McDonald continued to mentor Bergman as a player when he attended St. Mary's High School in his hometown of Clinton and played on the basketball team there.

Basketball became the foremost part of Bergman's life and he practiced rebounding, free throw shooting and ball handing extensively.

[3][4] Bergman received 150 athletic scholarship offers from teams including the North Carolina Tar Heels, Kentucky Wildcats and the UCLA Bruins but he decided to stay in his home state and play for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

[2] On the court, Bergman struggled during his sophomore season and failed to find a consistent role with the team, while he considered head coach Ralph Miller "terrible".

He played in the 1971 preseason with the Royals, but felt like he was used out of position at center instead of his natural power forward by head coach Bob Cousy.

[7] He ultimately never played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as he decided to retire and return to school to continue studying psychology.

He then worked at Taylor Manor in nearby Ellicott City, Maryland, but later chose to move to a safer area to raise his son.