Moorpark’s Quiet Cannon : Flashy He’s Not, but When His Fuse Is Lit Tom Neumayr’s Shots Ring Loud and True

Shhh! Keep it down. This is about Tom Neumayr, so let’s have some quiet. He would prefer it that way.

Neumayr is doing just what he has always done, scoring points inconspicuously. The sophomore guard with the silent but deadly playing style is among the leaders in the Western State Conference, averaging 16 points a game for Moorpark College.

Innocence radiates from his fuzzy-cheeked, choirboy’s face and a 6-4 1/2, 185-pound body that one coach described as “the emaciated look.” But Neumayr possesses hidden weapons, including powerful legs. He lulls opponents into complacency before burying them with sophisticated jump shots.

“Tom isn’t the kind of guy who attracts attention or is going to stun you with his appearance when you walk into the gym,” said Ed Chevalier, who coached Neumayr at Thousand Oaks High. “He’s really quiet. But when he gets his shot going, his presence gets very loud.”

So do opposing coaches, who often leap off the bench, point at Neumayr and begin yelling, “There’s the shooter! There’s the shooter!” when Moorpark brings the ball into the frontcourt.

Identifying Neumayr is one thing, keeping track of him on the floor is quite another. He doesn’t run so much as stealthily slide around teammates’ picks designed to free him for one of his Neu-age shots.

“He’s not real quick foot-wise, but he knows how to get to an area where he’ll be open,” Glendale College Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “If you give him a good look at the basket, he’s going to make it.”

Neumayr, 19, shoots left-handed with form that is full of fundamentals and devoid of flash. Shooting 53.5% from the field and 87.7% from the free-throw line, he is the poised leader of a Moorpark team hoping to challenge for the WSC title. The Raiders (XX-X, X-X in conference play) play at Santa Monica on Thursday.

“He’s a heady player and he knows what has to be done to win,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “They seem to go to him when they need a big basket and he usually comes through in a positive way.”

Neumayr comes from a family that has a tradition of basketball skill. Jack Neumayr, his father, played at University of Notre Dame from 1949-52 and coached the Irish freshman team in 1954. Preston Neumayr, Tom’s cousin, attended UC Davis from 1980-83 and was drafted by, but never played for, the Kansas City Kings of the National Basketball Assn.

Tom, who has a 3.6 grade-point average, has been contacted by several Division I schools, including California, UC Santa Barbara, Gonzaga and the University of San Francisco.

“He doesn’t have the natural gifts that would immediately attract a Division I program,” Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist said. “But I got a call this morning from a Division I coach who asked me, ‘Who’s the sleeper? The solid guy who’s going to come in and you’re going to win because he’s on your team?’ Tom Neumayr is the name I gave him.”

Perhaps Neumayr’s greatest demonstration of value occurred in 1985-86, his senior year at Thousand Oaks. Neumayr, the only player with varsity experience, averaged 18 points a game and led into the playoffs a team that was expected to finish last in the Marmonte League.

Neumayr developed his shot in high school, practicing for hours in his backyard and at school with the team. He also journeyed to Orange County once a week to work with Des Flood, a shooting guru who has refined the techniques of many of Southern California’s best players.

“He taught me some of the finer points that still help me,” Neumayr said. “If I’m not shooting well or my form is somehow off, I go back to what he taught me, specifically, getting rotation on the ball and following through with my wrist.”

Neumayr still gets plenty of practice. Except for a four-day vacation to the Bay Area last summer, Neumayr has shot every day since last February when he finished his freshman season at Moorpark by being named All-Western State Conference.

To Neumayr, shooting a basketball is not only practical but therapeutic.

“If I have any sort of problem or I’m worried about something, I’ll just go out and shoot for an hour or so,” said Neumayr, who lives with his parents in Thousand Oaks and is one of seven children. “That seems to help because I really don’t think about anything else. If you do, you’re not going to shoot very well.”

Neumayr spends extra time working on the other parts of his game as well. At least three nights a week, he watches a college or professional basketball game. Instead of following the ball exclusively, Neumayr focuses his attention on one player who performs a particular skill well.

Incorporating those observations into his own game has helped Neumayr become a better ballhandler, defender and rebounder.

His improvement on the court during the past two years is surpassed only by the vast strides Neumayr has made toward overcoming a stuttering problem. Work with therapists, practice at home and maturity have helped him become more confident and relaxed when speaking.

“It isn’t something that you can shy away from and all of a sudden it will just go away,” Neumayr said. “You have to confront the problem. When I was younger I just sort of accepted it and tried not to think about it. But as I get older, increasingly, I have to use speech more because it’s important to get your point across.”

On the court and in conversation, in his own quiet way, he already has.