Colorado Christian coach Tim Hays' unlikely journey from FCA staff to Australia to national champion

My dad may have been playing in the NBA at the time, but the best basketball games I remember from my childhood were the ones between my little brother, Seth, and me on our backyard basketball court in Charlotte, N.C. We’d play for hours and hours, oftentimes well into the night with the use of a bright stage light shining on the court, until our mom would yell out the window for us to come in. Those games would get pretty heated, but that was the norm for brothers as close as we were.

The creek behind our backyard in Lexington, Ky., was where my older brother and I spent most of our time growing up. Our family of four did a lot together, and it was usually outdoors—playing sports, camping, boating and much more. My parents also took us to church, and when I was 12 years old I accepted Christ. Looking back, though, I didn’t live a life that professed Christ. What I said or did wasn’t always what my heart told me I should be saying or doing.

On the day he became an international sensation, Jeremy Lin feared for his NBA livelihood. Has irony ever been so thick?

But then, who could blame him? The previous night hadn’t gone well. In the New York Knicks’ 91-89 loss to Boston on Feb. 3, 2012, the point guard’s statistical line was wholly non-descript: two points, two rebounds, one assist, one turnover and two personal fouls in 6 minutes, 36 seconds of floor time.