The Drake Jolly Roger

Liam Hunt smiles, conveying his optimistic attitude.

For Junior Liam Hunt, home and school were not the only priorities when his family decided to move halfway across the world from Australia this past June. Following his father’s legacy, he wanted to play basketball with the Pirates.

Hunt grew up hearing stories of his father winning the State Championships with the Pirates and wanted to follow in his footsteps as a basketball star. Hunt’s father attended Drake in the early 1980s and led the team to a state victory. His father’s jersey is hung in the gym and has remained a retired number since he graduated. Following high school, Mr. Hunt played professionally for over 20 years for the Western Australian National Team.

Although Liam Hunt has played for the Western Australian team over the past three years, playing for the Pirates was something he only dreamed about. Hunt’s main role model is his father and he aspires to be like him one day. “I have hopes of following in my father’s footsteps. I want to play professionally one day. Maybe not in Australia, but we’ll see,” said Hunt.

In mid-June, the Hunt family packed up their belongings and moved to San Anselmo. This 6’ 6’’ basketball champ now plays for the Pirates, whom have helped him through the transition from Australia. “The Drake team is very supportive,” said Hunt.

When he arrived in the Bay Area, he joined the Drake AAU summer club basketball team that traveled throughout California. “All the guys on the team were great; none of them are bad guys and they all treat me really awesome. That was a really big plus when I moved here, because it’s tough making such a big change in your life.”

As the summer came to a close, the Drake AAU team lost the championship game by 15 points. “We lost our mental strength,” said Hunt. Although they were defeated over the summer, this year’s basketball season started up on November 7 and Hunt expects a good season.

Just months before, Hunt was competing with his team nationally against the other Australian states, such as Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. “[In Australia] we try to play smart, that is, mentally smart. I never really liked it. I’ve made three national teams and I enjoyed one, but I had some pretty tough coaches,” said Hunt.

At the conclusion of summer, Hunt joined another extremely competitive club basketball team named the NBBA Spiders. Seniors Joey Euphrat, Ryan Euphrat, and Kamran Rathod also play alongside Hunt for the Spiders. The team traveled throughout the state in addition to Reno, Nevada where they won the gold medal.”We beat Arkansas, Wisconsin, Hawaii and many other states. The whole team played hard, which was great,” stated Hunt.

Hunt has played basketball since he was nine-years-old and doesn’t expect his career will end when he graduates high school. “I would love to play in a division-1 college. If I could go anywhere it would be St. Mary’s. They have a load of good Australian kids,” said Hunt.

Hunt is looking forward to the Drake season and believes they’ll go far with the talented players and varsity Coach Doug Donnellan. “Hopefully Coach has everything planned out because we have a really good team this year,” said Hunt.

Following basketball season, Hunt is considering using his talents in another sport: volleyball. For Hunt, reaching the top of the net shouldn’t be a problem. “I can dunk pretty easily, but I don’t have many hops,” said Hunt jokingly referring to his inability to jump. We will have to wait and see what Hunt can bring in addition to his basketball skills.

Although the move halfway across the world wasn’t easy, and he still misses his Australian family, “Hunt seems to be fitting into to Drake just fine. He’s really funny and outgoing,” said senior Nicolina Higgins. He also has some adjusting to do, “Everything here is opposite; the toilets flush the opposite way and the cars are on the wrong side as well,” said Hunt.

The basketball season has commenced, and it is time to look for the new 6’6’’ Australian champion, Liam Hunt.