Ralph Drollinger

Ralph Kim Drollinger (born April 20, 1954) is an American clergyman and retired professional basketball player.

Education

Drollinger attended Grossmont High School in La Mesa and the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography/Ecosystems.^[1] He later received a Masters of Divinity degree from The Master's Seminary.^[2]

Basketball

Drollinger played basketball at Grossmont High School and was the CIF Southern Section MVP, as his team won the 1972 CIF championship as a high school All-American. He was a 7'2" (2.19 m) and 250 lb (114 kg) center and played collegiately at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He played for two national championship teams under coach John Wooden and after his first season, won the Seymour Armond Award as UCLA's most outstanding freshman. In his junior and senior years he was an Academic All-American.

Drollinger was the first player in NCAA history to go to four Final Four Tournaments.^[3]

Drollinger also played on America' World Cup Basketball team in 1978.

Drollinger was taken in the NBA Draft three times. He chose to forgo the NBA during those years to instead play with Athletes in Action, an evangelistic basketball team that toured the world and preached the gospel at halftimes and represented America in the 1978 FIBA World Championship.^[4] He was selected with the 17th pick in the seventh round in 1976 by the Boston Celtics, with the 1st pick of the eighth round in 1977 by the New York Nets, and finally with the 17th pick of the fifth round in 1978 by the Seattle SuperSonics. Signing with the Dallas Mavericks in June 1980 as a free agent,^[5] he played in only six games due to a knee injury which led to his retirement from basketball in March 1981.^[6] In the Mavs' inaugural season in 1980–81, he averaged 2.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.^[5][6]

Some years later after his retirement, Dr. James Dobson invited Drollinger to play in an early morning pick up game with Pete Maravich. That morning Maravich collapsed in the middle of the game from a massive heart attack. Dobson and Drollinger administered CPR, but to no avail; Maravich was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.^[7][8]

He was selected as one of the Fabulous 50 Basketball Players by the San Diego Hall of Champions in 2011.^[9]

Sports Ministry

After his brief injury-plagued professional career, Drollinger founded and participated in a variety of sports related ministries. He helped found and was the Executive Director of Sports Outreach America, an umbrella trade organization of American church and parachurch sports ministries, such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, and Pro Athletes Outreach. He founded Sports Spectrum Magazine, a bi-monthly print magazine that features the testimony of Christian athletes, the "Path To Victory" Sports New Testament in conjunction with Biblica,^[10] and in partnership with Radio Bible Class the Super Bowl Party Halftime Outreach Party Kit used by churches in conjunction with their evangelistic outreach programs.^[11] He also founded, produced and financed Julius Erving's Sports Focus, a weekly one-half hour television anthology on ESPN featuring the testimony of Christian athletes and hosted by NBA player Julius Erving.^[12]

Capitol Ministries

In 1997, Drollinger founded Capitol Ministries, an evangelistic organization that provides Bible studies to political leaders. The organization has chapters throughout the United States.^[5][6] Drollinger leads what is referred to internally as The Members Bible Study in the US Capitol ].^[8][13]

In 2004, Drollinger's teachings caused controversy in Sacramento, capital of California. When Drollinger called Roman Catholicism a "false religion" due to what he perceived as its non-reformed theology,^[14] his Bible study groups had to move out of the governor's offices and into committee conference rooms.^[14] Drollinger later argued that his statements were taken out of context.^[15] When one of his Bible lessons said it was a sin for female legislators to leave children at home for four days a week to work in Sacramento for eight months a year, about a dozen senators, male and female, protested on the floor of the Senate.^[16]

In 2009 Drollinger's home church, Grace Community Church in California, investigated accusations that Drollinger engaged in "unchristian behavior" including "pride" and "bullying" of Capitol Ministries headquarter staff.^[6] After Drollinger accused church leaders of illegally accessing his emails the church subsequently deemed him unqualified for spiritual leadership (for reasons not related to the original staff accusations) and disassociated with him. This action resulted in 16 of the 22 Capitol Ministries chapters breaking away to form a new organization without Drollinger called Capitol Commission.^[6] Subsequently Drollinger said the statement was a premeditated ruse in an attempted coup. Afterwards Capitol Commission sued Capitol Ministries, accusing the group of cybersquatting and using their name in websites. In response, Capitol Ministries filed a countersuit that accused Capitol Commission, the church and select former staff and board members of having illegally accessed their emails, interference with donors, trademark and trade dress infringement and unfair and deceptive business practices.^[17]

In 2010 Capitol Ministries founded "Parlamento & Fe" in South America with headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it's equivalent in various South American nations^[18] In 2011 Capitol Ministries added ministries in the state capitol of Arizona^[19] In 2012 Capitol Ministries added ministries in the state capitols of Michigan, South Carolina and New York^[19] In 2013 Capitol Ministries added ministries in the state capitol of New Mexico.^[19] In January, 2014 Capitol Ministries announced the addition of new state capitol ministries in the states of Washington, Utah, Vermont, Rhode Island and Tennessee.^[19] Drollinger continues to lead "The Member's Bible Study" in the United States Capitol.^[20] with 71 congressional member sponsors^[19]

Publications

Rebuilding America, The Biblical Blueprint ISBN 978-1-62467-024-4

Personal life

Drollinger is married to Danielle Madison, the founding and former executive director of California's Allied Business PAC,^[21] with whom he shares three children and four grandchildren.^[22] He is also the son of the founder of Adventure16, a retail chain of mountaineering specialty stores located throughout Southern California.^[23] Drollinger is a world-class mountaineer and is the first person to have climbed every peak on the main ridge of the Sierra Nevada between Olancha and Sonora Pass, California, which equates to the 250 mile section of the ridge commonly referred to as the High Sierra.^[24]

References

External links

• Drollinger biography from Capitol Ministries
• NBA statistics from basketballreference.com