Hoop Dreams Awakened

Last week I had the plea sure to attend the Buffalo Inner City Sports Legends Award dinner, where the Buffalo Criterion News received the lifetime community achievement award for its 100th year anniversary.

The Inner-City Sports Legends was established in 1991 by a group of com munity conscious black men, who were inspired by Attorney Leroi Johnson “whose mission was to recognize athletes, past and present who have excelled in sport and have brought recognition to our community.” Previous recipients include Bob Lanier, Harvey Austin, Ricky and Jimmy Williams, and Ricky McCarley to name a few.

This year 18 new recipi ents were inducted into the fraternity of the Inner City Sports Legends. As I watched the program, I found it heartwarming see ing people I haven’t seen or thought of in half a century. I was taken back in time, when I played on Riverside High basketball team. I think I still hold the records for most minutes on the time I sucked, but I was good enough to make the team over others.

I played in the early seventies, in the era of the legendary Jimmy Williams and the East High basketball Yale Cup champs. One season my team had an away game at East High to face the champs on their home court.

I was terrified for many different reasons. East had a reputation for being ahh ..” unruly.” And this was dur ing the gang years. I might have been nervous, but my white teammates were really worried they might not get out alive, which was a real possibility. I had the consolation of living a mile away if something jumped off, I could run home. As we walked onto the court where the gym was packed and I kept looking around hoping to see a friendly face in the crowd in case I needed a friend to vouch for me. As the teams lined up on opposite ends of the court to warm up in the lay up drill, I heard a roar from the stands. I looked down a saw something I had never witnessed before.

They were actually dunking the ball .. Understand, during that period the “Alcindor” no-dunking rule was in effect so I had never seen anyone dunk in person in my life. I knew then it was going to be a long after noon for me. Which brings me to another reason I was mortified. I knew from the opening tip off it was going to be a blowout and that was the only time the coach put me in was in a blowout. The last thing I wanted was Being ridiculed before hundreds of hostile teenag ers. As I recall the game started out relatively com petitive. We had a center named Mark Glass (RIP) who was our star player that held his own. Sud denly, the All-High standout Jimmy Williams stole a pass and broke full speed down the court for a sure layup until my teammate Kevin Green undercut him at the basket and he went down hard. Very hard! My heart almost jumped out my chest. The entire gym went silent. I immediately started looking for the nearest exit. I think even the coach was scared. I wanted to kick Kevins butt myself for put ting all our lives in danger. But Jimmy got up and proceeded to lead his team to another easy victory over us. Oh, I sat on the bench the entire game.

Thinking back to those days, I realize how much those experiences shaped my appreciation for team work and perseverance. Even though my skills on the court were limited, being part of the team taught me valuable les sons about dedication and camaraderie. The memories of practices, bus rides, and cheering for each other still bring a smile to my face.