Before Mike Trout was a baseball superstar, he was a ‘Dennis Rodman type’ for Millville High’s hoops team

The penalty was clear for anyone on the Millville boys’ basketball team who arrived late to practice: You’re benched. So that’s why a teenaged Mike Trout zipped his black Ford Ranger around town, picking up straggler teammates and getting them to the gym on time.

“That’s how bad he wanted to win,” said Dale Moore, the former Millville coach.

Trout is now one of baseball’s biggest stars, a three-time MVP who has built a career with the Los Angeles Angels that is pointed to Cooperstown. 15 years ago, he was the focal point of Millville’s offense on the South Jersey hardwood just a few months before being drafted in the first round of the 2009 MLB draft.

Trout — just like in baseball — seemed to do everything. He grabbed rebounds, drained fourth-quarter foul shots, played defense, and ended practices with slams fitting for a dunk contest. He was even good for a lift.

“He made sure everyone got there on time,” Moore said.

Trout will be with the Angels on Monday when they visit Citizens Bank Park to play the Phillies, but he’ll miss his chance to play at home — something he’s done in just two of his 13 seasons — because he returned last week to the injured list. Trout won’t be active this week, but his old basketball teammates will still think back to how they once shared the ball with a future great of a different sport.

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“I tell people and they’re like, ‘Oh, snap. For real?,’” former teammate Tariq Gaskins said. “Yeah, I went to school with Mike Trout and played on the same team. As a kid, you grow up and you want to be a superstar. But just to know a superstar is amazing.”

Trout played football, basketball, and baseball as a freshman at Millville before it became clear that his future was in baseball. He pitched, played center field, and quickly became one of the area’s top players. Moore knew what sport Trout was focused on but asked his father if his son could find some time for hoops.

“His dad said, ‘Oh, he’s going to play basketball. You don’t have to push me,’” Moore said.

It was clear in the winter of 2008 that Trout had a major-league future, yet he still played high school basketball, diving on the court for loose balls and elbowing for rebounds without the thought that he was risking his baseball dreams.

“It’s a little crazy when you look back at it. But at the time, he was just being a kid and playing the sport that he loved to do. He still plays it in the offseason, so he definitely had a love for basketball,” former teammate Jon McMahon said.

“He was competitive in everything he did. If we went fishing, he wanted to catch the biggest fish. He made everything a competition. That’s just how he was and he definitely didn’t like losing. He didn’t lose a whole lot.”

Trout was a captain for the basketball team and even did his best to play in the school’s summer league despite the demands of his baseball schedule. He didn’t have the time to give basketball the same attention he did to baseball. But it was almost like he didn’t have to. Trout was that athletic.

“He used to do windmills in practice,” Gaskins said. “You know they have movies about it like White Men Can’t Jump so we were like ‘Wow. Not even just a dunk but a windmill?’”

The Thunderbolts were wrapping up practice one afternoon when an after-school program filtered in and sat in the bleachers. The future MLB All-Star had an audience.

“He’s only 6-foot tall at the time,” Moore said. “He literally jumps into the air, does a 360, and jams the ball. The kids in the bleachers kind of fell off the bleachers. They couldn’t believe what he did. He just had an unbelievable jumping ability.”

Moore’s offensive system called for three guards and two forwards, which meant Trout was manning the low post despite being undersize. He may have yielded a few inches to the other team, but he made up for it with his athleticism. In the majors, Trout leaps against the centerfield wall with ease to rob a homer. In high school, he used that same vertical leap to dominate the glass.

“He was a Dennis Rodman-type,” Gaskins said. “He was a killer.”

Millville tried to beat teams down low and the Thunderbolts ran their offense through Trout. It worked enough for them to win a South Jersey Group 4 playoff game in Trout’s senior season.

Three months later, he was beginning a climb toward the major leagues. His focus on baseball paid off. But what if his other sport — the one where he chauffeured his teammates around to help the team win — was No. 1?

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“The sky would’ve been the limit for him with basketball, as well,” Moore said. “You could tell from an early age. You either have ‘it’ or you don’t have ‘it.’ He had ‘it’ from day one. No matter what he did, he was successful at it. Whether it was ping-pong, or golf, or basketball, or whatever. He was just a winner. It’s amazing coming from a small town like Millville, New Jersey. But I just knew he was special from the time I met him.”

“It’s crazy when you look back and realize we had a kid getting drafted in baseball, but we didn’t really get a chance to take it in,” Gaskins said. “You’re just focused on basketball. It wasn’t crazy like it would be now with social media and cameras and stuff. It was just like an average kid. You just knew he was going far.”