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Billy Humphrey Leaves His Mark on UGA Basketball

by Chanelle White
04/24/2007

For one Georgia Bulldogs guard, Athens offers basketball and a short trip to see his mother.

Nineteen-year-old Billy Humphrey is a sophomore here at the University of Georgia and has been in the Classic City long enough to recognize the opportunities available - and those that aren't.

Humphrey is originally from the Southside of Chicago. He moved to Georgia just before the start of high school to become a Dacula Falcon. During his time at Dacula High School in Gwinnett County, he continued to perfect the position he would play years later for the Dogs.

"I've played since third or fourth grade," Humphrey said of his sport, and pointed up at his East Campus apartment wall to a young picture of him holding a basketball.

The little boy in the picture is a far cry from his current 6-foot-2-inch frame, fondling a basketball and hanging his red and white sneakers over his bed.

He has always been an athlete in every sense. He's tumbled, briefly attempted karate, participated in gymnastics, and in true Bulldog fashion, played receiver and deepback out on the turf.

Despite this experimentation, his passion continued to push him into the gym - and away from his studies. A self-proclaimed slacker when it came to his high school studies, Humphrey readily admitted to not devoting as much time to studying as he could have.

"I was doing a lot of things I shouldn't have been doing. I did just enough to get by," he said, still spinning his basketball.

Some of his interests included spending time with his friends and shopping. Back in Illinois, he also enjoyed skating a lot, something he said southerners don't do as much.

"I went to Cascade," he said, referring to a popular skating rink in Atlanta he visited not long ago. "It was spontaneous."

It also happened to be his first time skating since 6th grade. The activity is just one of the things he misses.

Off season, he has trouble finding things to do in Athens. The city's well known drinking scene doesn't appeal to him as an athlete and his high school friends are still at home.

During the basketball season, however, Humphrey is very busy. Outside of wanting to remain near his mother in Atlanta, the sport is what brought Humphrey to Athens.

This season, he averaged 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, and aims higher for his upcoming seasons. Right now, though, he thinks he is doing well.

"I would like to think I'm making my mark," he said.

His closest friend at the university, sophomore guard Mike Mercer, is also working hard.

They formed a friendship playing together in Amateur Athletic Union, a traveling basketball league, and their relationship strengthened throughout Humphrey's first year.

The year was one of freshman excitement and unexpected tragedy. Humphrey and Mercer shared an athletic dorm with the late Kevin Brophy who passed away after an accident in 2006.

"Brophy was like a brother to everybody on the team," he said, glancing down at a tattoo on his forearm.

His death was a devastating blow to the team. The tattoo Humphrey has in memorial is a symbolic gesture serving as a personal marker of respect.

He has many other tattoos for everything else.

"They each have individual meaning," he said. He looked down at his bits of body art and smiled.

He has tattoos for his mother, his grandmother, his great-grandmother; tattoos on his arms, his back, his legs; and tattoos motivating himself—all the result of a spree that began only in May 2005.

"I remember when he didn't have any," Men's Basketball Coach Dennis Felton said. "His mom actually discovered his first one on a visit here."

It may be no wonder that one of his favorite tattoos says, "Mama's Boy," the special woman you will find him with on the weekends.