It was an emotional night for the 6’4” Sacramento Kings shooting guard Chavano “Buddy” Hield, as he returned to his alma mater, Sunrise Christian Academy, to retire his number 24 high school jersey this past Saturday in Bel Aire, Kansas.
Before the Grand Bahamian became a household name for the University of Oklahoma Sooners and as one of the most lethal shooters in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Hield was a staple for the Sunrise Christian Academy Buffaloes from 2010 to 2012.
Coming from humble beginnings, he reflected on his journey from Grand Bahama to Bel Aire – a place he called home.
“Who would have thought 10 years later I’d come back to Sunrise and get my jersey retired. Sounds crazy, but it’s a blessing to be here. This is home; every time I come, it’s always home,” Hield said at Sunrise’s “Sunrise Madness”.
In his senior season for the Buffaloes, he averaged 22.7 points, four rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game. His team finished with a 24-4 win-loss record. He was ranked as the 17th-best shooting guard in the country.
The shooting guard led his Buffaloes to a National Association of Christian Athletes national championship in 2012 where he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
He thanked coach Kyle Linstead who was the coach at the time that saw Hield at a basketball camp in Grand Bahama back in 2010. He also thanked founder of Sunrise, Robert Linstead, and current coach, Luke Barnwell, and the Sunrise school community for helping him on the path that he is on.
“Buddy came here as kind of an unknown,” Barnwell said. “He was an unheralded prospect, and he says that he wasn’t even the best player on the island when he came here. But he got an opportunity to work on something he always dreamed of and I think he feels strongly that without Sunrise, (his success) wouldn’t have happened. I think when you see him emotional like that, it’s because he’s very grateful to the people who were invested in his life.”
Hield is the first Buffaloes alumni to have his jersey retired and Barnwell said the former Jack Hayward High School student-athlete is deserving of the honor.
“There’s nobody that embodies what I think Sunrise basketball is about than Buddy,” Barnwell said. “What coach (Kyle) Lindstead started was about maximizing the best version of yourself, while pursuing growth, character and faith. Buddy is all of that. He is so deserving of this and it was a no-brainer for us because it was the right thing to do.”
Speaking to a full gym, that included the NBA Rookie of the Year Memphis Grizzlies Ja Morant, Hield said: “If I had to do it all over again, I would come back here.”
After playing for the Buffaloes, Hield went on to play for the Sooners for four seasons (2012-2016). While at the Sooners he went from starting 13 out of 27 games in his freshman year to starting all the games he played in from his sophomore year to junior year. His senior year was his best collegiate year as he averaged 25 points and five rebounds a game. He shot 50.1 percent from the field including a whopping 45.7 percent from deep. He made 147 three-pointers that season to make the most three-pointers made in Sooners history with 349.
The All-American was named the winner of the 2016 Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Oscar Robertson Trophy as the National Player of the Year. He was named Big 12 Conference Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.
After his senior year, he was drafted sixth overall in the 2016 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelicans. He was traded to the Sacramento Kings that same season and has become one of the most dangerous players on the perimeter. He is the reigning Mountain Dew Three-Point contest champion.
Last season he signed a four-year/$86 million contract extension that kicks in this upcoming season.
The Buffaloes are no strangers when it comes to recruiting players from The Bahamas. Other than Hield, other Bahamians who have passed through the program were Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr., Charles Bain, Radshad Davis, Travis Munnings, Nathan Bain, Shackeel Butters, Godfrey Rolle and Andre Sands to name a few.
The post Sunrise Academy retires Hield’s jersey appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/sunrise-academy-retires-hields-jersey/
No comments:
Post a Comment