Erik Daniels has been at Dunbar since 2020. He teaches in the social studies department as well as being a co-teacher in special education. He is also the Girls’ Basketball coach.
His basketball career began in Cincinnati where he played for his high school and got a scholarship to the University of Kentucky where he played all four years of college.
He said, “Basketball is something I enjoyed doing as a kid, and I grew 6 inches in my first year of high school so basketball was kind of meant for me.”
But the bulk of his playing career was spent in Europe. For 10 years, he played in countries like Italy, Spain, Croatia, and Ukraine.
“I was in Ukraine when they started the war,” he said.
He also played in Israel, Argentina, and China where he said he tried to become not just a basketball player, but also a member of the community.
“I have been traveling all around the world playing basketball…just learning different cultures and trying to immerse myself so I’m not just there as a bystander,” he said.
He now uses his travel experiences as a basketball player to enhance his teaching.
“I co-teach world history, and I use a lot of my experiences. [The students] would rather hear real-life stories and how people live in those specific places than read a textbook.”
Most notably, Daniels played a season in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings.
According to ESPN basketball stats, Daniels had a total of 13 PTS (points) and 18 REB (rebounds) in regular season totals.
After the NBA, he returned to Kentucky and went back to college to receive his teacher certification.
“I had no idea [that I was going to go in education].”
He had studied psychology and earned a communications degree in college.
“Even though I started out in education [in college], I came back to it after I had kids.”
He said that he returned to Kentucky because he built his basketball career at UK.
“I wanted to coach in high school,” he said.
In 2022, he became the official Girls’ Basketball coach at Dunbar. He uses his own experiences with college and professional basketball to create a coaching method for his team.
“Coach [Daniels] knows the game like the back of his hand, so the specific drills he has us do in practice always result in positive outcomes in the games, ” said player Justice Biggerstaff. “He is able to teach us in a way that works best for us.”
Daniels said that he really felt a connection with teenagers because of his own children and his work in his community with young people.
“Once I got into a classroom with a kid, I kind of felt at home,” he said. “I’m just a guy with a big heart.”
