Nathan Bain
Nathan Bain
Nathan Bain is an American student and basketball player at Stephen F. Austin State University who was born in Freeport, Bahamas [6]
Personal Life
Nathan Bain was born in Freeport, Bahamas and was later raised in Wichita, Kansas. He was born into a religious household as his father, Norris, is a minister who runs the local Tabernacle Baptist Church, which includes an affiliated K–12 school with an enrollment of about 800 students. Sadly, his family's house was severely damaged when hurricane Dorian passed through, although nobody from the congregation was harmed. The category 5 storm also razed the tabernacle and school. His family was able to raise $117,000 from a successful GoFundMe campaign after Nathan Bain led Stephen F. Austin State University to a win over Duke University on November 26th 2019. [8]
Education
Nathan Bain attended Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas where he played basketball for the Buffaloes and held a 69-9 record through three years. He went on to Stephen F. Austin State University and spent four years playing as a forward with the Lumberjacks under the jersey number 23. [7]
Lumberjacks Basketball
In his first year of playing, Bain was part of an SFA squad that posted a perfect 18-0 Southland Conference record, won a Southland Conference record fourth-straight outright regular season title, won the Southland Conference Tournament for the third-straight season and won the program's second-ever NCAA tournament. [6]
From 2016-2017 Bain only played three games due to an unfortunate back injury. Next season, Bain scored a eight points in a Southland Conference home victory over Central Arkansas and helped the Lumberjacks win the Southland Conference Tournament. [6]
From 2018-2019 Nathan Bain set a score of personal records.
He played all 30 games averaged 5.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.4 blocked shots in 27.0 minutes per game and shooting splits of.479/.359/.610. He threw three three-pointers during a win over Milwaukee in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic. [6]
Buzzer Beater Against Duke
Stephen F. Austin State University and Duke University were tied at 83-83 with only 10 seconds left in the game. Duke's Matthew Hurt couldn't get a handle on the ball when he received a hard bounce pass. The Lumberjacks' Gavin Kensmil scrambled for the ball and managed to pass it to Bain who was alone near midcourt. Without hesitation Bain drove the rock down the court for the game-winning layup, just as the shot clock expired. Officials had to take a second look at the play, but ultimately decided that the shot was good. In a post game interview, Bain recalled riding the intense pressure:[9][20]
"I saw my teammate grab it, and I looked up at the clock.
We had about 2.6 seconds.
I said, 'I've got to get on my horse,' I just go as fast as I can to try and lay it up.
It's like a layup drill, and I can feel the dude on my back, so I laid it up and prayed it goes in"
GoFundMe For Nathan's Family
A GoFundMe was set up in Nathan's family's name in September of 2019 to help them rebuild from Hurricane Dorian damage. It had an initial goal of $25,000 and had already raised $2,000 in the two months it had been up, however, fans started donating in droves during his heated game against Duke University on November 26th, 2019. By 9 a.m. the next day, the amount raised had gone from $2,000 to $117,000. [9]
A spokeswoman from GoFundMe named Aja Shepherd said the Bain family's page was the second-most popular campaign that day, surpassed only by a page for the victims of an Albanian earthquake that killed at least 30 and injured more than 650. The Bain family campaign took money from more than 1,900 donors from all 50 states giving an average of $36. A large number of people gave $23 donations in honor of his jersey number and left comments thanking him for beating the Blue Devils. Bain responded to the outpoor of love by saying:[9]
"I was just in disbelief at what basketball had done for my family.
It was truly a blessing."
He went on to show gratitude for what the donations can do for those affected in his families church:[9]
"We just want to make sure we get the people around us taken care of at the church, at the school.
That's really our main focus, to make sure everyone has a place to worship and to make sure the school is taken care of so these kids can get a proper education."