Still, a doctor a few years ago told him his liver was so badly damaged he had six months to live. "I'm afraid to have it checked (again)," he said.

Ferguson has battled addiction for 17 years now, his most recent slip coming a year ago. Going to pharmacies to get medication for his mother who was dying of cancer proved too much of a temptation. He's been clean since a rehab stint last December.

Though the felonies on his record make it difficult to find a decent job, he recently hired on with an iron works company. Even so, his outlook remains upbeat.

"He's a character. He's seldom unhappy," said Craig Drury, his basketball coach at Provo High who took him on as a freshmen coach for a season a few years ago. "If laughter was going on somewhere on the team bus, you can bet Willie was there."

Ferguson comes around once in a while to shoot hoops with his players, Drury said. He also hopes to play some rec league basketball this winter.

"Not in a million years" did Ferguson think the sport he loved would figure into the scourge of his life.

"You tell yourself this is the last script. It went from days to weeks to years. I look back and the time flew. It's just such a waste."

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E-mail: romboy@desnews.com

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