Hur Jae is a South Korean retired basketball coach and former player.
32 Facts About Hur Jae
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Hur Jae's 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.
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Hur Jae is widely regarded as the greatest South Korean basketball player of all time, with his prime in the early to mid 1990s.
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Hur Jae is the father of basketball players Heo Ung and Heo Hoon.
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Hur Jae is the youngest of four children and has an older brother and two older sisters.
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Hur Jae graduated from Sangmyung Primary School in 1978, Yongsan Middle School in 1981 and Yongsan High School in 1984.
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In 1988, Hur Jae 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.
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Hur Jae led the team to win the competition for five years straight and for another back to back in, and he won the Most Valuable Player three times.
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On March 3,1991, Hur Jae was involved in an infamous brawl during a championship match against Hyundai, the amateur-era predecessor of Jeonju KCC Egis.
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Hur Jae furiously approached Im, pushing him in the head, and Im responded by hitting Hur Jae with a right hand.
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Hur Jae suffered a fractured jaw which took 3 months to heal.
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Hur Jae was named play-off MVP, the only time the award went to a member of the losing team.
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Hur Jae formed a tandem together with guard Shin Ki-sung, who had just been drafted that year.
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Hur Jae competed in two Summer Olympics, earning his best finish of ninth in men's team event at Seoul in 1988.
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Hur Jae participated in the 1995 ABC Championship hosted on home soil and was named MVP despite losing to China in the final.
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Hur Jae expressed his interest in coaching after retiring and was sent to the United States.
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Hur Jae was on the coaching staff of the Pepperdine University men's basketball team.
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In 2005, Hur Jae returned to South Korea to become the head coach of KBL team Jeonju KCC Egis.
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Hur Jae broke the stereotype of star athletes failing as head coaches by leading the team to two KBL Championship titles, becoming the first former player-turned-coach to have won the Championship as a player and a head coach.
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Hur Jae had been livid with Hong's decision as he felt that his player had been fouled and protested to Hong, although to no avail.
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At the 2014 rookie draft, Hur Jae came under intense media scrutiny when his older son, a shooting guard and junior at Yonsei University, declared eligibility early and entered the draft.
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Hur Jae had envisioned a "dream team" helmed by Ha Seung-jin, Kim Min-goo and Kim Tae-sul, who was signed via a two-player trade, but it never materialized due to Kim Min-goo's accident, Kim Tae-sul's slump in form and Ha Seung-jin's frequent injuries.
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In February 2015, Hur Jae announced his resignation after the last game of the fifth round, citing the team's poor results and stress affecting his physical health as the reasons.
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Hur Jae had steered the team to two Championship titles and six appearances in the playoffs during his ten seasons, accruing 252 wins in 531 games as head coach.
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Hur Jae was known for his fiery temperament and propensity for arguing with referees and match officials, resulting in him being fined a number of times for unsporting behavior.
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In 2009 and 2011, Hur Jae had brief stints as head coach of the South Korean national team, an appointment he held concurrently with his position at Jeonju KCC Egis.
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Hur Jae resigned after the Asian Games and was succeeded by his assistant Kim Sang-shik.
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Hur Jae has dismissed returning to the KBL in a coaching position.
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Alongside his former national teammates Seo Jang-hoon and Hyun Joo-yup, Hur Jae was among the earliest retired basketball stars to regularly star on entertainment programs.
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In May 2022, Hur Jae was appointed chief executive of Dayone Asset Management, the new owners of Goyang Carrot Jumpers, leading him to withdraw from the MBC show Household Mate.
31.
In 1992, Hur Jae married sculptor Lee Mi-soo after meeting her during an off-season trip to Busan.
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Hur Jae has stated that both sons never formally learned to play basketball from him since he and his wife had been adamantly opposed to them becoming professional athletes.