By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

Life has come full circle for Lavern Gaskin, who spent 28 years as the head basketball coach at William H. Davies Career & Technical High School before returning home to his roots in Bridgeport, Ct., back to teaching basketball to young people who want to learn the game.
“I teach kids how to shoot the ball,” Gaskin was saying by phone over the weekend. “I’m working at the youth center, working with kids who are willing to listen. This is what I love to do.”
It didn’t take much prodding to get Gaskin, now 62, talking about his nearly three decades at Davies.
“I loved the place and it loved me back,” he said. “I taught physical education and worked with the basketball program for all those years. The kids I ran across, the friends I made, the people I worked for … they all touched my heart.”
Gaskin, who coached from 1971-2000 at Davies, remembers two of his teams from the 1980s over all of the others.
“We had the ‘Iron Five’ and ‘The Magnificent Seven,’” he said, speaking of the 1982-83 team that featured just five players, and then the seven-man squads that won the Class C state championships in 1985 and 1986.
“We had nobody on the bench with the Iron Five,” Gaskin said, acting like it was no big deal. “In the playoffs, our best player (Meko Washington) got into foul trouble and we still beat Portsmouth in triple-overtime. That game stands out in my mind to this day.”
Gaskin could have suited up several players from his junior varsity squad to fill out the bench and play in emergencies but he preferred to stick with five well-conditioned athletes who knew how to play the game the way he wanted the game to be played – with precise passing, full-court pressure on defense and intelligent shot selection. His teams were very distinctive in those days, playing a style of ball unlike any other squad in the state.
“We worked hard,” the old coach recalled. “Our practices were tough. The key was you had to have kids who were willing to make a huge commitment. Once school started, we would have them out running 4-8 miles a couple times a week, just to build up their endurance levels. Then we would run 60 laps around the gym before practice. I wanted our players to be in better aerobic shape than the kids they played against.”
Gaskin remembered the point guard who transitioned those two teams – a kid from Prospect Heights in Pawtucket named Brian Daily.
“Brian had a very high basketball IQ,” Gaskin said. “He was like having a coach on the floor.”
And then there was Curtis Moore, the most talented all-around player to ever put on a Davies uniform.
“They called Curtis ‘The Helicopter’ because he could fly through the air,” Gaskin recalled. “He scored 40 points against La Salle Academy when they had the Kent brothers. Jeff Kent was a big kid who went on to play  at URI. Both teams were undefeated at the time and La Salle won the game but Curtis put on a show. He could shoot, pass the ball, play defense. If they had a 3-point line in his day, Curtis might have got 60 points in a game one or two times.”
Moore ended up dying young about a decade after graduating from Davies Tech.
“It makes me sad to think about it,” Gaskin said. “After his basketball ended, Curtis didn’t know what to do with himself. I don’t really like to talk about it.”
Gaskin’s teams were known for pressing on defense for the entire game. Their coach would stand on the sidelines, imploring his players to “move their feet.” 
Gaskin had such command over his team that when he called time out, the game immediately stopped. The kids were totally in tune with their coach. Nobody spoke during timeouts except Vern Gaskin.
“We played hard,” he said. “All of my kids could handle the ball, and most of them could shoot it, too. They worked in the weight room, too.”
Then, laughing at the memory, Gaskin admitted, “I don’t know if I could get away with it today,” speaking of the hours his teams spent working out and practicing. “Kids today are a little different.”
Gaskin looks back fondly on his days at Davies, speaking often to his former assistant coach, Bill Murphy, who is now Athletic Director and a department head at his alma mater, which has turned into one of the top schools in the state.
“I got a lot out of my experience at Davies,” he said. “I enjoyed working there. I enjoyed teaching. Our classes were tough. It was like the military in my classes.”
Vern Gaskin’s laughter came over the phone line.  And then he turned serious.
“Just let everyone that I ever met at Davies know that they touched my heart,” he said.

– TERRY NAU