In His Own Words: Brown Legend of Ivy League Basketball Jim Turner '86

By Jim Turner, Brown '86

IvyLeague.com: Why did you choose to attend an Ivy League institution?
Jim:Ivy League schools offer the opportunity for a tremendous education combined with top-level athletic competition. I could attend classes taught by Nobel laureates (with classmates who might be future Nobel laureates) while playing basketball against teams like Providence College and UNC where my opponents might be (and in fact did become) NBA players.

IvyLeague.com: What comes to mind when you think about the Ivy League?
Jim:Academically, Ivy League means the top of the hill. Athletically, it means having both teammates and opponents where the basketball competition is intensely serious, but also where the competition is only one facet of each of us as individuals; we were student-athletes and the athletic component was what we did, not who we were.

IvyLeague.com: How do you feel your Ivy League experience helped prepare you for your career?
Jim:When Brown won its first men's Ivy League basketball title, that accomplishment instilled in me a confidence and self-belief that has never left me since that day. Brown was not supposed to win, in fact we were picked to finish at best seventh in an eight-team league. But we won, and that meant to me, and I believe all my teammates, that any goal we might set in our careers can be achieved against even very steep odds.

IvyLeague.com: What athletic accomplishment are you the most proud of/has the most significance to you?
Jim:Winning the Ivy title is the memory I will cherish forever. Winning Player of the Year was of course nice recognition for individual effort and a boost for the ego, but the individual effort was all to bring about success for the team, and the fact that through grit and luck (we needed certain teams to win and others to lose that final weekend), that we ended up on top was the greatest team effort that I have been a part of to this day.

IvyLeague.com: What off-court accomplishment are you most proud of/has the most significance to you?
Jim:Family. I have a wonderful wife, Theresa, for over 28 years now, and we have four children who mean the world to us.

IvyLeague.com:What is your most memorable experience from your time as an Ivy League student-athlete?
Jim:Playing in front of large crowds. Brown was not a "basketball" school, and I recall one home game my senior year over winter break we had what seemed about at most 60 people in the stands. But then we started winning and by the end of the season Marvel Gym regularly had 2,000 fans in the bleachers. And for the NCAA game against Syracuse there were 20,000 people watching us. Team travel was also a great experience. I had not traveled much out of the northeast prior to college, and with the team we went to California, Florida, and Montana, to name a few places, and traveling with friends on the team provided great life memories. We were serious about playing winning-basketball, but to the great credit of Coach Mike Cingiser and the Athletics Director John Parry, we were able to take advantage of the locations we visited – such as attending the Rose Bowl and tubing in the Beartooth mountains.

IvyLeague.com: How did your Ivy League experience compare to your expectations?
Jim:My expectations were exceeded. Basketball practice every day and studying a huge number of hours can easily become drudgery. But at Brown it wasn't. And the key was that, on both the team and at the school in general, we were all there to support each other. There was competition both athletically and academically – who will start, who got the best grade – but at the same time we all supported each other to help each other be the best we could be. It was a very positive environment.

IvyLeague.com: What would you share with a prospect deciding on attending either an Ivy or non-Ivy League school?
Jim:If you want to go to the NBA after one year in college, clearly there are other conferences better-suited to that approach. But if you want to challenge yourself academically and athletically while preparing for a life after college that could mean either the NBA or an MBA, then the Ivy League is the best choice.

IvyLeague.com: What does it mean to you to be a Legend of Ivy League Basketball?
Jim:Being named a "Legend" is a tremendous honor. Relative to my wife and children, who have only heard me tell stories that I used to be a pretty good basketball player, it's validation that I was telling the truth! But more seriously, I appreciate the recognition that went into working extremely hard to achieve success. I was not a "natural" basketball player; I loved playing basketball, and I was very tall, but it took a lot of work to become good…probably way more than the 10,000 hours it supposedly takes to become expert at something.

IvyLeague.com: What are you looking forward to most about the Ivy League Basketball Tournaments?
Jim:I look forward to the competition – I have seen the intensity of the games prior years on TV and I can't wait to be part of the atmosphere in person.

IvyLeague.com: Are you still involved with your alma mater, and if so how?
Jim:The annual all-years basketball reunion weekend is an annual highlight. And two of my children are currently students, which is a great draw to visit the campus (maybe more frequently than my kids like!).

Jim Turnerwas a Brown men's basketball student-athlete from 1982-86. He is a member of the 2019 Class of Legends of Ivy League Basketball that will be formally honored during the 2019 Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments on Saturday, March 16, at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn. Purchase tickets at IvyMadness.com.

Brown University Athletics

In His Own Words: Brown Legend of Ivy League Basketball Jim Turner '86

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