Bobby Hurley was born into basketball the way some people are born into religion. His father, Bob Hurley Sr., was a probation officer in Jersey City, New Jersey, who also happened to be one of the greatest high school basketball coaches in American history. His mother, Christine, was of Polish descent. Bobby grew up in Jersey City with his brother Dan and sister Melissa, and the game was the family business from the start.
The elder Hurley coached at St. Anthony High School — a tiny Catholic school founded in 1952 as the parish school of a nearby Polish church, run by Felician nuns, perennially teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The gym was the White Eagle Bingo Hall. The student body was one of the smallest in New Jersey. Most students lived below or near the poverty line. And yet, under Bob Sr., St. Anthony became a national dynasty — 26 state championships over 39 years, over 150 Division I players on full scholarship, six first-round NBA draft picks. Adrian Wojnarowski wrote a best-selling book about it: ‘The Miracle of St. Anthony.’ Bob Sr. was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Bobby played for his father, and there was no favoritism. He moved up to varsity as a freshman but earned nothing he didn’t sweat for. Over four years, St. Anthony went 115-5. Bobby’s senior year was transcendent: 32-0, the school’s first Tournament of Champions crown, and a No. 1 national ranking from USA Today. That 1989 team — featuring Bobby, Terry Dehere, Jerry Walker, and Rodrick Rhodes — is considered one of the greatest high school teams ever assembled. Three of its players became first-round NBA draft picks. Bobby averaged 20 points, 8 assists, and 3 steals and earned McDonald’s All-American honors.
Everyone assumed Bobby would stay in the Big East — Georgetown, Syracuse, Connecticut. Jersey City kids played Big East basketball. That’s just how it was. But Coach K saw something. ‘He had great daring,’ Krzyzewski later recalled. ‘When there was a tough situation, instead of backing down he was constantly moving forward.’ Bobby chose Duke. It was not an obvious choice. It was the right one.