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Ralph Drollinger

File:Ralph K. Drollinger.jpg
Personal information
Born	(1954-04-20) April 20, 1954 (age 70) La Mesa, California
Nationality	American
Listed height	7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Listed weight	250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
High school	Grossmont (La Mesa, California)
College	UCLA (1972–1976)
NBA draft	1978: 5th round, 105th overall pick
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
Playing career	1980–1981
Position	Center
Number	52
Career history
1980–1981	Dallas Mavericks
Career highlights and awards
2× NCAA champion (1973, 1975)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Ralph Kim Drollinger (born April 20, 1954, in La Mesa, California) is an American clergyman and retired professional basketball player.

Education

Drollinger attended Grossmont High School in La Mesa and the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography/Ecosystems. He later received a Masters of Divinity degree from The Master's Seminary.

Basketball

Drollinger played basketball at Grossmont High School and was the CIF Southern Section MVP, as his team won the 1972 CIF championship as a high school All-American. He was a 7'2" (2.19 m) and 250 lb (114 kg) center and played collegiately at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He played for two national championship teams under coach John Wooden and after his first season, won the Seymour Armond Award as UCLA's most outstanding freshman. In his junior and senior years he was an Academic All-American.

Drollinger was the first player in NCAA history to go to four Final Four Tournaments.

Drollinger was taken in the NBA Draft three times. He chose to forgo the NBA during those years to instead play with Athletes in Action, an evangelistic basketball team that toured the world and preached the gospel at halftimes and represented America in the 1978 FIBA World Championship. He was selected with the 17th pick in the seventh round in 1976 by the Boston Celtics, with the 1st pick of the eighth round in 1977 by the New York Nets, and finally with the 17th pick of the fifth round in 1978 by the Seattle SuperSonics. Signing with the Dallas Mavericks in June 1980 as a free agent, he played in only six games due to a knee injury which led to his retirement from basketball in March 1981. In the Mavs' inaugural season in 1980–81, he averaged 2.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

Some years later after his retirement, Dr. James Dobson invited Drollinger to play in an early morning pick up game with Pete Maravich. That morning Maravich collapsed in the middle of the game from a massive heart attack. Dobson and Drollinger administered CPR, but to no avail; Maravich was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

He was selected as one of the Fabulous 50 Basketball Players by the San Diego Hall of Champions in 2011.

Sports ministry

After his brief injury-plagued professional career, Drollinger helped found Sports Outreach America, an umbrella trade organization of American church and parachurch sports ministries, such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, and Pro Athletes Outreach. He served as one of many founding board members and Executive Director. In partnership with Radio Bible Class, he created Sports Spectrum Magazine, a monthly magazine featuring the testimony of Christian athletes. He developed The Super Bowl Party, which features videos of different famous Christian NFL players and is a tool for churches to use at the halftime of the Super Bowl in unison with their own evangelism programs. He also founded, produced and financed Julius Erving's Sports Focus, a weekly one-half hour television anthology on ESPN featuring the testimony of Christian athletes and hosted by NBA great Julius Erving. Lastly he created and produced the first Sports New Testament, Path To Victory, in partnership with the International Bible Society (now Biblica).

Capitol Ministries

In 1997, Drollinger founded Capitol Ministries, an Evangelical ministry that provides in-depth Bible studies to political leaders throughout America and the world. By the year 2009 Drollinger had built ministries in over one half of the US State Capitols.

In 2004, Drollinger's teachings caused controversy in Sacramento, capital of California. When Drollinger called Roman Catholicism a "false religion" due to what he perceived as its non-reformed theology, his Bible study groups had to move out of the governor's offices and into committee conference rooms. Drollinger later argued that his statements were taken out of context. When one of his Bible lessons said it was a sin for female legislators to leave children at home for four days a week to work in Sacramento for eight months a year, about a dozen senators, male and female, protested on the floor of the Senate.

Five years later, after representing the aforementioned positions of his home church, Drollinger's home church, Grace Community Church in California, investigated accusations that Drollinger engaged in "unchristian behavior" including "pride" and "bullying" of Capitol Ministries headquarter staff. The church subsequently deemed him unqualified for spiritual leadership and disassociated with him. This action resulted in 16 of the 22 Capitol Ministries chapters breaking away to form a new organization without Drollinger called Capitol Commission. Subsequently Drollinger said the statement was a premeditated ruse in an attempted coup. Afterwards Capitol Commission sued Capitol Ministries, accusing the group of cybersquatting and using their name in websites. In response, Capitol Ministries filed a countersuit that accuses Capitol Commission, the church and select former staff and board members of having illegally intercepted his emails, interference with donors, trademark and trade dress infringement and unfair and deceptive business practices.

Family

Drollinger is married to Danielle Ruth Drollinger, with whom he has three children and four grandchildren.

References

1. Yearbook Entry
2. Biography. ralphdrollinger.com
3. http://newspaperarchive.com/the-progress-index/1976-12-17/page-5
4. "EIGHTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP -- 1978". USA Basketball. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
5. ^ Whitmire, Keith (August 8, 2005). "Ex-Mavs center Ralph Drollinger is now living by the book". The Dallas Morning News.
6. ^ Maclachlan, Malcolm (November 12, 2009). "Capitol Ministries replaced by new nationwide Christian group". Capitol Weekly.
7. Crowe, Jerry (June 18, 2007). "Pickup game with legend ended with a tragic death". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
8. http://sdhoc.com/newswire/walton-tops-list-fab-50-hoop-stars
9. www.guidestar.org/organizations/33.../sports-outreach-america.aspx.
10. www.sportsspectrum.com/.
11. www.namb.net/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID....
12. He Can Get Away With Saying 'Comin' Atcha' To A Superstar; Allentown Native Cal Covert Supervising Producer Of 'julius Erving's Sports Focus'
13. www.biblicadirect.com/p-206-tniv-path-to-victory-new-testaments.as...
14. http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/ministering-to-the-capitol/content?oid=36004
15. http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/ministering-to-the-capitol/content?oid=36004
16. Shaffer, Josh (August 18, 2012). "A holy war between two statehouse ministries". News Observer. Retrieved on October 5, 2012.
17. Jennifer Coleman (May 25, 2004). "Aproned senators protest pastor's remark: 'Sinful' zinger aims at legislator moms". San Diego Union-Tribune/Associated Press.
18. Sanders, Jim (September 29, 2012). "Rival Bible study groups compete to minister to state lawmakers". Fresno Bee. Retrieved on October 5, 2012.
19. http://www.capmin.org/site/index.php/about/staff/staff-danielle-drollinger

External links

• Drollinger biography from Capitol Ministries
• Right Wing Watch - Ralph & Danielle Drollinger interviewed in March 2011 by James Dobson
• NBA statistics from basketballreference.com

Template:United States Squad 1978 FIBA World Championship

Template:Persondata

• 1954 births
• Living people
• American Christians
• Basketball players from California
• Boston Celtics draft picks
• Centers (basketball)
• Dallas Mavericks players
• New Jersey Nets draft picks
• People from La Mesa, California
• Seattle SuperSonics draft picks
• United States men's national basketball team members
• UCLA Bruins men's basketball players
• People from Santa Clarita, California