Every Dartmouth student is familiar with the line from the alma mater, "Though 'round the girdled earth they roam, her spell on them remains." However, Flinder Boyd '02 is taking those words quite literally.
Boyd, a former captain of the Big Green men's basketball team, and Dartmouth's all-time single-game and career assists leader, recently signed a professional basketball contract with STB Le Havre of France's Ligue Nationale de Basketball (Division A).
Boyd will join three other Big Green alumni playing professional basketball in Europe, including Greg Buth '01, Boyd's former teammate, who plays for the Spanish club Circulo Badajoz. Boyd says that Buth was a tremendous help to him in pursuing a basketball career in Europe, as Buth advised Boyd on making highlight tapes and securing the services of an agent.
Other Dartmouth alumni playing overseas include James Blackwell '91 and Crawford Palmer '92. Palmer, who transferred to Dartmouth after winning an NCAA Championship with Duke, became a naturalized French citizen, and was a member of the French national team that won a silver medal in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
According to Boyd, he first thought of pursuing a basketball career in Europe during the Big Green's September 2000 tour of Portugal. During the 18-day trip, Boyd, then entering his junior year, was impressed by the level of competition in Europe, and started to think of "how much fun it would be" to play professionally there.
This past season, as Boyd shot 49.8% from the floor and led the Big Green in scoring (14.4 points per game) and assists (with 4.2 per game), coaches in Europe started to think of "how much fun it would be" to have Boyd running their offenses.
According to Jake Wilson, publisher and editor of the Ivy League fan website ivybasketball.com, "Boyd's remarkable transformation last year from an all-pass, no-shoot point guard into arguably the league's top point guard undoubtedly piqued the interest of Le Havre."
Another thing that likely piqued Le Havre's interest is that Boyd, by virtue of his British passport (Boyd's father is a British citzen), does not count against the team's quota of two American players.
More important than Boyd's passport, however, are his abilities on the court. According to Dartmouth forward Tyler Davis '04, who has played with Boyd for the past two seasons, "Playing with Flinder was an experience, because he knows how to get people the ball when they are in a position to score."
Center Scott Klingbeil '04 added, "In his four years here at Dartmouth, [Flinder] was always near the top of the league in assists, simply because he was able to read the court so well. During his final year here, he also became a legitimate scoring option, and point guards that can score and distribute are hard to find. STB Le Havre should be able to find success with Flinder leading their team."
Success has been hard to come by for Le Havre recently. The team finished 7-23 last year, in a four-way tie for 13th place in the 16-team A-Division. Boyd's signing is to be part of a a widespread rebuilding effort by Le Havre, and Boyd " one of only four Ivy basketball players to graduate with 1,000 points and 500 assists to his credit " hopes to lead the team to greener pastures.
The French league's pacing will be familiar to Boyd. While the team begins play in October, the thirty-game season runs through June, as the team plays one game each week. Having played in the Ivy League, where teams typically play two games each weekend (with non league contests scattered in between), Boyd is used to having long stretches between games.
One thing Boyd won't be used to is the French language. Boyd, who took Spanish to fulfill his foreign language requirement at Dartmouth, currently does not speak French, but says he hopes to learn quickly, using the similarities between French and Spanish to ease his adaptation to living in France.
For the most part, though, Boyd is looking forward to the change of scene. Boyd told The Dartmouthb that he is looking forward to "the European lifestyle," the opportunity to "do something different," and to "play basketball full time, without having to write papers."
Boyd recognizes that he will be challenged as he embarks on his professional career. According to Boyd, the level of competition in Europe is higher than he has experienced in his college career, and that his key to success in France is "committing [myself] fully to basketball."
Leading Le Havre to victory in France looks like a tall order, but according to Boyd's former teammate Mark Kissling '02, who played with Boyd for three seasons, if anyone is up to the task, it's the former Dartmouth captain.
"Basketball-wise," said Kissling, "I think his ability to bring the ball up the court quickly and to penetrate will leave him in a great position. I think you'll see great things from him. As a person, Flinder will not stop until he gets it right, and I think perseverance is key, and he's got a lot of it."
Kissling knows all about Boyd's perseverance, having played with Boyd during the 1998-99 season, when the fiery point guard played a full season and averaged nearly six assists per game, despite having a broken wrist. With that kind of perseverance, Boyd could do some breaking of his own for Le Havre " breaking opponents' hearts.
However, as Davis told The Dartmouth, "It should [also] be fun to see what he does with other point guards' ankles."
