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Net Gains
Towson University Hall of Famer Kurk Lee leads neglected teens to the basketball court and a better life
| PUBLICATION: |
Towson, the alumni magazine for Towson University |
| DATE: |
Winter 2004 |
Reprinted with permission from Towson University Relations. |
Thirteen years, seven states and five countries later, Kurk Lee is finally home.
The Towson University Athletic Hall of Famer has seen a lot since leading the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1990 — the bright lights and unforgiving competition of the NBA, basketball stardom overseas, the frustration that comes with being a journeyman athlete who bounces from team to team, city to city, country to country.
But it was what he saw off the court that convinced him to drop anchor in Baltimore.
Since his retirement from pro basketball in 2002, Lee has worked extensively with abused and neglected Baltimore teen-agers, serving as a mentor and role model to young adults who have no one else to turn to, nowhere else to go.
The results of that work are a Baltimore-based charitable foundation that bears Lee's name, a group home for underprivileged kids that he'll open this fall, and a renewed sense of loyalty for the people and places that raised him.
"These kids, they come to me and say, 'Mr. Kurk, thanks for telling me I can do it. Thanks for having faith in me.'" Lee said. "Anytime a kid comes up to you and says, 'Thanks,' that's inspirational. That's what keeps me going. ... When I was younger I never realized all the good stuff God had given me. Today, I can see the blessings that come from everywhere."
GOD-GIVEN TALENT
Early on, those blessings included a knack for basketball that indeed seemed heaven-sent. After leading Baltimore's Dunbar High School to a national No. 1 ranking in 1985, Lee was recruited to play college ball by some Division I heavyweights, including Syracuse, Kansas and Massachusetts. He chose lesser-known Western Kentucky because "I figured being a big fish in a small pond would help me."
He was wrong. The Hilltoppers advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both 1986 and '87, but Lee spent most of that time on the bench. Dejected, he started looking for somewhere else to play. His search put him back in touch with Jim Meil, an assistant Towson coach who earlier had made a strong recruiting push for Lee before losing out to the bigger schools.
"We talked quite a bit," recalled Meil, now an assistant coach at Wagner College. "He told me about his frustrations, and I shared with him some of the positive things that I thought we might be able to help him with."
Eventually, Meil convinced Lee to give Towson a try.
"I needed a new start," Lee said. "Even though Towson wasn't a big-name school, they gave me an opportunity to prove myself."
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