Bobby Hurley, Sr. Basketball Clinic

The Red Lake Nation was proud to host a basketball clinic by one of the best High School Coaches in the country on May 14th. Coach Bob Hurley, Sr. has one of the most successful programs in the country and was recently featured on CBS' 60 minutes, which you can watch on their website. On February 2, 2011, he became the 10th coach in High School history to win 1000 games and 5 of his teams have went undefeated, he also has won 26 state championships and 4 National championships in his 39 years of coaching at St. Anthony High School in New Jersey, despite substandard facilities and financial limitations of his school. The school dosn't even have a gym. On April 5, 2010, he was announced as the only coach to be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame that year, and only the 3rd high school coach in history to be so honored. He is the father of Bobby Hurley, a former All-American point guard at Duke.

St. Anthony, run by Felician nuns, has achieved this success with a student body of just 235, one of New Jersey's smallest. Over the years, though, more than 100 graduates of the program have earned Division I basketball scholarships, including six from the 2007-08 team. Every senior to graduate from his program has won at least one state championship, with many winning several. Hurley has also produced a total of five first-round NBA draft picks: his son, Bobby, Terry Dehere, Roderick Rhodes, David Rivers, and Roshown McLeod. Hurley has never been a teacher at or a full-time employee of St. Anthony. For most of his career, the coach was employed as a probation officer. Thereafter, he worked for the Jersey City Recreation Department, but has since retired. Over the years, Hurley has been offered a number of college coaching jobs that would have paid him millions. He has turned them all down. He is also one of just a few high school coaches to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

It was a real special treat to have our youth learn from one of the best out there. 38 boys and girls ranging from grades 5-12 took part in the event, and he was surprised at how well they paid attention and worked out for the entire 3 hour clinic! There was even players and coaches from surrounding high schools and colleges that were in attendance. The event was sponsored for the Red Lake youth by Red Lake Chemical Health Program and was coordinated through The National Champion Basketball Academy & Red Lake Youth Sports and took place at the Red Lake High School gymnasium.

Special thanks go out to the kids who attended and invested time into their game on a lovely Saturday afternoon during the off-season. We were competing with a Valleyfair trip and a Hip-Hop show at the Casino that took some of the kids. The clinic would not have been a success without you. After the clinic the Coach was treated to some of our famous Red Lake Walleye at the casino before heading to Bemidji to get a few winks in before his 6am flight back to New Jersey.