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A passion for helping people out
Most colleges have sports figures who are outstanding.
B.C.’s Trinity Western University (TWU) is delighted to have point
guard Louis Hurd on its Spartans basketball team.
Last year, while playing for Columbia Bible College
(CBC) in Abbotsford, Hurd led the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association in
total scores.
According to the Langley
Times, Hurd “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 tries.”
Reporter Gary Ahuja observed: “Such a threat from the outside keeps
the defence honest, and prevents them from clogging the lane, opening up
space for his teammates down low. And he could score more if he wanted to,
or was needed to.”
Childhood tests
But there is a lot more to 22 year old Hurd than
basketball.
He was impacted by a traumatic childhood event: when
he was only five years old, he saw his oldest brother Chris convicted of
murder; Chris is now serving a 99-year sentence in Texas.
Hurd also recalled his family experiencing hard times
while living in Spokane, Washington. “We were sleeping on the ground,
all bundled up in the cold, getting next to each other for heat,” he
told Ahuja. He described his family living on McDonald’s hamburgers
for every meal.
Ahuja reported: “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 applied himself to the game, often playing into the night.
However, he noted: “My biggest passion, bigger
than basketball, is helping people out. 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.”
In high school he discovered his giftedness on the
basketball court, and went to a community college. After two years, Hurd
made his way north – but not without questions and doubts.
Before he attended CBC, he told Options, “I had no clue what I
was going to do. I did not receive any high-end offers from any
universities.
“I remember yelling at God, saying: ‘God,
you know I am good enough to play D1 college basketball! Why are you not
making it happen for me, God?’ I remember crying in my car, because I
felt my hoops dream might be over. I never thought I would
ever end up in Canada, even more at a Christian college.
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“One day, when I was praying and meditating in
scripture, I asked the Lord about that situation – and why I felt
like he was nowhere near. He told me that if he would have blessed me with
a Division 1 scholarship, I would have
succumbed to the desires of my flesh. And I know for a fact that I would
not have made it one year in a big school, because I would have been
attracted to the distractions of college life – causing me to drop
out.”Impact of coaches
Hurd credits his coaches for helping him achieve
success. One was Terry Reed, at Spokane’s Lewis and Clark High
School. “He challenged me, and I just couldn’t take it,”
Hurd said.
“If I was fully in love with Christ at the time,
I could have set my pride aside and focused on stepping up to the
challenge. I would have become a better basketball player and person
if I would have persevered through this moment. Instead, I took the
easy way out, left all my friends, and consumed myself with pride and
envy.”
Following high school, Hurd went to Everett Community
College, where he played under Larry Walker. He recalled Walker as “a
man of God, [who] showed me the quality of keeping a level head and staying
hungry to be better.”
Hurd is now under TWU coach Scott Allen –
who he considers “a great influence on my life. He is not
perfect, and he will admit it – which is noble – and he
continues to love the Lord, and strives to learn more about him.”
Allen speaks highly of his young star, commending
Hurd’s willingness to coach kids.
Hurd also credited one other mentor, beyond all the
others: ”I definitely have not accomplished anything on my own; the
Lord has been there every step with me.”
He concluded: “A
God-centred life will always pull you through the hard times.”
Options Spring 2009
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