Kris Murray another who took unlikely path from Cedar Rapids to sports fame

Somewhere out there is the land of the 5-stars, can’t-miss athletes who have greatness projected onto them before they’ve even reached middle school.

Not in Cedar Rapids. Here, in the words of the late, great Tina Turner, we never ever do nothin’ nice and easy. For some reason, our athletic legends start out on roads that don’t seem likely to get you where you want to go.

Our two-time NFL MVP quarterback, Kurt Warner, was a backup at Northern Iowa for three years, then played in the Arena Football League and NFL Europe on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Who does that?

Our two-time major-championship winner and 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, Zach Johnson, played his college golf at Drake and climbed from the Prairie and Hooters tours to 12 PGA Tour wins. Who does that?

Now we claim two NBA first-round draft choices, Keegan and Kris Murray. McDonald’s All-Americans? Uh, no. Subjects of recruiting wars? Not in the slightest.

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The first 13 players picked in Thursday’s draft are teens. Kris Murray, selected No. 23 by the Portland Trail Blazers, will be 23 when he plays his first NBA game. The NBA draft is no country for old men.

Twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson were the Nos. 4 and 5 picks of the draft. They passed on college and played in Overtime Elite, a pro league for 16- to 20-year-olds. Scoot Henderson, Murray’s teammate-to-be in Portland, was the No. 3 pick after spurning college to spend a year with pro team G League Ignite.

The Murrays? They went to Iowa, but not right out of high school. Their parents had them go to DME Academy in Florida first after the only Division I offers they got were from Western Illinois.

How blue-chip were Keegan and Kris? When Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery signed them out of DME in the spring of 2020, many people in these parts questioned if it were a waste of two scholarships.

It was something quite the opposite.

Iowa, by the way, didn’t have a player drafted in the NBA’s first round from 1999 until Keegan Murray last year. That’s the fellow who was on the NBA’s All-Rookie team this year for the Sacramento Kings.

Now, said the Murrays’ father Thursday night at Kris’ draft watch party at an Iowa City hotel, “I think there have been kids signed and are now here on campus because of Kris and Keegan. They’ve opened up doors to look at Iowa because of the way they play.”

Kenyon Murray played at Iowa, and said he’s resigned himself to the fact he was the third-best Hawkeye in his family. But he sure knew how to steer his sons toward becoming the top two, and going to even higher ground than the Big Ten.

“Did I think we’d be here four years ago?” Murray said. “No, we were packing them up, going to Florida. So it’s just been awesome as a parent to see them stick to a plan, stay dedicated, and then basically reap the benefits of all their hard work over the last four years.

“As a dad, it’s crazy because I never saw it. I was struggling to get them a D-I offer when I was their AAU coach.”

Kenyon Murray is from Michigan, the state that gave the NBA Magic Johnson and Devin Booker and Draymond Green and so many other great players. Kenyon and his wife, Michelle, raised their family in Cedar Rapids, which had been home to more “Survivor” winners than players who spent an entire season in the NBA.

No, we never do nothin’ nice and easy here in Cedar Rapids. But when we send people to the sports stratosphere, they sure do arrive with great stories.

And like the Warners and Johnsons, the Murrays will never say or do anything to make people from Cedar Rapids anything but proud.

Alrighty then. Who’s next?

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com