.
"Maybe I'll turn from the bad guy to somewhat of a good guy," he said with a smile.
SHOOTOUT DREAMIN'
Ever since he was in the fourth grade, Bailey and his dad have gone to the Great Alaska Shootout. We're not talking one or two games either.
"We didn't miss a game," Buddy said.
He saw Purdue's Glenn Robinson score a tournament single-game record 41 points in 1993, Cincinnati shock Duke on a last-second, game-winning dunk in 1999 and Dwyane Wade carry Marquette to the 2001 championship.
He grew up idolizing former UAA greats Jimmy Hajdukovich and Peter Bullock.
"They always kept UAA close," Bailey said.
He enjoyed watching the Seawolves play more than anything. He hasn't watched a Shootout game since leaving for Cal Baptist, but he's followed UAA's progress and watched the tournament on ESPN2.
Bailey will return to Sullivan Arena in November when the Division II Seawolves face Division I competition -- except this time he'll be on the court.
"It'll be exciting," his dad said. "Everybody wants to see a local guy in the Shootout."
For Bailey, the opportunity to square off against the big boys will get as close to playing Division I basketball as he will get.
"Every high school player wants to go D-I," he said. "One of these days, I'll be taking my kids there and say, 'Hey, kids, I played in this tournament.'
"That's just cool."
HOME FOR GOOD
Bailey came back to Alaska for many reasons, but arguably the biggest was his fiancee's dislike of Riverside.
"She hated it," he said.
Bailey was also looking for a change of scenery, partly because he no longer enjoyed playing for hard-driving Cal Baptist head coach Tim Collins and partly because it was too expensive to stay in California.
"Money-wise, it was real hard," Bailey said. "I don't even know if we could survive going down there one more year. It just works out better here."
Plus, he's already got strong relationships with UAA head coach Rusty Osborne and associate head coach Shane Rinner.
Bailey goes way back with Rinner, a former all-state guard at ACS who coached Bailey as a youngster. Bailey and Osborne have met just a few times but have forged a bond.
"I think he's a great guy," Bailey said.
Friendships aside, Bailey knows he'll have his work cut out for him as a walk-on challenging for playing time. The UAA coaches haven't promised him anything, he said.
"I'm ready to work my butt off and win some games," Bailey said. "It's my last go-around."
He's also looking forward to spending more time with his dad. The two went fishing for rainbow trout last week and they play on the same men's league basketball team. Bailey can also help out around the furniture stores while he's in town.
Bailey doesn't just do commercials. He also puts furniture on the showroom floor, tags merchandise, helps unload supply trucks and waters the grass at the main store in Anchorage.
"I'm really glad he's here," Ron Sr. said of his son. "Selfishly, I wanted him to play here from the beginning."
Daily News reporter Van Williams can be reached at vwilliams@adn.com or 257-4335.
The Buddy barometer
Buddy Bailey's stats at Cal Baptist
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 190 pounds
Position: Guard
Hometown: Anchorage
Year Points Rbnds Asts Team
2005-06: 7.8 2.1 2.2 13-16
2004-05: 4.4 1.7 2.9 24-10
2003-04: 4.8 1.8 1.5 13-19
Highlight: Made 14 of 15 free throws and scored a team-high 16 points as a sophomore to help Cal Baptist beat Christian Heritage 80-57 to give the Lancers their first NAIA tournament victory in eight years.
