Johnny cash i ve been everywhere

Road beckons 'I've been everywhere, man' Shirley

KURT

CAYWOOD

Paul Shirley finally bought the map and the push pins.

On the wall of his condominium in Mission hangs the geography lesson that is hoops career. Humble beginnings as a second-team All- Stater from Meriden have grown into stops with teams in eight states and two European countries.

"I've become quite the basketball vagabond," Shirley said.

Anyone who knows Shirley knows how ironic that is. A National Merit Scholar at Jefferson West and a four-time Iowa State Athletic Council Scholar Athlete award-winner, he has his degree from ISU in mechanical engineering. He was the stoic center of gravity during the Cyclones' talented, turbulent Tim Floyd-Larry Eustachy era.

No one is better grounded, and yet, when it comes to hoops, the 6- foot-10 Shirley has lived the lyrics of a Johnny Cash song.

Since 2001, he has played summer league ball with Cleveland and Phoenix; attended training camp with the Lakers, Hawks, Hornets and Suns; played minor league ball with the CBA's Yakima Sun Kings and ABA's Kansas City Knights; and played European ball in Athens and Barcelona.

"When I started, I kinda thought I'd give it a shot and see if I could have fun and see how good I can get," he said. "Plus, it was a chance to see what I wanted to do with my life. I still don't know, and since people are still offering me considerable sums of money to play a game, I guess I'll keep doing it a while."

The money's not bad. Stints in Athens, Greece, and Barcelona paid $20,000 to $30,000 a month after taxes, with apartment and car furnished. Last March, the Bulls gave him two 10-day contracts, worth $37,000 each, then signed him through the end of the season.

The 1996 Monte Carlo he had in college is up to 117,000 miles, but the condo is paid off and he can stop by the ATM any time he wants.

"I'm not exactly living the basketball lifestyle," he said, "but I've probably been able to set myself up for whatever I want to do next in life."

At 26, he's not thinking much about whatever is next. He was having the best night of his nine-game NBA career last season when he took a charge under the basket, suffered a lacerated spleen and a ruptured kidney and spent nine days in the hospital. Back on the court this fall, he made the Suns' opening day roster. But he began having back spasms, and rather than pay him the guaranteed part of his contract and put him on the injured list, they cut him before the opener.

That's the downside of his chosen vocation.

"Good God, I've been fired five times in three years," he said. "This can be a little tough on the psyche."

It also can be exhilarating. He already is entertaining the thought of returning to Europe, and while he won't keep this up forever, he's in no hurry to settle down.

"This lifestyle is spoiling me a little bit," he said. "It would be hard to sit behind a desk in a cubicle and design ball bearings for Caterpillar now."

Kurt Caywood's column regularly appears Mondays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (785) 295-1288 or kurt.caywood@cjonline.com.