Waiting Till Next Year

A former prep star works the books with an eye on the Tiger.

by Gary Parrish

immie “Snap” Hunter is just a memory now, forgotten in the hoopla surrounding the signing of Hamilton star Paris London last week at the University of Memphis. A member of the Memphis prep class of 1997, Hunter has seen his classmates obtain instant success. Overton’s Marcus Moody is starting at the U of M, East’s Tony Harris is the main man at Tennessee, and White Station’s Robert O’Kelley is already making a mark at Wake Forest
Ask anyone who follows the Memphis prep scene, however, and they will tell you that Hunter was as good as any of those players. A 6-4 guard who averaged 26.3 points and 5.0 assists per game his senior season, Hunter did not qualify academically to play NCAA basketball. His academic problems, and the fact that

PHOTO BYJILL JANSS

“…I’m going to use basketball as a way to get an education instead of using school as a way to play basketball.”

he played at Trezevant and not one of the “basketball schools” like East or Hamilton, helped push Hunter into the background.
Today Hunter is a freshman at the University of Memphis. And though his private room in Richardson Towers is next door to Moody’s, you won’t find Hunter on the floor at The Pyramid.
In an attempt to become eligible to play college basketball, Hunter has enrolled at the University of Memphis as a non-degree-seeking student. With his academic background, it was the only way Hunter could attend classes at the U of M.
If Hunter makes a C or better in a required number of courses, he can then apply for admission to a degree program there. Once admitted by the school, he can then accept a basketball scholarship that head coach Tic Price is holding for him. He could join the Tiger team as early as next December, after the fall semester of 1998 ends.
Although this may be the first time an athlete has entered the university in this manner, the loophole allowing Hunter to attend the U of M apparently does not violate NCAA rules because it is an avenue of admission available to anyone, not just superstar athletes.

Basketball always came easy. From the very first day Jimmie “Snap” Hunter walked into the North Frayser Community Center – a 12-year-old kid who had never shot at a real hoop before – playing basketball was second nature.
“It was just natural,” Hunter explains. “One day I went up to the community center and that’s when I played ball for the first time. I was hitting all my shots and I starting doing moves that other people who played all the time couldn’t do. I saw something right then. Everything I was trying, was just working out.
That 12-year-old phenom is now a freshman at the U of M with dreams of playing for the Tigers. “There’s not a doubt in my mind,” Hunter says. “I’ll be a Tiger next year.”
For the first time since he entered junior high school, Hunter is not playing organized basketball. Instead of going to practice, he goes to the library. Instead of gracing the court at The Pyramid, he sits in a seat like any other fan.
Hunter has gone from being one of the top high school basketball players in the country to being a typical college student in just over a year. As he nears the end of his first semester, Hunter says he has learned a lot away from the basketball court.
“I’ve went through a lot of freshman ups and downs,” Hunter explains. “Being away from home and away from my friends, that took some time to get used to. You basically learn to adapt to the college life. Nothing has been too hard or too difficult that I couldn’t talk it out with my grandfather or someone else in my family.”
Hunter says he faces the same problems as any other college freshman. He no longer has a parent waking him up to go to school. Nobody tells him when to go to sleep or when to study. Nobody makes sure he’s eating right. It’s a new experience for Hunter, but he says it is all part of becoming a man.
“Sometimes I don’t want to get up in the morning,” Hunter admits. “But then I think in my head, ‘I’ll be a Tiger next year. I’ll be on TV where my mom can see me and she’ll be proud of me.’”
Hunter realizes the mistake he made by not concentrating in high school. He blames his academic problems on nobody except himself. But he does say it is easy for a high school basketball star to lose track of school and take things for granted.
“You kind of get blinded in a sense,” Hunter says. “Basketball … basketball … that’s all you think about. Coaches and other people hound you so much and tell you how great you are, that it’s very easy to forget about school and what’s really important.
“But it’s my own fault,” Hunter adds. “Coaches tell you to do your work, but it was me wanting to win so bad that I let my books go. I did my work in high school, but I did just enough to get by. Now I see that isn’t the way.”
There is little doubt he has the ability to play in the NBA some day. But Hunter says he realizes that anything can happen, and there is no guarantee the NBA is in his future.
“I’m learning to be a student first,” he says. “In my heart I know I can make it in basketball, but if something does go wrong, I’ve got to have something to fall back on. Now I’m going to use basketball as a way to get an education instead of using school as a way to play basketball.
“The chances of making the NBA are one in a million,” he adds. “But a college degree is out there for me to get. You can go get a degree if you just strive hard and do your work. It’s sitting out there for you. If you want to go get it, you can.”
Probably the biggest influence throughout Hunter’s life is his grandfather Wiley Johnson. A minister, Johnson has encouraged Hunter to do the right thing and has served as a a positive role model for him.
“I talk to my grandfather more than I talk to anybody,” Hunter says. “He’s been a huge inspiration through all this because he is a minister and he works hard to try to spend time with everybody in our family. Somehow he’s able to do it.
“He tells me what I need to do and he always tells me positive things,” Hunter continues. “All the preaching and teaching that he’s been telling me since I was young is starting to make sense to me now.
“He always told me nobody is going to give me anything and that if I want something I have to go get it. I see that now. Sometimes I feel like if he wasn’t here, where would I be and what would I be doing? He’s been with me forever. He’s even the one that named me ‘Snap’ when I was young.”
It was a nickname that stuck early in his life. “When I was coming home from the hospital when I was just a baby, I was smacking my mouth real fast because I was hungry,” Hunter explains. “My grandfather said, ‘That boy is smacking his mouth like a snapping turtle.’ From that, they shortened it down to Snap, and it’s been that ever since.”
If Hunter becomes eligible, he will join a Memphis recruiting class next year that is already ranked among the top in the nation. Hunter says just the possibility of how good that team could be keeps him motivated.
“That’s a lot of talent on one team,” he says. “And I know that next year Coach Price is going to work us to the max. We’re going to have a lot of talent, but we’re going to have to be hard workers as well. That’s the main thing I love about Coach Price. You have to work hard with him. There are no gimmes and it’s not about who’s the superstar. It’s a team thing and he instills that in everybody. If you play hard you’re going to succeed.”
Success is the bottom line for Snap Hunter now. He’s not content being the forgotten prep star, the best basketball player in Memphis not on the court. Snap wants to be a Tiger. n

Gary Parrish is sports editor of The Daily Helmsman. He was the first local journalist to report Hunter’s admission at the U of M.

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