Seth Adham Curry was born August 23, 1990, in Charlotte, North Carolina. His father, Dell Curry, was in the middle of a 16-year NBA career — most of it with the Charlotte Hornets, where he became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. His mother, Sonya Adams Curry, had played college volleyball at Virginia Tech. His older brother was Steph. His younger sister was Sydel, who would play volleyball at Elon. This was the first family of Charlotte sports.
As children, Dell took Seth and Steph to Hornets games. They shot around with the team during warm-ups — learning the geometry of the three-point line before they were old enough to reach it. They played on the backyard court constantly, competitive to the point of physical fights their mother had to break up. Both wore #30 in honor of their father. Both inherited the shooting gene.
But Steph was the older one, the one who broke out first, who made Davidson a national story. By the time Seth was a senior at Charlotte Christian (22.3 PPG, 5.0 APG, 105–24 team record, all-state, academic honor roll all four years), his brother was leading Davidson to the Elite Eight. Seth received two- and three-star recruiting ratings. Despite being Dell Curry’s son, the major programs didn’t come calling. He chose Liberty University.
At Liberty, he exploded: 20.2 PPG as a freshman — best among all freshmen nationally. Broke the Big South Conference freshman scoring record with 707 points. Scored 26 against Virginia. Big South Freshman of the Year. Dick Vitale’s ‘Diaper Dandy.’ After one season, he transferred to Duke.