By Rick Nixon
UTSA Sports Information
FAIRBANKS, AK - At 2 a.m., most nights in Mississippi can be very quiet, outside the
chirp of a cricket or the groan of a bullfrog. In the small town of Moss Point, just up the road from Biloxi, there was another sound the citizens became accustomed to hearing.
They learned to live with the pitter-patter of a basketball on the blacktop driveway at all hours of the day or night. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the sound became a constant companion to the sleep-challenged residents of the community. LeRoy "Duke" Hurd was working on his game, and that was okay, because Duke was working overtime on his way to the big time.
Fast forward to 2003 as Hurd awaits his final collegiate season as a senior member of the University of Texas-San Antonio men's basketball team. It's a journey that has taken Hurd to the top of high school sports in Mississippi, a stop at the University of Miami, and now a chance at UTSA to etch his name among the best to ever play the game there.
Hurd and his UTSA teammates will be participating in this year's BP Top of the World Classic on Thursday through Sunday, November 20-23. The eighth annual event, which annually brings in some of the top teams in the country, will be held at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.
"I pride myself on being a hard worker," said Hurd, who was named All-Southland Conference and "Newcomer of the Year" last season after leading the conference in scoring with a 17.6 points per game average. "When I'm playing against someone, we both can be talented, but my edge is that I'm always in great shape. That's the difference maker."
Born LeRoy Hurd, III in Pascagoula, Miss. on May 26, 1980, he was given the nickname "Duke" by his mother, Sheron, a huge fan of movie star John "Duke" Wayne. Just like his namesake, Hurd has never backed down from a challenge.
"Ever since I can remember, I've had a ball in my hand," Hurd said. "Growing up I'd come home from school, do my homework, and then go outside and start running laps around the block. My dad would fill a backpack with 15 pounds of stuff in it and I would run in the sand."
A big influence in his life, Hurd's father, LeRoy, Jr., was a well known athlete in Moss Point, who was recruited by a number of schools for his football and basketball prowess. To this day, Hurd wears jersey number 00 for his dad, who also wore the number during his playing days.
"My dad was one of the hardest workers around," Hurd said. "His working with me was an investment. There wasn't a day that went by that he wasn't checking to make sure that I did my workouts. My friends would come over to the house just to watch my little brother (Robert) and I run football patterns. By the time I turned 13 or 14 years old, I bought into it. I would wake up at two in the morning and shoot baskets at a lady's house down the street. It took a lot of dedication to follow through and I learned a lot from that."
A multi-sport phenom as a youth, Hurd excelled in football, basketball and track and field entering high school. From the seventh through the ninth grades, with Hurd serving as quarterback, his football teams lost only one game. Then, a five-inch growth spurt prior to his sophomore year in high school focused the 6-foot-7-inch Hurd on basketball. "Everybody was upset when I decided to give up football," Hurd said. "I just figured that I wanted to concentrate on one sport, and basketball was it."
Hurd never looked back on the decision, starring as a first team all-state, all-district and all-conference performer for the Moss Point Tigers, while playing a variety of positions, including point guard. As a senior he averaged 26.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. He was selected to the Mississippi-Alabama All Star Game after leading Moss Point to the Division 7-5A State Championship, where he was Most Valuable Player of the state tournament. He scored 35-or-more points nine times during his senior season, with two games over 40. Hurd was named to the Dandy Dozen by the Clarion-Ledger as one of the top players in the state. In his spare time, he also earned two letters in track and set the school high jump record at 6'10".
With many colleges to choose from after graduation, Hurd decided to head east and attend the University of Miami, overlooking such suitors as UTSA, Louisiana State, Georgia and South Florida. "Here I was a freshman from a small town in Mississippi and the next thing I know I'm standing on South Beach in Miami. It wasn't a bad life at all," Hurd said. "My best year there was my freshman year. A new group of us helped to build a tradition there. We won the school's first Big East Conference title, made it to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. We ended up getting two guys hurt and I played the most minutes all year at the Regional in Austin. We lost to Tulsa in the semifinals, but it was a great experience."
Following Hurd's freshman season in which the Hurricanes went 23-11, Miami coach Leonard Hamilton bolted from his spot to claim the head coaching position with the Washington Wizards of the NBA. Perry Clark was named the new coach of the Hurricanes. With the change in the direction of the Miami program and a sophomore season that saw the Hurricanes finish 16-13, Hurd began to think of relocating his game as well. Hurd remembered enjoying his recruiting visits to San Antonio and UTSA when he was at Moss Point.
Miami's loss became UTSA's gain.
"I'm glad I'm here at UTSA," Hurd said. "You can't change the path life takes some times. I am proud of my two years spent at Miami, but once I came to San Antonio, I have never looked back." After sitting out one season because of an NCAA transfer rule, Hurd prospered as a junior, ranking in the top-10 of five different conference statistical categories, and leading the league in scoring with 17.6 points per game. He had nine games with 20-or-more points, including a 34-point outing at Louisiana-Monroe with his family in attendance. Even though he missed five conference games with a sprained knee, Hurd was voted by conference coaches as the "Newcomer of the Year." Despite Hurd's performance, the Roadrunners struggled with the loss of six seniors from the previous year's squad and finished the season only 10-17.
"Winning the scoring title felt good, but I know I can do better," Hurd said. "I have to increase my numbers big time this year. Last year we didn't want it to be a rebuilding year, but it was. The time is now to do it. We want to start off strong and get our fans into what we are doing. This is my last chance to get back to the NCAA Tournament and I plan to make the most of it."
UTSA head coach Tim Carter knows what he has in Hurd. "Duke is a special player who can play all five positions for us if he had to," said Carter, who is beginning his ninth year at UTSA. "He is a terrific athlete who has an outstanding basketball I.Q. He is a player and leader you can build a program around."
While the sociology major is dedicated to the sport of basketball, his time away from the court is consumed by his role as a husband and father. He and wife, Noelle, are also full-time parents with 2-year-old daughter Laila running around their home. Noelle, whom Hurd met at Miami, graduated Summa Cum Laude this past summer with a degree in psychology from UTSA. A 4.0 student, she has started on her doctorate at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio.
"It's the world I live in," Hurd said. "To me it's just the way it is on a daily basis in that I need to care for my wife and child. It's my responsibility to go to school, get a degree, do my best in basketball and provide for my family. My dad and uncle both had to work harder than I have ever had to. We have it kind of easy. Noelle got her degree, now it's time to get mine."
Spurred on by news that former UTSA player and teammate Devin Brown worked his way into a NBA contract with the hometown San Antonio Spurs, Hurd spent this past summer working on his all-around game with hopes of seeing the next level as well.
"I purposely concentrated on nothing else but basketball this summer," said Hurd. "Playing against top-flight competition gave me a chance to see where I really am as a player. I know to get to the next level I have to enhance my game. You have to be a special player to make it to the NBA. It's not where you are at that decides your future; it's what's inside of you that counts."
Normally a quiet leader, Hurd knows there will be no holding back as he enters his final collegiate campaign.
"As I'm getting older I have realized that to be a leader you have to believe in what you are doing, say things and not hesitate," Hurd said. "A lot of the game is patience. I want to get to the NBA so bad and have the better things in life, and I think it's okay to work that way. Life presents all kinds of obstacles and some people can handle it and some can't."
It's a challenge Leroy "Duke" Hurd doesn't plan on backing down from any time soon.
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