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By Gary Ahuja
LONG AGO, Louis Hurd vowed to make his mother smile
each and every day. He was just five years old – and his oldest
brother, Chris Ledesma, had been convicted of murder, and sentenced to 99
years in a Texas prison.
“It was really hard on my family,” Hurd
said. “My mom had a real hard time with it, because obviously that is
her first born son. From that moment on, I promised to make my mom smile
each day.” But it was an event like this that helped shape the 22
year old into who he is today.
Many people see Louis Hurd as the star basketball
player.
The Trinity Western Spartans point guard averages
nearly 11 points, four rebounds and three assists per game. He is also
deadly from beyond the three-point arc, connecting on nearly 44 percent of
his attempts.
He could score more if he wanted to, especially
considering he led the B.C. Colleges’ Athletic Association in scoring
last season while a member of Abbotsford’s Columbia Bible College.
Hurd scored more than 20 points per game for the Bearcats.
But Hurd is about more than just scoring and filling
out his personal stat sheet; he is a helping person, on and off the court.
 | | Trinity Western's basketball star Louis Hurd with head coach Scott Allen. Photo from www.twu.ca |
“That is my biggest passion, bigger than
basketball, is helping people out,” he said. “I want to get out
there and help people as much as I can, because I was helped out when I was
younger. So that is something I really strive for and want to
do.”
He is the first member of his entire family to attend
college or university. “I wanted to use basketball as a tool to get
there,” he explained. “Basketball could be a tool to better my
family and educate myself.”
Kevin and Mary Hurd moved from Spokane, Washington to
Tennessee when Kevin, who was in the U.S. Air Force, was transferred there.
After six years in Memphis, where Louis was born, the family was
transferred to Germany. They spent three years in Germany before moving
back to Spokane.
After they settled in their new home, his dad asked
him what the one thing he wanted was, and Hurd answered: a basketball hoop
in the driveway. Sure enough, three days later, there was a hoop and a
basketball.
Hurd would play every day, all year, shoveling the
snow, just so he could play. There would be times he played past midnight,
but thankfully he had understanding neighbours.
It was on the basketball court that Hurd and his other
brother, Kevin Jr. – or Bubba – grew even closer. The two, four
years apart, had already become quite tight following the incarceration of
Chris.
Bubba holds a significant height advantage over his
five-foot-11 brother. “People wonder (now) why I can shoot with
people in my face, and it is because of my brother,” Hurd said.
“He would never let me get an open shot, he would never give me a
chance to get an open look. He always played me tough. I had to learn how
to play against bigger, stronger men.”
High school was the next major influence on
Hurd’s life.
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Following high school, Hurd went to Everett Community
College, where he played under Larry Walker. “He is the one that
really gave me confidence,” Hurd said.
Two years there, and Hurd made his way north –
first to Abbotsford and Columbia Bible College, and now to Langley and
Trinity Western University.
He credits Bearcats coach Mike McLaverty for giving
him the inspiration that he could in fact play at the Canadian
Interuniversity Sport level. This season marks Hurd’s first with
Trinity Western University.
The fourth-year student is majoring in psychology,
with a minor in political science. And of course, he is a major contributor
on the court for the Spartans, and the turnaround of the program under
first-year coach Scott Allen.
“He brings an edge to the team, that is probably
the key,” Allen said. Off the court, Allen has noticed the work Hurd
does with youth all across the Lower Mainland.
“He is a real people person, a relationship
builder.”
Hurd doesn’t envision playing professionally one
day or anything like that, but hoops will always remain a central part of
his life. His bigger calling is helping others. “At that age, [youth]
don’t need to be told what and what not to do,” Hurd said.
“What they need is encouragement to build and foster
confidence.”
Coaching kids to be the best they can be on the
basketball court is all fine, but Hurd wants more and he wants to repay all
those who have helped him along the way.
Bubba, he said, “always went out of his way to
help me – whether it was school, sports, socially.”
His brother was never too busy for him and always
offered encouragement, Hurd explained. “He has loved me to death, and
I just want to be that kind of figure to other kids.”
“I want to return the favour by building not
only kids to be better basketball players, building to live better, to
understand life better as far as having virtue and character,” he
added. “The sky is the limit, if you put the Lord first and live
selflessly.”
Courtesy of Langley Times
March 2009
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