Vanderbilt signee changed courts from tennis to basketball

Lance Goulbourne will bring his tennis racket with him to Vanderbilt next fall. Kelly Kline

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Busy by day as a ball boy at the U.S. Open last August, Lance Goulbourne, a five-year veteran ball-fetcher, honed his return game at night, calling back Vanderbilt basketball coach Kevin Stallings.

"It was just as the text message rule was kicking in, and we were missing each on other phone calls" Stallings says. "I wanted to see him working so I told him to text me when he was on center court."

The next day, Goulbourne, a 6-foot-8, 185-pound swingman from the Hun School shot Stallings a text.

"I loved the work ethic," Stallings says. "How many coaches can say they landed the U.S. Open's tallest ball boy?"

Four years before earning a basketball scholarship, Goulbourne's plan had been to be more James Blake than LeBron James. As a 2-year-old, his father, Verne, began taking him to a city park in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. By the time he was a teenager he was ranked in the top 70 in his age group. As a 14-year-old eighth grader, though, the serve-and-volley star followed the bouncing ball to the basketball court. Encouraged by his older brother, Verne Jr., who played college basketball at the University of Bridgeport, Lance changed games. "We were grooming him to be a tennis player, but then he continued to grow," Goulbourne's father says. "There went all my money spent on tennis lessons."

Awkward at first on the tennis scene, he stood out, not because of his shots, but his size. Despite picking up basketball, he continued to develop his forehand. As a freshman, Goulbourne caught then-Hun coach Chris Kingston's eye. A year later, after transferring to Hun and reclassifying as a sophomore, Goulbourne, who says he can serve up to 130 m.p.h. played No.1 singles for Hun. During a drill last spring, which pits one player at the baseline against another at the net, Goulbourne unleashed a forehand from the baseline that caught then-captain Ren Gates square in the chest and caused him to lose his breath. "The racket must feel like a ping pong paddle in his hands," says Kingston, who was the assistant boys' basketball coach and head tennis coach.

Joan Nuse, who recently became Hun tennis coach this spring, says: "He's so powerful. Part of my time is spent making sure I'm in a safe zone."

While Goulbourne's forehand is his strength, his leaping overhand draws rave reviews from onlookers.

Though bouncy and cerebral, Goulbourne did not immediately become a basketball star. After showing his athleticism he moved on to developing a skill set that now includes a jumper and maturing ball-handling skills. "There's some crossover in the skills, particularly with the quickness in his moves," says Hun basketball coach Jonathan Stone.

By last July, Goulbourne was on the national recruiting radar, but less than 24 hours before the LeBron James Skills Academy, he was not on the elite camp's invite list. When an original invitee canceled, Goulbourne rushed to Akron, Ohio to fill the spot. Once there, his team was winning a game on the second day by 15 points when James inserted himself into the lineup. A 20-point swing later, Goulbourne's team was down and never recovered. "Of all the games he had to enter, that had to be it?" asks Goulbourne.

In playing against LeBron, Goulbourne did not have to run down missed shots or offer him a towel as in tennis, but his experience as a ball boy also prepared him for observing a professional's mannerisms. After making it through ball boy tryouts five years ago, he began taking mental notes on the likes of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Blake, from their service games to the way they fielded requests. "James Blake says 'Thank you' for everything, from a towel to a ball."

Pro tennis stars started leaving him tickets for their matches after he watched their workouts in the hot August sun. Proximity was nice, but Goulbourne proved to be more entrepreneurial than desirous of a spot in their entourages. With his first paycheck, he purchased a $600 tennis racket stringing machine, which he then made the centerpiece of a profitable side business, tightening others' rackets in the New York tennis circles. "That machine has paid for itself seven times over by now," says Verne Goulbourne. (Lance estimates a $5,000 return on his investment to date.)

Last August, officials at the U.S. Open thought they would play matchmaker with Goulbourne. When John Isner, a 6-foot-10 lefty ready to face Federer on center court at the U.S. Open, a flier went out requesting the service of Goulbourne. "They wanted me to pair me with Isner's match because of his size," Goulbourne says. "But they couldn't find me in time."

On Wednesday, Goulbourne, who took a 10-month break from tennis for basketball the past year, suffered his first loss of the spring to Duke-bound David Holland of Princeton Day School. The night before that match he was practicing basketball with the Jordan Brand Regional team, which will play Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Back on center stage, not center court, Goulbourne believes his change in courts was the right move. When asked which star he'd rather be, Goulbourne said: "LeBron James over James Blake, no doubt about it."