ASU’s Glasser keeping sister’s memory alive

Today is the 141st time Derek Glasser will construct his pregame memorial. He’ll tear himself a small piece of athletic tape, scribble down, “Gaby: 11-23-03,” and stick it to the inside of his Arizona State uniform so it’ll brush against his heart.

A piece of tape, a picture next to his bed beside two dried white roses, and free throws are Glasser’s only visible reminders.

All the rest lives in his mind.

Gabrielle Peters was Derek’s sister; a sister he never knew existed for the first 13 years of his life, then a sister who knew him better than any of his family.

In the snap of the fingers she was gone, run off the road by an 18-wheeler on a South Florida road in the broad daylight of Nov. 23, 2003.

Both of her children in the backseat and her housekeeper survived the impact. Gabrielle was on life support, but due to severe brain swelling, nothing could be done.

Doctors took her off life support later that night.

The three August weeks Derek spent with her before his sophomore year of high school became their last together.

“I’m in shock,” Glasser said of the phone call that day. “I don’t know what to say or think.”

Fitting, really, because he had the same reaction one day in 2000 when his dad, Michael, said they were going to have dinner with Derek’s sister.

He asked which one, and that’s when he learned of Gabrielle, 20 years Derek’s elder.

Gabrielle was a former gymnast and volleyball player (her mother was on the German national team) and sports became a unifying means between her and Derek. They lived 3,000 miles apart but talked once a week on average.

Derek visited her twice. Gabrielle went to Marina del Rey, Calif., to visit five times.

“I always say 'Why did it happen,’ a reason we’ll all find out one day, but not now,” Michael said. “For now, it’s show up and do what we have to do.”

The closed-casket funeral was held on Thanksgiving. Before Gabrielle was laid to rest, Derek took two white roses off the top of the casket, the same ones he keeps on his nightstand at home.

“Guys hold it in as best they can,” Derek said. “It hit me while they were carrying her out, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

Two days later, he returned to Artesia High School in time to start his sophomore season, but the whirlwind week caused his mind to wander.

Time helped Derek’s emotional realignment. So, too, did at least 250 round-trip car rides each calendar year with basketball coach Scott Pera, who lived a mile from his point guard. No topic was off-limits in those daily 60-mile drives.

“Sometimes he’d have to leave class and call me, call his dad, or come sit in my office,” said Pera, now an ASU assistant. “He needed distractions.”

You name it, they talked about it. Some days Derek called his dad or his coach during school to vent.

Most days Pera just listened and asked questions.

He knew his point guard as a friend. The coach-point guard relationship was an afterthought.

“It’s a different situation with us,” Pera said. “We spent a lot of time in that car.”

Said Michael: “Scott was like a surrogate dad for Derek. He knows more about Derek than I do, without question. Their relationship is beyond belief.

“From a dad’s point of view you can’t believe how lucky you are to have that relationship for your son.”

These days, there’s talk of Derek getting a tattoo, a divided issue among the Glassers. So, for now, he rubs his left hand across his right, brushing his arm against the athletic tape as he takes a few dribbles before a free throw.

It’s nothing much, but it’s enough to keep the memory alive.

“She didn’t want me to sit around,” Derek said. “She wanted me to play basketball.”

Saint Francis (Pa.) at Arizona State

When: 2 p.m., today

Where: Wells Fargo Arena

Radio: KTAR (620 AM)

Records: ASU (9-2), Saint Francis (3-8)

Outlook:

Arizona State – This is the final Pac-10 tuneup for the Sun Devils, who had a week to forget about an unimpressive performance against Idaho. That said, the Sun Devils received five votes in the AP Top 25 poll this week (none in the coaches’ poll). They received three votes after beating Xavier.

Saint Francis – This is the first meeting between these two schools. Located in Loretto, Pa., (80 miles east of Herb Sendek’s hometown of Pittsburgh), Saint Francis has an enrollment of just more than 2,000 students. The Red Flash return all five starters (and 12 of 14 total players) from last year’s 8-21 squad, but it’s been a rough go thus far. Despite the small school, the roster boasts a player from Senegal (Bassirou Dieng), Croatia (Mislav Jukic) and Sweden (Sorena Orandi).