Duke Blue Planet BLOG

Bobby reports that his three kids are doing great!  His first, Cameron (yes, named after Cameron Indoor) is 12 and performing very well in school.  I think she has inherited some of Dad’s leadership skills as she was captain of her volleyball team and attended the National Youth Leadership Conference in Boston!!  Sydney, age 10, plays soccer for the Ft. Lauderdale Select team and attended the Duke Girls camp this summer.  She unfortunately fractured her hand recently but was back in the lineup two days later after a trip to the ER, finishing with 2 assists with a cast on her arm!  Good to see Dad’s toughness passed down!  Bobby, age 5, is in Kindergarten, and involved in all sports.  His favorite part of Duke Basketball is the Blue Devil, although he is a little conflicted on the Devil’s new look this year.

Bobby has been following this year’s Duke squad and noted, “The team has been impressive and fun to watch.  It seems like the team is playing with a lot of energy and passion on the defensive end, which is always a staple of Duke Basketball.”  I asked him what he misses most about Duke and he said, “Living the carefree life of a college student, listening to Coach K’s pre-game speeches, running out of the tunnel prior to a game when the announcer says ‘Here comes Duke’ at Cameron Indoor, and feeling the floor shake under me as I dribble the ball down the court from all the pumped up Cameron Crazies!”

Since retiring from hoops, Bobby has become involved in horse ownership.  One of his first horses, Songandaprayer, far exceeded his expectations and ran in the 2001 Kentucky Derby.  After his career ended, he was sent to stud and horse breeding quickly evolved into a business for Bobby.  The prized horse currently stands in Lexington, KY.  Away from the horse stables, Bobby coached the 8th grade boys team at his children’s school, Pine Crest, for the past three seasons but was unable to participate this year because of scheduling conflicts with the thoroughbred business.  He has enjoyed catching up with Coach Collins, Coach Wojo, and Coach Dawkins as they have evaluated prospective student-athletes in the Sunshine State.

In general, the Hurley family continues to enjoy lots of success both on and off the court.  Bobby and his wife Leslie just celebrated wedding anniversary No. 13, and his father and brother continue to dominate the NJ HS basketball scene. Their teams finished first and third last year respectively in the whole country!!  Bobby sends his best to all our Duke fans!

Lee said he is really busy right now because he is an agent by day and a law student by night.  At WMG, he handles the day-to-day affairs of Joe Johnson, LaMarcus Aldridge, Mike Miller, Derrick Rose, Danilo Gallinari, Anthony Randolph and his best friend, Shelden Williams.  After work, he attends law school classes at Loyola from 6-9:45 PM four days per week.  He said, “I love my job and I know that my dedication and hard work will pay off in the long run.  Also, my experience during my time at Duke was great preparation for the real-world demands of juggling school and a full-time job.”

He hopes to finish law school, establish himself in the agent business and eventually move back to the East Coast.  He mentioned that his job makes it easy to stay in touch with his former Duke teammates because WMG represents several former Devils including Mike Dunleavy, Shelden, JJ Redick, Josh McRoberts and Daniel Ewing.  He also sees Shane Battier, Shavlik Randolph, Chris Duhon and Luol Deng when their NBA squads visit L.A.

Lee notes that while he is getting older, he still has one link to the current team in Dave “the Godfather” McClure.  He sends his best to everyone!