After a 38-point performance in a win over Portland State last February -- a performance that gave Quinton Hooker the UND Division I single-game scoring record -- the point guard walked back onto the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center floor for a race. About a dozen young kids waited to run from one end of the basketball court to the other against Hooker, who had just surpassed 1,000 career points in a game that he played the entire 40 minutes. With the lights in the arena dimmed and almost everyone gone from the building, Hooker raced the young UND fans. As the competition was almost over, one young fan was about to fall before Hooker swooped him up mid-stride and carried the youngster on his shoulder to finish the race. As Hooker nears the midway point of his final college basketball season, the strong 6-foot point guard has become one of the most talented and endearing players in program history. A two-time team captain, Hooker was named the Big Sky Conference preseason MVP after being named a Lou Henson Mid-Major All-American a year ago. He’s the first UND player to average more than 20 points per game since the school joined the Division I ranks in 2008. His impact on UND, however, goes beyond the numbers. Hooker has become a fan favorite -- to those both young and old -- for his engaging personality off the court and his fiery competitiveness on the floor. “He’s the Pied Piper,” UND coach Brian Jones said. “People want to follow him because of his infectious personality. He’s an ambassador not only for the athletic department, but also for this university.” Hooker grew up in Brooklyn Park, Minn., the third of four children to Ray and Janice Hooker.Ray, a former college football player at Wayne State in Nebraska, worked in insurance and Janice has operated a daycare for the past nine years. Before that, she worked night jobs. “We took opposite shifts raising our kids,” said Ray, who came to Minneapolis from Milwaukee. “We were new in Minneapolis. We had to go that route to raise our kids.” Quinton has two older sisters -- Chelsia and Brehana. He has one younger brother, Armani, who plays college football at Iowa. “Those two older sisters kept (Quinton) humble,” Ray said. We, not meGameli Ahelegbe has known Quinton since he was in elementary school. Ahelegbe was a college basketball player at Minnesota State-Mankato before getting into coaching in the Twin Cities. He coached Quinton in his developmental years and later recruited him to UND, where Ahelegbe was an assistant coach for Jones. “His personality comes from his parents,” Ahelegbe said. “They’re as blue-collar as they come. They both work hard from nine to five. They believe in humility. That shows in Q. That’s why he’s able to get along with kids and parents love him. “With the way social media is these days and everyone is talking about themselves, he’s never a ‘me’ guy. He’s a ‘we.’ ” Ahelegbe, now an assistant coach at South Dakota, had Quinton as a go-to babysitter in Grand Forks for his four young kids. “He knows what he wants out of life,” Ahelegbe said. “It’s easy to gravitate to someone who you can tell will be successful. It’s easy to help that kid.” Quinton played soccer, baseball and football as a youth. By the time he was in fifth grade, Ray said his son could tell basketball came easier than the other sports. By ninth grade, he focused solely on hoops.
When Quinton was in grade school, he was one of the bigger kids in his age group and his favorite player was Detroit Pistons’ big man Ben Wallace. The young Hooker mimicked his hairstyle after Wallace and sported a similar afro and headband. “He was sporting the ‘fro’ and he grew it out as far as he could,” Ray said. “He was really finicky about who could cut his hair. I tried cutting it one time and it was bad. He went to mom crying.” Recruiting ‘Q’Carson Shanks, now a 7-foot center for UND, grew up in Prior Lake, Minn. He met Quinton at an AUU tryout in sixth grade. “It was a big deal in Minnesota that he could throw a behind-the-back pass,” Shanks said. “He threw me one and it hit me square in the forehead. I’d never seen anything like that before.” Ray said Quinton didn’t play a lot of the highly competitive basketball leagues as a youth. He stuck to the local scene, but that didn’t mean he took more shots. “From as far back as I can remember, he’s always been about getting teammates involved and conscious of not being a ballhog,” Ray said. “At that local rec stuff, some of those kids weren’t as athletically inclined. He made sure all of his teammates had fun.” Hooker played high school basketball at Park Center, where he scored more than 2,000 points in his career. As a senior, he was named the 2013 Minnesota Mr. Basketball after leading his team to the state title game. He averaged 23 points per game as a senior and 26 points per game as a junior. Despite the Mr. Basketball honor, Hooker hadn’t become a major recruit. Of the past 24 Minnesota Mr. Basketball winners, seven of those were selected in the NBA draft. Almost all of them went to NCAA Power 5 conferences. But Hooker was only 6-feet tall and he played AAU basketball with Tyus Jones, who is now in the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jones, the Minnesota Mr. Basketball winner a year after Hooker, played a similar game to Hooker. Ahelegbe said Jones hid some of Hooker’s talents in those AAU competitions, helping Hooker eventually land at UND. During the college recruiting process, Ahelegbe and Jones had garnered a verbal commitment from Hooker and built a solid relationship, although some higher competitors were starting to take a closer look. Ahelegbe said Northern Iowa began asking questions and that made him nervous. Hooker took a visit to Florida Gulf Coast right around the time FGCU made a Sweet 16 run in the NCAA Tournament and earned the nickname Dunk City. “You do get nervous, but he was always honest and upfront with us,” Jones said. “He didn’t get caught up, like a lot of kids do today, with the shiny stuff. He wanted to go somewhere where he could make a difference. He always wanted to be the guy to take us to the next step.” Ready right awayDespite considerable recruiting buzz, Hooker came to Grand Forks expecting to redshirt. UND had accomplished ball handlers returning for the 2013-14 season in seniors Aaron Anderson and Jamal Webb. Quinton ended up playing as a true freshman, although it wasn’t decided until the last minute. “It was pretty crazy,” he said. “The day before the first game I thought I was redshirting.” But the coaching staff decided Quinton, already featuring a solid, college-ready frame, gave UND its best shot to win a Big Sky Conference championship. He helped UND get to the Big Sky title game that season, where Weber State won the title. Three years later, that Big Sky title remains elusive for UND. Quinton led UND into the Big Sky semifinals a year ago where the Fighting Hawks lost to Weber State in overtime. Quinton, who will have professional opportunities after the season is over, said the NCAA Tournament is all that’s on his mind for now. “Right now I have one task and that’s to make the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “That’s at the front of my mind before anything else.” The professional ranks will have to wait. Even when those chances arise, coaches say Quinton is smart enough to know when to walk away from basketball. Quinton is getting his degree at UND in social sciences. He’d like to go after a postgraduate degree, looking into teaching high school classes and coaching basketball. “I’m a proud dad right now, watching him grow up,” Ahelegbe said. “To see him develop and improve his game to become one of the best in the Big Sky has been fun. Since I left, I’ve always kept tabs on him. The accolades are really starting to accumulate.”After a 38-point performance in a win over Portland State last February -- a performance that gave Quinton Hooker the UND Division I single-game scoring record -- the point guard walked back onto the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center floor for a race.About a dozen young kids waited to run from one end of the basketball court to the other against Hooker, who had just surpassed 1,000 career points in a game that he played the entire 40 minutes.With the lights in the arena dimmed and almost everyone gone from the building, Hooker raced the young UND fans. As the competition was almost over, one young fan was about to fall before Hooker swooped him up mid-stride and carried the youngster on his shoulder to finish the race.As Hooker nears the midway point of his final college basketball season, the strong 6-foot point guard has become one of the most talented and endearing players in program history.A two-time team captain, Hooker was named the Big Sky Conference preseason MVP after being named a Lou Henson Mid-Major All-American a year ago. He’s the first UND player to average more than 20 points per game since the school joined the Division I ranks in 2008.His impact on UND, however, goes beyond the numbers. Hooker has become a fan favorite -- to those both young and old -- for his engaging personality off the court and his fiery competitiveness on the floor.“He’s the Pied Piper,” UND coach Brian Jones said. “People want to follow him because of his infectious personality. He’s an ambassador not only for the athletic department, but also for this university.”Hooker grew up in Brooklyn Park, Minn., the third of four children to Ray and Janice Hooker.Ray, a former college football player at Wayne State in Nebraska, worked in insurance and Janice has operated a daycare for the past nine years. Before that, she worked night jobs.“We took opposite shifts raising our kids,” said Ray, who came to Minneapolis from Milwaukee. “We were new in Minneapolis. We had to go that route to raise our kids.”Quinton has two older sisters -- Chelsia and Brehana. He has one younger brother, Armani, who plays college football at Iowa.“Those two older sisters kept (Quinton) humble,” Ray said.We, not meGameli Ahelegbe has known Quinton since he was in elementary school. Ahelegbe was a college basketball player at Minnesota State-Mankato before getting into coaching in the Twin Cities. He coached Quinton in his developmental years and later recruited him to UND, where Ahelegbe was an assistant coach for Jones.“His personality comes from his parents,” Ahelegbe said. “They’re as blue-collar as they come. They both work hard from nine to five. They believe in humility. That shows in Q. That’s why he’s able to get along with kids and parents love him.“With the way social media is these days and everyone is talking about themselves, he’s never a ‘me’ guy. He’s a ‘we.’ ”Ahelegbe, now an assistant coach at South Dakota, had Quinton as a go-to babysitter in Grand Forks for his four young kids.“He knows what he wants out of life,” Ahelegbe said. “It’s easy to gravitate to someone who you can tell will be successful. It’s easy to help that kid.”Quinton played soccer, baseball and football as a youth. By the time he was in fifth grade, Ray said his son could tell basketball came easier than the other sports. By ninth grade, he focused solely on hoops.
When Quinton was in grade school, he was one of the bigger kids in his age group and his favorite player was Detroit Pistons’ big man Ben Wallace.The young Hooker mimicked his hairstyle after Wallace and sported a similar afro and headband.“He was sporting the ‘fro’ and he grew it out as far as he could,” Ray said. “He was really finicky about who could cut his hair. I tried cutting it one time and it was bad. He went to mom crying.”Recruiting ‘Q’Carson Shanks, now a 7-foot center for UND, grew up in Prior Lake, Minn. He met Quinton at an AUU tryout in sixth grade. “It was a big deal in Minnesota that he could throw a behind-the-back pass,” Shanks said. “He threw me one and it hit me square in the forehead. I’d never seen anything like that before.”Ray said Quinton didn’t play a lot of the highly competitive basketball leagues as a youth. He stuck to the local scene, but that didn’t mean he took more shots.“From as far back as I can remember, he’s always been about getting teammates involved and conscious of not being a ballhog,” Ray said. “At that local rec stuff, some of those kids weren’t as athletically inclined. He made sure all of his teammates had fun.”Hooker played high school basketball at Park Center, where he scored more than 2,000 points in his career. As a senior, he was named the 2013 Minnesota Mr. Basketball after leading his team to the state title game. He averaged 23 points per game as a senior and 26 points per game as a junior.Despite the Mr. Basketball honor, Hooker hadn’t become a major recruit. Of the past 24 Minnesota Mr. Basketball winners, seven of those were selected in the NBA draft. Almost all of them went to NCAA Power 5 conferences.But Hooker was only 6-feet tall and he played AAU basketball with Tyus Jones, who is now in the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jones, the Minnesota Mr. Basketball winner a year after Hooker, played a similar game to Hooker.Ahelegbe said Jones hid some of Hooker’s talents in those AAU competitions, helping Hooker eventually land at UND. During the college recruiting process, Ahelegbe and Jones had garnered a verbal commitment from Hooker and built a solid relationship, although some higher competitors were starting to take a closer look.Ahelegbe said Northern Iowa began asking questions and that made him nervous. Hooker took a visit to Florida Gulf Coast right around the time FGCU made a Sweet 16 run in the NCAA Tournament and earned the nickname Dunk City.“You do get nervous, but he was always honest and upfront with us,” Jones said. “He didn’t get caught up, like a lot of kids do today, with the shiny stuff. He wanted to go somewhere where he could make a difference. He always wanted to be the guy to take us to the next step.”Ready right awayDespite considerable recruiting buzz, Hooker came to Grand Forks expecting to redshirt. UND had accomplished ball handlers returning for the 2013-14 season in seniors Aaron Anderson and Jamal Webb.Quinton ended up playing as a true freshman, although it wasn’t decided until the last minute.“It was pretty crazy,” he said. “The day before the first game I thought I was redshirting.”But the coaching staff decided Quinton, already featuring a solid, college-ready frame, gave UND its best shot to win a Big Sky Conference championship. He helped UND get to the Big Sky title game that season, where Weber State won the title.Three years later, that Big Sky title remains elusive for UND. Quinton led UND into the Big Sky semifinals a year ago where the Fighting Hawks lost to Weber State in overtime.Quinton, who will have professional opportunities after the season is over, said the NCAA Tournament is all that’s on his mind for now.“Right now I have one task and that’s to make the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “That’s at the front of my mind before anything else.”The professional ranks will have to wait. Even when those chances arise, coaches say Quinton is smart enough to know when to walk away from basketball.Quinton is getting his degree at UND in social sciences. He’d like to go after a postgraduate degree, looking into teaching high school classes and coaching basketball.“I’m a proud dad right now, watching him grow up,” Ahelegbe said. “To see him develop and improve his game to become one of the best in the Big Sky has been fun. Since I left, I’ve always kept tabs on him. The accolades are really starting to accumulate.”
