By Claire Regan ’80
No doubt about it. Churchill Bounds was born to play basketball.
At 6 feet 10 inches, he’s a towering presence on the Wagner College campus. “Wow, you’re the tallest person I’ve ever met,” he’s grown accustomed to hearing from perfect strangers.
He’s also a powerful forward on the Seahawks basketball team making its first NCAA Tournament game appearance since 2003 under Head Coach Donald Copeland.
This week, Bounds travels to Dayton, Ohio, where Wagner (16-15) faces Howard (18-16) in the tournament's first round at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday on truTV.
However, a knee injury last summer caused the 22-year-old Maryland native to redshirt through the season and into March Madness. Bounds is taking it all in stride as a true team player, focused on the thrill of the moment and eager to cheer his fellow Seahawks from the bench.
“Being with them every day and seeing them succeed — that’s all I need,” the sports administration major says. “Coach Copeland teaches us that it’s not about what you miss, it’s about looking forward to the next play.”
Because of interruptions caused by the pandemic and his injury, Bounds will spend two more years with the Seahawks.
“I have plenty of time left to play,” he says, brushing off any regrets.
Bounds was injured shortly after arriving on campus as a transfer student from the University of Central Arkansas, and just before the team was heading to the U.S. Virgin Islands. During practice in the Spiro Sports Center, he severely damaged the cartilage in his right knee.
“I couldn’t bend my knee and it kept locking in place,” he recalls. “I knew something was not right.”
He underwent a two-hour operation at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, where Dr. Riley J. Williams III, head orthopedic surgeon for several professional teams, performed a mosaicplasty/cartilage transplant to successfully repair the cushion between the shinbone and thighbone.
It wasn’t the first time Bounds went under the knife. As a sixth grader, he fell off his bike and hit a trash can, breaking several bones in his left hand.
Since his knee surgery, he has focused on a daily regimen of physical therapy, conditioning and weight training and has been easing back into practice for the past month. Along the way, he’s assumed the unofficial role of “sideline coach,” offering encouragement and feedback to his teammates during practice and games.
“There’s more than one way to contribute to the team,” he points out.
The Seahawks have had only seven healthy scholarship players in uniform for the last two-thirds of the season, which makes their NCAA bid that much more commendable. Zae Blake, Di’andre Howell-South, Rahmir Moore, Rob Taylor II, and Zaire Williams have kept Bounds company on the sideline.
The Seahawks stick together 24/7, Bounds says, and have been savoring their 54-47 NEC Tournament championship win over Merrimack College on March 12 with media interviews and celebratory meals — along with preparation for the upcoming challenge in Dayton.
Bounds is enjoying an internship this semester coaching kids with disabilities at Because We Can Sports, a Staten Island organization that teaches beginner-level athletes the fundamentals in a judgment-free environment.
His goals include going professional overseas, preferably in Italy, the Netherlands, or the United Kingdom.
“I want to travel the world,” he says.
His family — parents, Hank Bounds and Louise Hillman, and brothers, Alden and Jake — will be watching the Tuesday tournament on television.
Bounds is more excited than nervous about the showdown.
“It’s been a helluva ride,” he says. “We’ve earned everything we got, and everyone’s so excited to see what we can do.”
Read more at Wagner Athletics.
