In the world of junior college basketball, Salt Lake Community College knows the road to the final four.

And it’s due in no small part to the returned Mormon missionaries on the team.
“We have always had a good core of returned missionaries on the team,” said Bruin head coach Norm Parrish, fresh off winning the junior college national title over Midland College 67-60 in Hutchinson, Kan., on March 23.

Parrish is accustomed to coaching RMs. Six of them played a vital role on the championship team, while three other players have mission calls in hand and are preparing to leave shortly. The 2007-08 Bruins, which reached the national championship game but lost, had about the same number of returned missionaries, Parrish said.

“They are mature team leaders and they provide great team chemistry,” Parrish said. “The only downside (is) they might not think the game is as important as I do.”

The returned missionaries expressed deep appreciation and gratitude for their mission experience.

“Before your mission everyone was a high school star and life is about basketball and girls a little bit,” said Nate Bendall, a graduate of Salt Lake City's Skyline High who served a mission in Nauvoo, Ill. “Then you go on a mission and come back and you realize that there is a lot more to life than basketball. … You now realize there are a lot of opportunities out there (besides basketball) that you have to prepare for.”

Ben Walker, of Lehi, Utah, played his freshman season at the Air Force Academy before serving a mission in the Philippines. He decided to come back to Utah after his mission president talked to him about priorities and temple marriage.

“Coach Parrish called me and I decided to come here about three days before school started,” Walker said.

Wasatch High (Heber City, Utah) graduate Logan Magnusson counts his mission to British Columbia, Canada, as one of his biggest accomplishments. The 6-foot-6 forward, who was a starter on the championship team, recounted an experience in Kansas that took place on the Sunday before the tournament began. Assistant coach Paul Marble, who serves in a ward bishopric, conducted a religious meeting that night.

“That I will always remember,” Magnusson said. “I think I will hold that in my memory as much as I will hold the championship memory as well.”

Ricky Shoff, an American Fork High, Utah,  graduate who served a mission to El Salvador, was also touched by this experience.

“You spend so much time with these teammates and you become so close to them and just to see (them) all bowing their heads in prayer with the same belief just draws us even closer,” Shoff said. “I think no matter where we’re from or how far away we lived we always have the gospel that brings us together.”

This from a player whom his coach describes as “tough” and as a “winner.” From the beginning of the season, Parrish hoped his team “would take on (Shoff’s) personality.”

The team apparently did so, rallying from a 15-point deficit in the final game for the victory.

Parrish, who serves as a stake high councilor, knows what is important, but he’s also a competitor. He played at Ricks College before going on to Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, where he completed his college career.

After completing his student teaching at a Nampa high school, he took a position teaching seminary with the Church Educational System before being hired as a coach at Northwest Nazarene. That only lasted for two months, though, until it was decided that a Mormon couldn’t coach there. Parrish didn’t fight the matter and ended up coaching at the University of Utah under Lynn Archibald for a year. He took the job at Salt Lake Community College 18 years ago.

Parrish has averaged more than 20 wins a season since, and he openly recruits returned missionaries.

Missionary service affects players differently, Parrish said. For example, Walker lost 30 pounds on his mission in the Philippines. Drew Robinson, who like Walker is from Lehi and served in the Philippines, gained 30 pounds on his mission.

Robinson is the only married player on the team. The other returned missionaries are Kael Pope (Wendell, Idaho), who served in Mexico; and Krispin Banks (Garland, Texas), who served in Honduras. The 6-8 Banks returns next year for his sophomore season.

The three freshmen who already have mission calls are Conner Van Brocklin (Fruit Heights, Utah), who is going to Korea; Davis High graduate Nick Gruninger, who was called to the Philippines; and Davis Emery (Fruit Heights) who said his bishop finally caught up with him and is excited to serve in Jamaica.

E-MAIL: wjewkes@desnews.com