Late at night, as one day bleeds wearily into the next and physical stamina struggles to keep pace with emotional attachment, Dell and Sonya Curry spurn sleep, reach for the TV remote and invite the flickering images into their eyes.
And what they see astounds them.
Like millions of others watching Golden State Warriors games this season, they see their son — currently the greatest, most electrifying basketball player on earth — making history. They see a player whom almost everybody once thought was way too scrawny doing things previously unseen at the highest levels of the game.
They see Stephen Curry, this year’s MVP, revolutionizing the NBA.
But watching their highlight-reel child lead a once-woebegone franchise to great heights can be exhausting. Dell Curry, a longtime NBA veteran, and Sonya Curry live in Charlotte, North Carolina, but both their sons play for West Coast NBA teams (25-year-old Seth Curry plays for the Sacramento Kings). So whenever at least one of the boys is playing a West Coast night game, the couple stays up late to watch the games live. A late tip off in the Pacific time zone can mean the dedicated parents aren’t falling asleep until 1:30 or 2 a.m.
Sonya Curry said, “Between November and June, we’re just tired.”
But for the Currys, it’s well worth it. In his seventh professional season, “Steph” Curry — he of single-moniker fame like “LeBron,” “Kobe” or “Magic” — has become the face of the NBA. As he leads the Warriors (with the exception of the two games he missed recently because of an injury) in their pursuit of a second-straight NBA championship, the point guard is treating the league like his personal playground, making his MVP season of a year ago look comparatively pedestrian with outlandish shots and eye-popping statistics. His peerless 3-point prowess is shattering records and forcing panicked defenses to stretch like worn-out elastic to account for his ever-increasing range.
“I dreamed about being an NBA player and being successful,” Stephen Curry said, “but I never thought I’d get this far or understand the situation going on right now. It’s been a whirlwind.”
From the beginning, though, Stephen Curry had faith. He believed God could do exceedingly more than anyone expected — even when he was an adolescent beanpole blipping faintly on the fringes of college basketball’s recruiting radars.
Now there are endless autograph lines, soaring jersey and sneaker sales, a need for personal bodyguards, exclusive rounds of golf with President Barack Obama, Twitter love coming in from NBA peers across the league and genuine discussions about whether he can become — dare we say it? — the greatest shooter of all time.
So how in the world did he get to the NBA when he once struggled to attract interest from any major NCAA Division I programs?
Perhaps we should start at the beginning.
Stephen Curry grew up mainly in Charlotte in their devoutly Christian and superbly athletic family. Basketball aside, Sonya Curry played volleyball at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, while Stephen’s younger sister, Sydel Curry, also plays collegiate volleyball.
Stephen Curry, who was 14 when his dad retired from the NBA, said growing up with an NBA father “harnessed my love for basketball. … Every kid wants to do what his parents do. I always had a ball in my hand.”
In high school, Stephen Curry led Charlotte Christian School to the state tournament three times, earned all-state honors twice and finished his career as the team’s all-time leading scorer. Yet the Currys’ phone lines remained virtually silent.
Major college programs were scared off by his diminutive stature — about 6 feet and 160 pounds at the time. So he landed 30 minutes from home at Davidson College in North Carolina, a small Division I school then playing in the Southern Conference.
Before his first practice as a freshman, he received a text from his mom. Stay faithful and work hard, she implored. She also included her favorite verse: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). To this day, Stephen Curry still writes that Scripture reference — and Philippians 4:13 — on his game shoes.
Household name
Within three years, he had become a national household name, a two-time consensus All-American, the NCAA’s single-season 3-point record holder (162 in 2007–08), and the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer (2,635 points). Not bad for an overlooked recruit.
The “Baby-Faced Assassin” turned 28 in March, and while now 190 pounds he could still pass for a college freshman.
Of course none of this matters a bit. He’s been taking preconceived notions about his age and size and destroying them his entire life. Stephen Curry entered the 2009 NBA Draft as one of the greatest shooters in NCAA history, but his pre-draft assessment included critiques like “extremely small for an NBA shooting guard” and “not a natural point guard an NBA team can rely on.”
Ignoring the concerns, Golden State selected Stephen Curry seventh overall. Within a few years, raucous Oracle Arena in Oakland was reinvigorated, and a once-proud Warriors franchise that had spiraled into irrelevance was winning again.
Last season, powered by Stephen Curry’s MVP performance, the Warriors went 67–15 and rolled to their first NBA championship in 40 years.
When Stephen Curry entered the NBA, he had a strong biblical foundation and some idea, thanks to his father’s advice, of how to stay spiritually faithful in a worldly environment.
‘Something different’
Stephen Curry, who trusted in Christ at a church youth group meeting, said he wants to “grow even more” in sharing his faith with “teammates that may not know Jesus and how He can impact their life.”
“I’m not a guy who’s going to be trying to bash people over the head with the Bible,” he said. “I want people to know when they see me play that something is different, that I play for something different, and whether I’m talking about it [or not], I just hope by the way I carry myself and by the way I play the game they can see there’s something different about that guy. And they find out what it is and then they know. It’s part of who I am.”
Stephen Curry often says he’s been given a gift. And when he does, he’s quick to deflect attention to the Gift Giver.
“I’ve always been a believer that the Lord has put whatever talent in you, [and] whatever gift He has put in you, He wants you to get the most out of that. He wants you to succeed; He wants you to pursue and work and be passionate about it,” Stephen Curry said. “It’s not about getting any of the glory for yourself; it’s all for His [glory]. That’s where you have to keep perspective. Work at it and do all you can so you get the most out of yourself, but do it for His will.”
He calls his faith “my driving force.” It’s both the anchor and rudder for his life as he navigates the remarkable but often perilous journey of being a rich, famous athlete.
Editor’s note — This article first appeared in the May/June 2016 issue of FCA’s magazine, The Revolution.
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