Romanczuk signs with team in Spain

The barely-two-months-old National Rookie League seems to be paying off for its players -- at least for former Quakers basketball stars, anyway.

First, the Quakers recently departed point guard, Michael Jordan got an invitation to play for the Sixers' summer league team, and shortly thereafter Paul Romanczuk announced that he had signed with a professional team in Calpe, Spain, leaving the Force Quaker-less.

"I couldn't be more happy," said Romanczuk, who will leave for Europe on August 15th. "I'm trying to learn Spanish as quick as I can. I got some of those 'learn Spanish in 24 hours CDs.'"

But while Jordan started for the Force, Romanczuk was a role player off the bench who saw limited action. So then, how did he find this team, rather, how did they find him?

"I've had a lot of different connections through coaches and my agent," Romanczuk said. "My uncle deals with a broker in Madrid who played for one of the top teams in Spain. I sent the team he represents now a highlight tape of a few games I played at Penn, and then they offered me a contract."

While Romanczuk -- who spent a year out of basketball working as a consultant -- gets to chase his dream, he's not giving up a great deal, money-wise.

"I'll be making pretty much as much as I made at Arthur Andersen," Romanczuk said. "Obviously, I wanted to get as much money as I could. But, since I've been out of it for a year, and everybody I talked to said I couldn't expect that much. So this is really good."

Romanczuk's season starts on September 15th and could run as late as early April, and the 6'7" forward said he would use this year as a trial run.

"If this is the only year that I play, fine," Romanczuk said. "If I like it, maybe I'll go back."

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