Sixers’ Nick Nurse happy to be ‘giving back’ to his hometown Iowa school with a basketball camp

CARROLL, Iowa — Many stories have been written about the relationships that professional athletes and coaches have with their former schools.

About how they donate money to booster clubs and even have a gymnasium or field named after them. And there are stories about how they’re still loved in their childhood communities, despite bolting for life as a celebrity in a major city thousands of miles away.

But there’s a somewhat different story when it comes to 76ers coach Nick Nurse and Kuemper Catholic School in Carroll, a town of about 10,000 people in west central Iowa.

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It’s about how, in addition to being a proud booster and graduate of this preschool through 12th grade school system of 1,285 students, he keeps a visible presence.

Nurse, a 1985 Kuemper graduate, was back at the school Wednesday for the annual Nick Nurse Basketball Shooting Camp.

Along with a few Sixers assistant and local coaches, Nurse focused on teaching 125 campers the fundamentals of a perfect shot. The boys’ and girls’ camp for students of all ages cost $50 per participant and included Nick Nurse Foundation basketballs and T-shirts along with music from DJ Ghost, the Sixers’ DJ. Afterward, Nurse signed autographs and posed for pictures with campers and fans.

All proceeds from the camp benefit the Kuemper Booster Club, which supports Kuemper Catholic’s athletics and fine arts programs.

“This is an amazing school, great education,” said the 57-year-old Nurse, who was a four-sport standout and entertainer at Kuemper. “I learned a lot. My high school coach [Wayne Chandlee] was an amazing basketball coach. I still do a lot of the stuff that we did right here at this gym.

“It just feels like we are giving back, and that’s what we want to do.”

But this trip back to his school wasn’t just about teaching the proper way to shoot a basketball. Nurse took a moment from instructing the campers to chat with Kuemper band director Marie Walsh Becker.

“She said her band is the biggest it’s ever been,” he said. “I came back the other day, and I said, ‘I don’t want to talk to anybody but the band director.’”

Nurse, who’s also a musician, gave her money for the band.

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“You know I love music,” Nurse said. “And my mother loved the marching band. My oldest brother was one of those guys that played football and at halftime he had to go play his French horn. He wouldn’t get the halftime talk. He would be back playing football. My mother loved that stuff.”

And it’s very much appreciated.

Ninth grader Nash Leonard was the tallest camper at 6-foot-6. A baseball, football, and basketball player, he has a chance to join a list of three-sport standouts at Kuemper. But even though this is the start of football season, it was important for him to make Nurse’s camp. He’s been attending for three years.

“I think it’s great because he comes back and supports the community from where he’s from,” said Leonard, 15. “He’s always willing to help, and it’s great to have an NBA coach from where we live.”

And his success is also a reason why Nurse remains visible to the Kuemper students and the Carroll community as a whole.

“They need to see that you can accomplish whatever you want to,” Nurse said. “You can accomplish dreams. I remember one time they brought me back here. I think I was a 23-year-old head coach at Grand View University. They brought me back to speak at the sports banquet, like the first public speaking thing I ever did. I remember saying, ‘Hey man, dream big. You never know what can happen.’ I guess I was still dreaming back then.’”