(Editor's note: This is the seventh in a series of feature profiles on this year's Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor selections that will be posted every Thursday, leading up to the Nov. 22 Hall of Fame banquet.) 
 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
        
People can save for a lifetime to have just one European vacation.
        
Curtis Jerrells has spent nearly a third of his life globetrotting around the world playing basketball in places like Belgrade, Serbia, Murcia, Spain, Istanbul Turkey, Milano and Sassari, Italy, Kazan, Russia, and Jerusalem.
        
"I've gotten to experience a lot of different cultures, a lot of different countries, a lot of different people," said Jerrells, part of the 2019 class for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame that will be inducted Nov. 22.

"You can make a good living here, and the people support you and appreciate you. Some people save up a lifetime just to make one trip over to Europe, and I get to hang out over here, free room and board, and play a little basketball while I'm at it."

This year, the 6-foot-1 guard is playing for Dinamo Sassari, which is actually his fourth year in Italy. In a 10-year pro career that started with the San Antonio Spurs' D-League team in Austin, Jerrells has won championships in Serbia, Spain and Turkey and was named the Israeli League Cup MVP three years ago with Hapoel Jerusalem.

"European basketball isn't for everybody," he said. "You have to be away from friends and family and just overall the norm. But for me, I have really enjoyed it. it's like an extended vacation for me, being able to play in different countries, to get to travel and see different things. Eventually, it feels like home, but then you have to move and start all over again."

Jerrells didn't have to move too far from home when he graduated from Del Valle High School in the Austin area. Part of Baylor coach Scott Drew's first recruiting class, he was a 4A all-state pick as a senior when he averaged 20.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists in leading the Cardinals to the region championship game.

Along with Kevin Rogers and Henry Dugat, Jerrells was part of the group that took the Bears from the bottom of the Big 12 to their first NCAA Tournament berth in 20 years in 2008.

"That was one of the reasons why I chose Baylor, because I wanted to kind of pave my own way and sort of our own way with that group of guys," said Jerrells, the only player in program history to lead the Bears in scoring and assists for four years. "At the time, you don't realize how big of a change and how important it was to the school, to the community and even to yourself. Looking back on it now, I see how much that really meant to myself and the school."

A first-team All-Big 12 pick as a junior, when the Bears lost to Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Jerrells averaged a career-high 16.3 points the next year in leading Baylor to the NIT championship game at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

"Being able to go to Madison Square Garden and play there for the first time was a really pivotal moment for me," he said. "That's the basketball mecca. I really wanted to be playing in the NCAA Tournament, but the good times far outweighed the bad in my four years there in Waco."

Like so many of the former players, Curtis returns to Baylor in the summer to work out with the team and get his game ready for wherever the next stop may be.

"It's funny, because I was actually sitting in that same seat," he said. "And you have guys who were here before you that are talking to you. You listen, but at that point you think you've got it figured out, or you want to try your way. But when you get to the other side of the fence, you see where those guys were coming from and why they want to share their knowledge and try to get in your head some of those bumps and curves you're going to run into."

Baylor's most successful run began the year after Jerrells left, when the Bears made the first of two Elite Eight appearances. But, he said the Bears' rise to national prominence has not been surprising in the least.

"One thing about that group of coaches is they would never let us think or dwell on anything negative," he said. "Their energy is always positive, it was always about the next step – what are we going to do moving forward? When you're that positive, eventually you kind of speak things into existence, and then you pass that energy to the whole group. I could definitely see it coming, but Coach Drew and his staff have done an amazing job with that program."

Ten years later, Jerrells ranks fourth in program history in scoring (1,820) and 3-pointers made (217), second in assists (487), third in steals (159) and fifth in free throws made (401).
"It's crazy to think it's been 10 years," said the 32-year-old Jerrells, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. "It didn't really sink in and it still hasn't. But, the more I get calls from friends and family, the more I start to understand how important it is and how great of an achievement this really is."

Joining Jerrells in the 2019 Hall of Fame class are former All-Americans Ryan Baca from men's golf and Lauren Hagans Paquette from track & field, football players John Adickes, Steve Beaird and Robin Jones, softball's Lisa Ferguson Murphy and baseball's Josh Ford. Additionally, Mark Hurd (posthumously) and Jody Conradt will be added to the Wall of Honor. 
          
The Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, in the Brazos Room at the Waco Convention Center. Tickets cost $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available for $600 (green) and $800 (gold), and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at Tammy_Hardin@baylor.edu.