The van did not have air conditioning but it had enough in the summer of 1982 to make it across the country. Marc Iavaroni bought the stick-shift Ford Econoline 150 for $8,100 and drove it to California clinging to his dream. He had been cut by three teams, spent three seasons in Italy, and had yet to play an NBA game four years after being drafted. 

Iavaroni didn’t have a place to sleep in Los Angeles and he had been used weeks earlier by an NBA team as a measuring stick for the general manager’s high school son. Yet he remained undeterred as he pointed his van west. He had a spot in the L.A. Summer League and believed he would finally grab the attention of an NBA team.