Published: January 17, 2009 11:58 pm      

There’s more to Tech’s Slack than just hoops

The date was circled in permanent marker on the schedule of West Virginia University Tech’s Darryl Slack.

Jan. 17, 2009.

A memorable date for the Golden Bears’ two guard, to be sure. His birthday. His 23rd birthday, to be exact.

And on the schedule that day was Mountain State University, long a perennial power in NAIA basketball.

“As soon as coach (Bob Williams) released the schedule, over the summer, I worked out and played pick-up games with one thing on my mind: this game,” Slack said Saturday after the crowd had all but vanished and the Tech team was celebrating a 96-91 win over NAIA Division I No. 1 MSU. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be a great birthday present right there, to win that game?’ Every workout, every game, I thought about this game.”

That drive, that push, that motivation played a key part in Slack, a Georgia native, scoring 31 points and hitting 17-of-18 free throws in the upset.

Slack simply outplayed and outhustled the opposition and the product of that effort was a victory that should help the Bears break into the national poll. At least they should get some votes.

For all his basketball prowess, there is more to Slack than the obvious fact he is one heck of a basketball player.

The product of a single-parent home, Slack once lived with the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard. He also lived with his godparents while attending high school.

He is also the leader of the Golden Bears’ Fellowship of Christian Athletes Huddle.

That started years ago.

“When I was a freshman in high school, I went to Southwest Atlanta Christian School,” Slack said. “Coming out of the public schools in middle school, I thought I was going there to play basketball. But I got more than just basketball. I developed a relationship with Jesus Christ. I gave my life to Christ when I was a freshman and I’ve been that way since. I take a lot of pride in trying to be the man God wants me to be every day.”

“While other kids are out doing what college kids do on the weekend, he’s either playing basketball, playing chess at the dorms or reading the Bible,” Tech coach Bob Williams said. “He’s a great kid. (Having a great game against No. 1 MSU) couldn’t have happened to a better kid.”

Chess?

Yes, Slack is a self-made chess player. And he’s almost as good at that thinking man’s game as he is at basketball, though MSU might not agree after his display Saturday, when he had all the right moves.

“I’m the chess king of the campus,” Slack said when asked if he was the dorm champion. “I started playing when I was a junior in high school. I love the game.”

So much so he eschews the typical jock’s favorite hobby, video games.

“Oh no, I’d much rather play chess than a video game,” he said. “I like to play as often as possible. I wanted to be a chess master, but I didn’t make it. I guess I was too busy with basketball to devote the time it takes to reach (that status). But someday, I’d like to be like Bobby Fischer (who gained fame by beating Soviet champion Boris Spassky in 1972, during the Cold War). I read a couple of articles about him in some chess magazines. I just get a lot of satisfaction from the game. I own about five or six chess sets. It’s a great game.”

Great games and Darryl Slack seem to go hand-in-hand.