Hyun Joo-yup

Hyun Joo-yup (born 27 July 1975) is a South Korean former professional basketball player and head coach.

He is regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time in the Korean Basketball League (KBL).

Hyun was given the moniker "Magic Hippo", "The Lord of the Military", "Point Forward" and "Korean Charles Barkley" for his size, versatility, and dominance.

He is known for being the only player who broke the backboard in Korean basketball history.

Hyun's career coincided with the founding of the professional league, having been drafted at the first ever KBL draft.

The two are childhood friends, the latter who is a year senior of the former was present in his elementary graduation in 1988.

Hyun, who was a sixth grade student in Seoul Dosung Elementary School, applied for Whimoon Middle School and went to a tryout for the school’s basketball team.

Hyun was accepted to Whimoon but was rejected to be a part of the basketball squad since he failed to meet the required physique and skills.

Hyun, who was a freshman at Whimoon, walked into the basketball tryout again, and in his second attempt, he was accepted.

Hyun started playing basketball at the age of 14.

Hyun’s friend, Seo Jang-hoon, whose first sports was baseball, picked up his interest in basketball around the same time as him.

The inexperienced duo practiced together at the corners of the court.

Hyun, who only stepped inside the court in his second year, was mostly benched during his first year together with Seo due to the lack of skills.

The two benchwarmers would end up going to the swimming pool to watch the game from outside the court.

Later on, the pair led their high school team to winning basketball matches.

In Hyun’s high school playing career, he is noted for setting the record for most points scored in a high school basketball game, a record that still stands to this day, scoring 63 points without playing full-time.

In a press conference on March 31, 1993, Hyun’s advancement to Korea University was made public.

In an interview, Hyun shared that he initially wanted to join Yonsei University, the leading college basketball team at that time, because he can win a championship ring easily without putting a lot of effort.

However, his father, a graduate of Korea University, advised him that looking for an easy path in his basketball career will not help him progress, but instead it will lead to his decline because he will be staying inside his comfort zone and will not be seeing any growth.

After much thought, Hyun decided to join the Anamgol Tigers to challenge himself to grow and develop as a player and help the runner-up Korea University beat the winning Yonsei University.

As a member of the senior national team for more than a decade, Hyun competed in two FIBA World Cups (1994, 1998), three Asian Games (1994, 1998, 2002), four FIBA Asia Cups (1995, 1997, 1999, 2005), one Olympics (1996) and one East Asian Games (1997).

Hyun played for Korea University from 1994 to 1998 and led its success in the 1990s.

Hyun is noted for leading the South Korean squad in winning its first Asian Games gold medal after 20 years during the 2002 Asian Games despite being injured.

The former number one draft pick battled an injury-ravaged career which led to his retirement in 2009.

His father, Hyun Jin-gu (1944 – 2 April 2009) ran a garment manufacturing business.

Hong Sung-hwa, his mother, is a former national basketball player, which Hyun was unaware of until his second year in middle school, when she came to watch his game and his coach recognized her.

Hyun and basketball player Seo Jang-hoon attended the same school from elementary, middle school to high school.

In 2012, Hyun earned the KBL Legend All-Star selection.

After his retirement, Hyun had a broadcasting stint as a basketball commentator for MBC Sports Plus from 2014 until 2017 and was named 2017 Jumpball Commentator of the Year.

Since 2015, Hyun has been appearing in Korean entertainment and variety shows.

Hyun was born in Seoul, South Korea, the youngest of three sons.

In an episode of the SBS TV show Finding Genius which aired on February 3, 2016, Hyun revealed that basketball player Seok Joo-il, a teammate in middle school and high school, called him and Seo and he told the two of them to quit basketball since they don’t have any talent in playing.

After hearing Seok’s words, Hyun said that it became his motivation to improve.

Determined to become good at basketball, Hyun taught himself by watching videos of his favorite basketball figure, NBA star Magic Johnson, who inspired him to play.

In admiration for Johnson, he wore number 32.

Hyun garnered the attention of college scouts and was sought by prestigious universities in South Korea because of his promising ability.

Billed as a high valued asset for his advantage to leap and shoot the ball as a big man, including his untapped potential in other aspects of the game, Hyun’s recruitment received a wide media coverage.

The nation’s top two basketball colleges, Korea University and Yonsei University, were out in a fierce competition to land Hyun, who was a high school senior, on their teams.

He was named into the KBL All-Time Legend 12 in 2017.

He also served as the head coach of the Changwon LG Sakers for three seasons from 2017 before stepping down in 2020, leading them to a playoffs berth in 2019 after four years of being at the bottom.