NDSU Basketball Star Heaven Hamling Visits Detroit Lakes Middle School For Lunch

Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM) – Evie Martin, a seventh-grader at Detroit Lakes Middle School, got a fun surprise from one of her heroes on Tuesday.

Martin wrote a dinner essay for class about wanting to meet NDSU basketball star Heaven Hamling.

And on Tuesday, Hamling showed up for lunch at DLMS.

“It was a great experience,” Hamling told Bison 1660AM on Wednesday afternoon. “It was a very special day. The school reached out to me on Twitter and told me that Evie had written her paper about wanting to have dinner with me. I told them I’d love to do it. We went over there and had lunch with them, and played some basketball. I’m super blessed that we got to go over there. Probably, hands down, one of the best days that I’ve had.”

Martin and some friends had lunch with Hamling and teammate Taylor Brown, then got to shoot some hoops together afterward.

“We drove to Detroit Lakes after practice and her mom and some teachers were waiting for us by the door,” Hamling said. “Taylor and I went up to the classroom and introduced ourselves. I had written Evie a letter back and gave that to her. Then we sat down with three of her classmates and they asked us a bunch of questions…how did you get to where you are now, do you have any siblings, was playing college basketball always your goal…things like that. Then we went down to the gym and played some one-on-one and some shooting games. Then we gave them some tickets to this Saturday’s game and said goodbye. I’m hoping to see them in the stands against SDSU that night.”

Hamling is averaging a career-best 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists per game for the 13-7 Bison this season. The senior from Grand Rapids, MN has helped lead the Bison to a perfect 8-0 record at home.