by Fred Bowen
Ben and Hud shared a quick fist bump.
“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Hud said.
“Yeah.” Ben grinned. “At Westwood.”
Chapter 15
Hi Mr. Sims.”
“Good morning, boys,” Mr. Sims said, looking up at Ben and Logan from behind his desk. Then his face wrinkled into a question mark. “I thought you boys weren’t supposed to play any pickup games?”
“Coach George gave us some time off,” Ben explained. “He said it was okay.”
“I heard the Raiders played well yesterday,” Mr. Sims said.
“We won, 57–40.” Ben said proudly. “We’re still undefeated, 6–0.”
“Hud was amazing,” Logan added.
“Yeah,” Ben said. “He didn’t have any turnovers and he played great defense.” He looked around the Center. “Is he here?”
Mr. Sims laughed. “What do you think?” He motioned behind the desk. “He’s down in the gym with all the regulars.”
As Ben and Logan headed toward the stairs, Ben looked over his shoulder. “Thanks for talking to Hud, Mr. Sims. Whatever you said really worked.”
Mr. Sims chuckled. “Well, I had some help.”
“What do you mean?” Ben asked.
Mr. Sims shooed the boys away. “You’d better get in there or you’ll miss out on a game. Go on.”
The gym was crowded, even for a Saturday morning.
“There he is,” Logan said, pointing across the floor.
Hud was leaning against a far wall with Donut and Hi-Tops as they waited their turn.
“Hey, do you guys need a couple players?” Ben asked as he and Logan walked up.
“Yeah,” Donut said. “We got the second game after this one.”
“That long?”
“Yeah.” Donut seemed disgusted. “We lost our first game because Hi-Tops here didn’t play any defense. Again.”
“What? And you did?” Hi-Tops sounded annoyed. “Quit talking and start hitting some of your shots. We’ll be fine.”
Donut rolled his eyes and turned back to Ben and Logan. “I hear the Roosevelt Raiders didn’t do too bad yesterday.”
“We’re 6–0,” Ben and Logan said together.
Donut elbowed Hud. “I also heard you almost lost one of your star players.”
Hud pushed Donut’s arm away.
“Yeah,” Ben said, looking back at Hud. “But it looks like Mr. Sims talked you into staying.”
Hud stared out at the court. “It wasn’t Mr. Sims who talked me into staying,” he said.
“It wasn’t?” Ben asked.
“Oh, he talked to me, all right,” Hud said as Donut grinned beside him. “Mr. Sims told me all about that guy, The Goat. And everything he said made sense. But I was still going to quit and just play at Westwood and in the summer league.”
“So tell your buddy who made you change your mind.” Donut nudged Hud again. Hud elbowed him back, but this time he was smiling.
“Go ahead, tell him,” Donut insisted.
Hud pointed with his thumb. “This guy,” he said.
“Really?” Ben turned to Donut. “So how come you want Hud playing for Roosevelt now? I thought you just liked summer ball and playing at Westwood.”
“I do,” Donut said, shrugging. “But, I don’t know … I guess maybe I wish I’d played both. Man, if I’d played for Roosevelt, I would have definitely set some records.”
“Yeah, for missed shots and not playing defense,” Hi-Tops teased.
“That’s still not the reason I decided to come back,” Hud broke in.
“What was it?” Ben asked.
Hud hesitated.
“Go on, tell your buddy,” Donut said.
Hud shrugged. “Donut said I couldn’t play for his summer league team if I quit the Raiders.”
“You’ve got a summer league team?” Logan asked Donut.
“Sure, we even got a sponsor,” Donut said.
“Who?”
“The Westwood Donut Shop.”
“Donut even said he didn’t want me playing at Westwood during the season anymore,” Hud said, rolling his eyes.
“You can still play both,” Donut pointed out. “Pickup in the summer, team hoops for Roosevelt in the winter. Like I should have done.”
The game on the nearest court ended and another five players took the court. “We got next,” Donut reminded everyone. Then he turned to Ben and Logan. “You guys want to play on my team this summer?”
“For real?” Logan said.
“Sure, why not?” Donut said. “I already got Hud. I could use some more young guys to run the floor, put some pressure on—”
“And play some defense,” Hi-Tops added.
Donut shot Hi-Tops an annoyed look. Then he turned back to Ben and Logan again. “What do you say? You could be my Kiddie Squad.”
“Okay,” Ben said. He grinned at Hud and Logan. “We’ll show you old guys how to play some real hoops.”
The Real Story
One of the great things about basketball is that it is a simple game. Players don’t need much to get a game going besides a hoop, a ball, and a place to play. Although Hud and Donut and the other players at Westwood Recreation Center play five-on-five, full court games, you don’t need ten players or even a full court. You can play one-on-one, two-on-two, or three-on-three. Or you can practice dribbling and shooting all by yourself. Players can also play a half-court game using just one basket.
Of course, games played on playgrounds or street courts are a bit different than those played by school teams in gymnasiums or by professional players in the NBA. Streetball players pick their own teams. Because there are no referees, players call their own fouls. And because there are no coaches, players are often freer to try tricky passes or fancy shots.
One of the most famous basketball playgrounds is Holcombe Rucker Park, also known as “The Rucker,” in New York City. The park is named after a city playground director who later became an English teacher in a city school. Holcombe Rucker believed in combining sports with education, and he helped the athletes at his playground with their reading skills and even with their homework.
In 1946, Rucker began the tradition of holding a semi-professional summer tournament in the Harlem section of New York City. The players who either participated in pickup games at the Rucker or played in the Rucker Tournament over the years comprise an All-Star list of the greatest names in basketball. They include:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—The leading scorer in the history of the NBA. Abdul-Jabbar attended Power Memorial High School in New York.
Wilt Chamberlain—The only player ever to score 100 points in an NBA game and the leading rebounder in NBA history.
Nate “Tiny” Archibald—The only player to lead the NBA in scoring and assists in the same season.
Bill Bradley—An NBA All-Star and member of two NBA championship teams with the New York Knicks, Bradley was later elected as a United States senator from New Jersey.
Julius “Dr. J” Erving—An eleven-time All-Star from Roosevelt, New York, Erving was known for his amazing jumping and dunking abilities.
The Rucker was also famous for its legendary local players. These players were kings of the playground pickup games but, for one reason or another, never made it big in either college or professional basketball. The players had fancy moves and colorful nicknames such as “Pee-Wee,” “The Professor,” “Booger,” and “Swee’ Pea.”
But perhaps the most legendary Rucker player was the one Mr. Sims remembered: Earl “The Goat” Manigault.
Manigault was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1944, but later moved to Harlem. He loved basketball and practiced the game constantly on the city’s street courts, including the one where Holcombe Rucker was the director. Because Manigault practiced with weights on his ankles, he became a legendary leaper. It was said that Manigault could jump and dunk the ball with his left hand, then catch the ball after it had gone through the net and dunk it again with hi
s right hand, all without hanging on the rim.
There are several stories about why Manigault was called “The Goat.” According to one story, people often misunderstood when Manigault told them his name. They thought he was saying, “Earl Nanny Goat,” and the name stuck. Another story claims that “GOAT” stands for the “Greatest Of All Time.”
Even though Manigault played at Rucker with and against some of the great college and pro players of his day, he never made it as a college or pro player himself. Sadly, Manigault began taking and selling illegal drugs. He even went to prison for robbery because he needed money to support his drug habit.
Later, Manigault quit using drugs and started a basketball tournament in Harlem called “Walk Away From Drugs.” He also worked with young people at the city’s playgrounds. Manigault died in 1998 at the age of 53.
Basketball players, both older and younger, still play pickup games on playgrounds, street courts, and gyms all over the world. Playing pickup basketball is a great way for any player to improve his or her skills. But it is also important for a player to play and test those skills on an organized team.
John Wooden, the Hall of Fame player and coach whose UCLA teams won a record ten NCAA championships in the 1960s and ‘70s, once observed that pickup games are not a real test of basketball skills. Wooden said, “Every once in a while I will overhear some young college player talking about beating [NBA superstar] Magic Johnson in a summer pickup game at [UCLA’s] Pauley Pavilion. I almost have to bite my tongue to avoid pointing out that the real Magic Johnson was not on that floor. The real one stands up in the NBA against a Larry Bird or a Michael Jordan. There is a great difference.”
So what kind of basketball should be considered “real hoops”? The pickup games played on playgrounds and street courts, or the more formal games played with referees and coaches on gymnasium floors? Maybe the best answer is the one Ben and Hud found: play both pickup basketball and on an organized team with a coach. That way you’ll know for sure that you’re playing some real hoops!
About the Author
Fred Bowen was a Little Leaguer who loved to read. Now he is the author of many action-packed books of sports fiction. He has also written a weekly sports column for kids in The Washington Post since 2000.
For thirteen years, Fred coached kids’ baseball and basketball teams. Some of his stories spring directly from his coaching experience and his sports-happy childhood in Massachusetts.
Fred holds a degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from George Washington University. He was a lawyer for many years before retiring to become a full-time children’s author. Bowen has been a guest author at schools and conferences across the country, as well as the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, and The Baseball Hall of Fame.
Fred lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife Peggy Jackson. Their son is a college baseball coach and their daughter is a college student.
Be sure to check out the author’s websites.
www.fredbowen.com
www.SportsStorySeries.com
Become a fan of Fred Bowen on Facebook!
In my research on the Rucker League and Earl “The Goat” Manigault, I consulted the history section of the National Basketball Association’s website, www.nba.com.
The quote from Coach John Wooden is from his book, THEY CALL ME COACH, written with Jack Tobin.
While TAKE THE A TRAIN, the piece Ben and his school jazz band play for the winter concert, was the theme song of the Duke Ellington Orchestra for years, it was written by Billy Strayhorn.
Finally, the author thanks his daughter, Kerry Margaret Bowen, for her help in typing the original manuscript.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Fred Bowen
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