CHICAGO (WLS) — Gentry Hunt, an advanced biology teacher with a passion for mentoring, doubles as a volunteer basketball coach at East-West University. On a day like any other, after leaving his coaching duties, he made his way to the St. Sabina basketball gym in Auburn Gresham, unknowingly stepping into the path of danger. A stray bullet from an altercation he wasn’t involved in struck him in the shoulder.
“As the medics pressed against my wound, trying desperately to staunch the bleeding, I gazed up at the sky,” Hunt recounted. “In those precious seconds, I found myself grateful, whispering a prayer of thanks for the life I still had.”
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Now recuperating at his home on Chicago’s West Side, Hunt reflected on the incident, showcasing the clothes he wore that fateful Sunday afternoon. The path of the bullet was stark, leaving visible entry and exit holes in the fabric.
“Before I left, my sixth graders signed my shirt with a Sharpie. They were sad to see me go,” Hunt shared, pointing to the heartfelt messages and names inscribed on the back. “This shirt carries their words, their warmth.”
Hunt had been en route to St. Sabina’s gymnasium, eager to engage in a one-on-one basketball tournament when gunfire erupted, altering the course of his day.
Hunt was walking up to St. Sabina’s gymnasium Sunday to participate in a one-on-one basketball tournament when the shooting broke out.
The founder of ProCreate Academy, Hunt is dedicated in part to keeping young boys and men off the streets through basketball.
“I train kids and give them skills, not only as basketball players but as students, to be able to take their skills and put them all in one pot and figure out what’s the best thing they can do,” Hunt said.
Hunt is lucky. The bullet did not hit any major arteries or bones. And yet, he can only wonder.
“A couple of inches in either direction and things could have been different. It was kind of a wakeup call for me in how short life can be, and how intentional I have to be with every single moment in my life, and intentional with every single student and every student-athlete,” Hunt said.
And even as Chicago police have released pictures of two men and a car they are trying to locate in connection with the shooting that injured two others, Hunt says he bears no ill will toward the man who shot him.
“I know that bullet wasn’t intended for me. But it did hit me, and I do want them to understand that not only did it hit him, but you could have killed someone,” Hunt said.
The outpouring of support has been such that Hunt’s organized a gathering of his students past and present Friday at East-West’s gymnasium.
And even though it’s only been a few days, he says might even test out his shoulder on the basketball court.
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