CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. -- Jacek Duda, the 6-foot-10 basketball player who left his Polish team while touring the United States, will begin classes at Providence College Monday -- his pick out of the 40 schools that recruited him.
The shy 19-year-old Duda, whose family defected to Central Falls last year, is grappling with learning a new language, American basketball rules and unraveling government red tape to achieve political asylum.
Duda enrolled at Central Falls High School in November and took six english classes, but could not play for the team because interscholastic rules prohibit 19-year-olds from playing in high school.
After Duda's presence became known to the press, 'this school was in an absolute uproar,' said Roger Berard, the high school's athletic director. 'The TV people were all over the place; the phone was ringing off the hook. We tried our best, but there was no way to control it.'
Recruiters also came, some flying hundreds of miles to see him work out with the Central Falls team, which has no player taller than 6-1.
Schools such as Virginia, Maryland, Boston College, Villanova and Alabama came running to watch the former reserve center on the Polish national team.
Duda came to Central Falls Nov. 26 after he slipped away from his group at the airport in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Polish team was completing a nine-stop tour of the United States.
His parents arrived here in the spring of 1982, and his brother, Andrew, had left the country five years earlier. He is now an engineer in Hartford, Conn.
Asked about his life in Poland, Duda said through an interpreter, 'I was in the papers and on televison a lot. I led the normal life of a Polish athlete.'
Berand said Duda practically described Providence College when he said what type of school he wanted to attend: a small Catholic school with a good basketball league, with a good arena, preferably near Central Falls.
His current plans are to work out with the team this winter and then play as a freshman next fall.
When asked if he intended to play college basketball, Duda first replied, 'I dunno.' But when Berard pointed out that most college players dream of turning pro someday, Jacek broke out in a rare grin.
'Money,' he said, nodding his head, 'I know.'
