Nate Hurley (Texas, USA) has been promoted to Level 3 at GP Louisville. Both Nate’s current and past Regional Coordinators, David Hibbs
and Kevin Binswanger
wrote a few words for him:
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I first encountered Nate back in 2013 when our paths crossed at GP Houston. I know this, because I wrote a review of him at that time! In honor of this occasion, I think it appropriate to blow the dust off that review and pull some material:
“Like many judges, Nate has a lot of hustle – he often was quickest to respond to judge calls. Once there, he had an excellent demeanor in approaching and discussing with the players. He showed his rules & policy knowledge by making correct decisions in his calls, and he was also very insightful; in at least one case, he came back to discuss with me whether there was potential for the player to be taking advantage of a misplay and whether the HJ should be brought in for discussions. I agreed, and he followed through quickly and efficiently.
At one point during the day, I was asked by the XO to remain on the floor due to lack of L3s available–even though our team needed to be setting up the second draft. Nate stepped forward and, with the rest of the team’s help, ensured that the draft setup was complete even without my presence directly in the area. I thought this showed solid leadership and teamwork skills in making this happen.
I feel that Nate is able to instinctively do things and make them happen; yet somehow after the fact he wonders how they happened.
I look forward to seeing Nate in a TL position and letting him truly take the leadership reigns.”
Did I mention that this review was from more than 3 years ago? In that time, his skills and knowledge have only grown. I think this still says a lot about Nate. If you don’t pay attention, you might miss something truly outstanding – a judge who just gets things done, and gets them and done right.
Now he’s finally been promoted to Level 3, and I look forward to seeing what he achieves next!
From Kevin Binswanger:
When I first met him, he wasn’t yet Nate Hurley, Probably Going to Cure Cancer. At that point he was still Nate Hurley, World Traveler. Nate first crossed my radar because he was somehow splitting time between Texas, Utah and Austria. Probably my first conversation with him was when he unnecessarily apologized for first testing in Austria (he was there for several months) because he would eventually end up full time in Texas. It was a long time before I ever actually got to meet Nate in person, but he left a wake of impressed judges behind him. Seriously, Nate had a judge recommending him in like seven different time zones.
The thing I appreciated the most about Nate was his hard work. It was bittersweet to me because I don’t think people really ever noticed just how much work he did. I constantly saw Nate put in a lot of work and time to support his community. He went above and beyond to support Abilene after he left it. He ran a Welcome Wagon to help get new judges introduced to the broader judge community. He was the first person to take regional shirts from “Yeah we really should” to being in peoples hands. Being on the other side of some of those conversations, Nate was quiet but fierce in that most important of traits for a judge: getting stuff done.
I want to congratulate Nate in advancing to Level 3, even if he waited until I was no longer his Regional Coordinator to do it 😉
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You can congratulate Nate on his promotion post on the Magic Judges Facebook page.