In high school, Novich Hunter had a 93-94 mph fastball, five pitches, a 31-3 three-year record and a shot with the Cincinnati Reds. But they wanted him to concentrate on baseball. "I don't like to do just one thing," says Hunter.
As a prep fullback, Hunter had two 1,000-yard rushing years. He was sought by Notre Dame, Boston College, Clemson, South Carolina and Syracuse, but a broken foot as a senior made him wonder about college football; at least, "I didn't want to just play football in college," he says.In prep basketball, Hunter was all-state (Connecticut) and honorable mention All-America as a guard/forward. He went off to play basketball, his first love, at Division I St. Peter's College in Jersey City, N.J. There he played in all 29 regular-season games, starting 19, as a freshman.
Cut to: Last Saturday night, Smith Spectrum, Logan. Five minutes left, Utah State's lead is hardly safe, but the crowd of 10,000 is chanting early. "No-vich, No-vich." It's the last time home fans will get to see the affable senior role player with the Magic Johnson smile and enthusiasm, though USU has at least one game left Friday vs. Nevada in the Big West tourney in Reno.
The No-vich chant has started nearly every home game for two seasons; the next day, people he doesn't know will brag to Hunter that they were the one who started the Novich cheer that got him in with a minute left in the game.
Yes, it's the same Novich Hunter who had potential for impressive careers in three sports.
For the last two-plus years he's been a cult hero at USU, where he sat out a transfer year so he could walk onto the basketball team - but meantime walked onto the football team, gained 40 pounds and a scholarship and became a two-year sometime-starter playing offensive line for the first time in his life - then came back to sit on the basketball bench for two seasons.
"I have no regrets. I'd do it again in a heartbeat," says Hunter, who may try track next. "I wish they had a baseball team," he says.
Hunter's so happy with his choice to be USU's two-sport role player that he'll stay next year to pursue a master's as a graduate assistant for equipment man Craig Hopkins so he can stay close to football and basketball.
When he finally leaves USU, Hunter plans a career in law enforcement. Mother Evelyn is a Connecticut peace officer, and he's spent summers as a cop there. He wants to eventually work "pretty high up on the federal level of law enforcement" in the U.S. Marshall's office or Treasury Department.
After a sophomore season at St. Peter's in which he played in only 10 games, Hunter looked around. He gained weight. A scout who'd earned his trust years earlier, Dave Miller, was taking an assistant's job at USU and offered Hunter the chance to walk on just as friend Covington Cormier was transferring to USU from UConn. Hunter said yes without ever having seen Logan. "I wasn't crazy about it at first," he says. Logan isn't much like home in Stamford, Conn., 20 minutes from New York City, but, "it kind of grows on you," Hunter says. "This has been the best three years of my life."
Backing up big men Eric Franson, Silas Mills and Jon Wickizer is worthy of the 6-foot-3, 240-pounder who was 280 for football. "It doesn't hurt me," he says. "I know my role. Behind the scenes, I know what I do to help the team," he says, defining that as being, "A practice player, a big body inside to give the guys a good look" at opponents' tendencies.
He's satisfied with that partly because of his grandfather's advice that being a good athlete likely wouldn't be remembered, being a good person would. He taught him, "You're your own man if you can be respected as a person."
"I'd like to be remembered as a nice guy," Hunter says.