Meet Dan Hunt

(Liam, Dan and Jesse Hunt

photo courtesy of  Marin Independent Journal)

The respective basketball narratives of brothers Liam and Jesse Hunt are fairly well known, with the former now a redshirt freshman at Hope International University in southern California and the latter still a Drake High senior who will be attending Eastern Washington next year. But what about Dan Hunt?

No, he's not the next-in-line sibling but rather the father of Liam and Jesse, someone with an intriguing journey of his own.

With a not-too-distant relative, Wilbur Wilken, a Pro Bowl Selection back in the 1940s with the Washington Redskins, why the affiliation with roundball (other than the fact he is 6-foot-8)? Hunt explained, "I was good at fishing but that wasn't going to get me into college, played a little baseball but basketball came a lot more natural. That and I met Coach [Pete] Hayward," a longtime hoops coach and a 2010 inductee into the Marin County Athletic Hall of Fame.

Hunt and basketball then became synonymous.

A 1982 Drake High graduate and also now a member of the Marin County Athletic Hall of Fame, Hunt established the basketball familial lineage.  As a junior and senior, the Pirates went 65-1, 34-0 in the latter time frame along with a state championship. Hunt was awarded all state honors three times and became known for his jump hook shot. His teammates included now St. John's Coach Steve Lavin, current Cal State University San Marcos Coach Jim Saia and Steve Kenilvort, who went on to play at Santa Clara. "It was a well-coached (Pete Hayward) and really good team," Hunt recalled.

Then it was off to the University of Portland, playing for Jack Avina, where Hunt was named the Most Valuable Player as a Pilot junior with his scoring and rebounding being an integral part of the team. One distinct memory Hunt retains is playing against John Stockton who was at Gonzaga. It was also a time where Pepperdine was the West Coast Conference top team.

After college, Hunt had no plans to play professionally, at least not right away. The primary focus was to rest and rehabilitate his body as "I was pretty beat up. My ankles were messed up and I couldn't see myself practicing and playing all the time."

But Portland Assistant Coach George Libbon came up with a gig in Germany.

That caught Hunt's interest because he had a friend in Germany but still he declined. However, the coach in Germany persisted and a certain conversation proved to be the clincher.

"He mentioned they practice two days a week and play once a week," Hunt explained. "I said count me in, when's Oktoberfest?"

After that initial season, Australia basketball beckoned -- the Geraldton Buccs in particular. It was a new team, a startup if you will, in the State Basketball League.

Beginning in 1989, that became a 17-year tenure for Hunt in Oz. He earned five Buccaneer Player of the Year honors. Plus this past March, Hunt was named to the State Basketball League All Star Men's team of the last 25 years.

Typically self-effacing, Hunt explained, "I got lucky with injuries and stayed healthy."

Then with his professional career concluding,  Hunt suggested "I think we should go back to the states" to his wife Helen, a native Australian. They met and married during his Aussie ball time. "She said yes -- It was a gutsy call on her part" as Hunt had eight brothers and sisters back home but his wife's family was all in Australia.

That was three years ago.

Hunt salutes his wife: "She has done an amazing job with our family -- she's the best."

So it was back to Marin County, with Liam and Jesse to entering Drake High.

Knowing just life in Australia, the adjustment could have been a rocky one for the pair who had been playing Aussie rules football, cricket and basketball.

"We got here in June and the kids at Drake were really welcoming to them," Hunt remembered. "We're so proud of how our two boys adapted."

Proving that the itch sometimes just doesn't go away, the elder Hunt is now an assistant to Drake Coach Doug Donnellan, thereby turning the old maxim of "those who can, do; those who can't, teach" on its head. Hunt could and did and here's some unsolicited advice: steer clear of any three-on-three tournaments with the Hunt family as an entry.