He attended Great Neck North High School and Stanford University.

[3] Gurfein was runner-up of the 1981 NCAA singles tennis championship, falling to Stanford University teammate Tim Mayotte, and was an All American that year with teammates Mayotte, Scott Bondurant, and Scott Davis.

[4] In 1988, he defeated world #31 Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands in straight sets in a tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida and was a doubles winner in Seattle with Buff Farrow).

[4][6] In 1986, Gurfein was participating in a tennis tour in Nigeria when, following a Bible study with fellow tennis pros Bud Cox and Morris Strode, Gurfein jumped through a hotel window while shouting "Jesus!"

According to officials, Gurfein, Cox and Strode said that they had seen God, tore up their passports, cash and other possessions and threw them out of a seventh-floor window.