“The first time he came to California, he walked into the gym and there were people in the gym who were irrelevant to our program,” Chevalier said. “I mean, little kids, their parents, and he went and introduced himself to every person in the gym — and I mean every person. When I saw that, I knew we had somebody special on our hands, not just as a basketball player but as a person for sure.
“He’s like a politician shaking hands and making people feel good about themselves and making people fall in love with him. Getting to know him was quite easy because he extends himself that way.”
Before long, Washington had a nickname. They called him “the mayor.”
“I’ve always been a leader, so as soon as I stepped onto campus my presence has been of that sort,” he said. “I stepped on and obviously had to prove myself to gain some respect from the guys because everyone out here is really good, highly recruited and has a lot of juice to the name. There wasn’t a, ‘He’s from over there, we don’t like outsiders’ deal. It was nothing like that sort. Everything was filled with love and caring and support, and that made an easy transition.”
