On October 29 MVP Basketball Camp will host a clinic featuring Bob Hurley Sr., who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 along with NBA greats Karl Malone and Scottie Pippin. Not long after that, Bob Hurley was featured on 60 Minutes. Since then he hasn’t exactly rested on his laurels, winning his fourth national title and an unprecedented 26th state championship. More importantly, he continues to graduate virtually every player who comes through his program, and has sent all but two on to college during a 39 year tenure at St. Anthony’s High School in the tough urban environment of Jersey City, New Jersey.
Coach Hurley has been a guest speaker at MVP Basketball Camp several times, but his increasing attention to his own summer sleep-away camps has prevented him from finding time to attend MVP the past two summers. So I was very excited when he agreed to participate in a Fall Clinic celebrating MVP’s 4000th scholarship award granted since inception. His message often revolves around the uncompromisingly high standards that he sets for his players, his coaches, and even his own sons. Both played D1 basketball. Bobby Hurley Jr. won two national titles at Duke University before a career in the pros.
I’ve had a few opportunities to speak with Mr. Hurley over the years. Despite the tough guy image, the first two things that strike me about Bob Hurley are his love for his family and his devotion to a small and often-times financially struggling high school which doesn’t even have its own gym. It never takes him long to mention his wife Chris, who has been the scorekeeper at every St. Anthony’s home game. And it is no secret that Bob Hurley has been wooed by major institutions with deep pockets and huge arenas, but he feels he can have a more positive influence on kids by staying right where he is. In the documentary “The Street Stops Here,” Hurley says “If I can just get them out of Jersey City, if I can get them into college, their lives will be a lot different.”
The list of of St. Anthony’s players who’ve found success on the college hardwood is very long, and he stays in touch with them long after he’s watched them graduate. The class that won the state title in 2008 (featured in The Street Stops Here) included Rutgers standout Mike Rosario and Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor.
MVP Basketball Camp is certainly not focused on producing D1 talent, but MVP is in the business of building character through the game of basketball. In that way, who could be a better guest speaker than Bob Hurley Sr.? Many of MVP’s campers come from tough urban environments. MVP has now given out 4000 camp scholarships since inception to children whose parents can’t afford camp tuition. We invite you to meet Bob Hurley at our October 29 clinic. All proceeds will fund future scholarship awards. You can register on-line at http://mvpbasketballcamp.org/on-line-registration_clinic.html
