On the men’s basketball team, senior forward Kirk Porter likes to be a doer, not a watcher. Though a foot injury sustained in the spring has kept him from playing and practicing so far this season, he is eager to play again as soon as possible.
Described as level-headed and humble by Head Men’s Basketball Coach Jeff Morgan, Porter has the most experience playing Harding basketball of anyone on the team, naturally making him a leader. At practice, Porter gives encouragement and advice to his teammates, but he said he looks forward to actually being able to play so that he can be an example.
His desire to be actively involved extends beyond the court. An exercise science major, Porter intends to go to physician assistant school after this year. He had originally planned to attend physical therapy school and was even accepted into Harding’s PT program, but he changed his focus when his grandfather became sick with leukemia.
“It made me want to do more of an interaction of helping clinically,” Porter said. “Being able to prescribe medicine, and more involvement. That’s what changed my mind was not being able to help him.”
Being a physician’s assistant will allow Porter to help patients more, he said, so he deferred the PT program and is able to play another year of Bison basketball.
When he does play, Porter makes a tough opponent. He is “explosive around the rim,” Morgan said, getting fouled a lot and getting to the free-throw line a lot. During the 2009-2010 school year, Porter averaged 10.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
Porter got his start playing basketball when he was in the fourth grade. Some parents from his hometown of Paragould, Ark., were dissatisfied with the city’s basketball league, so they formed a traveling basketball team called the Black Hawks and invited Porter to join.
Porter went on to play basketball in middle school and high school. He said he also loves football and baseball; he left his high school football team because it was not as good as he would have liked, and he continued with basketball because he enjoyed it so much. Porter received All-State honors as a senior in leading his high school to its first Arkansas Class 5A State Championship.
After receiving offers for full rides to both Harding and Missouri Southern University, Porter decided to become a Bison, in part to be closer to his family.
One of Porter’s favorite memories of Harding basketball is of a game against West Alabama, he said. The Bisons were down 11 points with a minute left, but they scored a few 3-pointers to catch up and then called a timeout with two seconds on the clock, and one of his teammates scored the winning basket at the buzzer.
After spending so much time with Porter, Morgan said it will be difficult to see him graduate.
“When [players] graduate and move on, it really is kind of like losing part of your family or watching a part of your family move on to another journey in their life,” Morgan said.
