Hur Jae

Hur Jae (born September 28, 1965) is a South Korean retired basketball coach and former player.

His playing and coaching career combined spanned over three decades, beginning during the semi-professional era and coinciding with the establishment of the professional Korean Basketball League (KBL).

He graduated from Sangmyung Primary School in 1978, Yongsan Middle School in 1981 and Yongsan High School in 1984.

A highly rated prospect in high school, he was notably the center of a fierce recruiting "war" between Korea University and Chung-Ang University.

As one of the most recognizable domestic sports stars of the late 1980s to early 2000s, Hur was nicknamed "The President of Korean Basketball" by Korean fans and the media.

Hur, Kim Yoo-taek and Kang Dong-hee, dubbed the "Hur-Dong-Taek Trio", formed the core of the Chung-Ang University team which dominated college basketball during the 1980s and still regarded as one of the most legendary group of players in Chung-Ang history.

Along with center Han Ki-bum, the quartet were credited with breaking the duopoly of Yonsei University and Korea University in college basketball and raising the profile of Chung-Ang's basketball team, especially since the university was better known for producing actors and actresses at that time.

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he took the Athlete's Oath with handball player Son Mi-na.

He ultimately chose Chung-Ang and graduated in 1988.

In 1988, Hur joined Han and Kim at the Busan-based amateur basketball team of Kia Motors, which became Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus after its parent company bought over Kia.

At that time, Kia recruited a large number of Chung-Ang University players, including future Wonju Dongbu Promy coach Kim Young-man, into its team and dominated the main amateur-era competition, the National Basketball Festival (농구대잔치).

Kang later joined them and the reunited "Hur-Dong-Taek Trio" played a major role in Kia's continued domination of the National Basketball Festival competition.

Hur led the team to win the competition for five years straight (1988–1993) and for another back to back in (1995–1996), and he won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times.

Hur is widely regarded as the greatest South Korean basketball player of all time, with his prime in the early to mid 1990s.

Although his predominant position was at shooting guard, due to his ability to shoot from both inside and outside the paint, he possessed the aggressiveness and physicality to play under the post and the ball handling and passing skills typical of point guards, leading to him being described as the most all-rounded and versatile players in the history of domestic basketball.

He is the father of basketball players Heo Ung and Heo Hoon.

Hur is the youngest of four children and has an older brother and two older sisters.

On March 3, 1991, Hur was involved in an infamous brawl during a championship match against Hyundai, the amateur-era predecessor of Jeonju KCC Egis.

Early in the first half, he was elbowed by Hyundai's Im Dal-sik.

Hur furiously approached Im, pushing him in the head, and Im responded by hitting Hur with a right hand.

After both players were ejected, Hur confronted Im again, and Im's teammate, Kim Sung-wook connected with an uppercut to Hur's jaw.

Hur suffered a fractured jaw which took 3 months to heal.

Both Hur and Im were suspended for 6 months and Kim was suspended for 3 months following the incident.

Hur and Im, who later became a coach, have since reconciled.

The Kia team registered as one of the founding teams of the newly established professional league, the Korean Basketball League.

They won the first ever KBL Championship.

However, Kia's corporate sponsor was going through financial difficulties due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which had severely impacted South Korea.

The unstable finances also meant that Kia had difficulty recruiting younger players to replace aging and outgoing key players.

The aging team found themselves struggling to keep up with a younger Hyundai team led by Lee Sang-min, Cho Sung-won and Choo Seung-gyun.

Kia managed to reach the 1997–98 play-off finals but lost to Hyundai in a close race.

Hur was named play-off MVP, the only time the award went to a member of the losing team.

By then, relations with his head coach had deteriorated and Hur was accused of disrupting the team atmosphere, especially after he was charged with drunk driving.

He declared that at the end of the 1997–98 season that he would leave Kia regardless of the season's results.

After a decade with Busan Kia Enterprise, Hur was traded to Wonju Naray Blue Bird, now Wonju DB Promy.

He formed a tandem together with guard Shin Ki-sung, who had just been drafted that year.

With the drafting of center-forward Kim Joo-sung, the newly renamed Wonju TG Xers became a formidable team and were dubbed "Speed TG" due to a combination of Kim's rebounding and scoring prowess, Shin's speed and shooting accuracy, Hur's experience and versatility and foreign recruit Leon Derricks' physical strength.

During the 2002–03 regular season, Hur's playing time was reduced but he played a vital role by boosting team morale and contributing decisive points during the playoffs, especially in TG's hard-fought victory over defending champions Daegu Orions in the final; TG went on to win 4 out of the six games.

Hur retired at the end of the 2003–04 season.

TG Xers retired his number 9 jersey, a legacy inherited by its current successor team Wonju DB Promy.

Their father, who died in 2010, was a refugee from Sinuiju in present-day North Pyongan Province, North Korea.