How Filipino heritage helped Kansas coach Kurtis Townsend navigate life
MANILA, Philippines — Kansas' Fil-Am assistant coach Kurtis Townsend has learned much in his almost three decades in coaching.
But one of the most important truths that Townsend was able to pick up was not on the basketball court, rather as he mingled with the Filipino side of his family.
Ahead of Townsend's latest trip to the US NCAA Final Four with the Kansas Jayhawks, he spoke about the importance of his Filipino heritage in shaping himself as he grew older.
"You know, I actually feel bad for the people that don't have that kind of relationship," he said of his Filipino heritage.
"When I was young, I didn't realize what love was until I got around my mom's side of the family and everybody just loved each other and pulled for each other," he added.
Townsend, the brother of the first-ever Fil-Am in the NBA Raymond Townsend, traces his roots to Batangas as his maternal grandmother was born and raised there.
While thousands of miles away now from the Philippines, the 64-year-old says his family still had that same warm, Filipino feeling.
"Now, here we are in our 60s, 50s, and 40s, and my nieces, and my cousin's kids, [they] all pull for me," Townsend said.
"I get messages after games and it makes my heart full that I grew up in a Filipino family that had so much love around it," he continued.
Having encountered challenges along with his victories in his lengthy coaching career, Townsend said it was a relief to have someone like family to lean on.
"I would say that was the one thing my mom and her mom really instilled in us all, how important family is and that there was nothing more important than that. You know, when it came to life, that's who you're gonna have in your corner and really that's how it's been for me," he said.
"I'm just really lucky to have been born into the family that I was born into."
Next on the plate for Townsend and his Jayhawks, who coincidentally have one Fil-Am player in their roster in Remy Martin, are the Villanova Wildcats on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) as they attempt to make a return to the US NCAA Championship Game for the first time since 2012.
- Latest
- Trending
