An unlikely star

The comeback is etched on Jared Dillinger’s face.

A full-grown beard, a rarity in the hoops-crazed land where he plies his trade, is the former Hawaii basketball player’s symbol of rebirth.

He needed one. In April 2013, the versatile 6-foot-5 swingman faced a crisis in his adopted home of the Philippines. In a matter of days, he went from key asset and household name to nearly being cast out as damaged goods.

Thanks largely to some family support, Dillinger, 30, reinvented himself and is back at the forefront of a country’s consciousness as Gilas Pilipinas (the Philippine national team) prepares for the FIBA World Cup held in Spain in September. There’s even a Filipino documentary in the works chronicling his rise, fall and return.

It’s been an unpredictable road for an unlikely superstar.

Dillinger arrived in the Philippines in 2008, coming off a breakout senior year as a Rainbow Warrior in which he averaged 9.7 points and led UH in 3-point accuracy (.383). The 2007-08 season was Bob Nash’s first of three years as UH coach, and one of Nash’s first moves was awarding the little-known Dillinger, a transfer from the Air Force Academy, a scholarship and rotation spot for his spirited play in practices.

Though he was by no means a star in Manoa, Dillinger did enough on the court to get him noticed by Philippine Basketball Association scouts eager for American talent with a tie to their homeland. (Dillinger is from Colorado, but his mother is Filipino.)

"Living in the United States, we’re really sheltered, to a degree," Dillinger said while on Oahu for a vacation and to shoot the documentary. "We really don’t know how big the world is and what’s really out there. I mean, I surely didn’t. I know my teammates on Hawaii really didn’t as well. It was kind of a running joke for a little bit when all these guys were coming here. … (My teammates said), ‘Jared, is this for real? These coaches really want to talk to you?’ "

Right after his UH career, Dillinger was whisked to Manila for the PBA draft. Thousands of screaming people had to be held back by a police line. It was his first taste of what would later become the norm — breathless fans, TV interviews, life under a microscope. It made the pedestal of a UH athlete seem the size of a thimble.

Conversing in peace in the fresh air at Magic Island while accompanied by his wife, Eunice, and daughter, Haven, made for quite the contrast. He gets recognized around the world regularly by Filipino fans, but on this clear day — even with Dillinger in his Gilas Pilipinas uniform for a photo shoot — he was unmolested. He’s fine with signing autographs, but sometimes he must take back roads and side exits to keep his family out of harm’s way.

"I had no idea how big it was (there)," he said. "If you go down there and you’re just driving down the streets of Manila, man, there are hoops built out of scraps, everywhere. Kids playing on basketball courts, adults playing in slippers or bare feet. Any court that’s an actual, real court, there’s always people playing."

As Manny Pacquiao is for Filipino boxing, Gilas Pilipinas and the PBA are for basketball.

"It’s crazy how it is a lifestyle out there," Eunice Dillinger said. "How we see the NBA here, they see the PBA like that out there."

HE WAS wholeheartedly embraced by the Asian Pacific nation as one of its own. Times were good. Endorsements rolled in — sports drinks, cell phones, billboard treatment, you name it. He picked up 100,000 followers on Twitter.

On the court as a dual citizen, Dillinger thrived as both a utility member of Gilas Pilipinas, playing anything from backup point guard to power forward, and as a key member of the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, a perennial champion in the 10-team PBA.

That changed in an instant 14 months ago.

Dillinger fractured his hip in a serious car accident, immediately casting his hoops future in doubt. He was laid up in a Manila hospital for more than two weeks. The media, ever obsessive when it comes to PBA basketball, pored and speculated over him. He was fodder for talk shows and newspaper articles. Worse yet, some unfortunate timing meant he couldn’t compete with the national team in FIBA Asia competition, and he watched as Gilas Pilipinas qualified without him for the rebranded World Cup (formerly the World Championships) for the first time since 1978. To top it off, he was traded off the Texters and away from familiar teammates to an unproven newer team, the Meralco Bolts.

All considered, "It was terrible, man," Dillinger said.

Doctors told him he needed pins and plates inserted into his hip, which he balked at. Finally, once he could leave the hospital (where he said well-wishers looked at him "like I was a dog about to be put down") he requested second opinions in the U.S. and was told he could recover without surgery.

A grateful Dillinger spent time with Eunice for the birth of Haven back in the States.

"It changed my life. It changed my priorities, it changed my perspective," Dillinger said of the accident.

Michael Jonathan Villar, the executive producer of Dillinger’s documentary, described Dillinger’s humbling tale as unique from the other episodes shot for fellow members of Gilas Pilipinas.

"He was cut off from the national team," Villar said. "And he went down, after that he realized, when he met that accident, his wife was eight months pregnant. Only then Jared realized all the things that he had, and how blessed he was. So that was the turning point, I think."

Motivation to make a full recovery was not in short supply. His wife and infant daughter needed him, and that was important. But something else burned inside him. He was named captain of the Bolts and expected to help mold the team, but plenty of doubts persisted about his readiness.

Dillinger had to do something. Or more precisely, not do something — shave.

He didn’t fear the beard; rather, he embraced it. During the 2013-14 season, it earned him nicknames such as Ronin, Captain Caveman, Samurai, Ninja, Asian Jesus and Moses.

"I was inspired and motivated and wanted to show the Philippines that hey, I’m coming back," Dillinger said. "I’m going to show you guys. You guys doubted me, thinking I’m done. I just kind of stuck my head down and grinded it out and decided I should just keep this (beard). I guess it kind of stuck, because when I came back, it was like me being a different person. This is my new transformation."

Others recognized it. He was invited back to the national team and will train with them in the coming weeks for a preliminary tournament in China before heading to Europe for the World Cup. At the same time, he is in the process of working on a new three-year contract with the Bolts, which should take him into his mid-30s.

He smiles again when he thinks about the future.

As for the past? The former UH scout-teamer turned impact player is forever grateful to Nash for swinging his fortunes in ways he couldn’t have foreseen.

"I’m not too sure (where) my career would have taken me if I didn’t play that senior year," he said.