BOUNCE SPECIAL 2010

There are over 500 playgrounds in New York City,
but only a chosen few host strong tournament
basketball. And on these courts, the echoes
of the true spirit of city ball – keeping your
“next” – strongly reverberates from times ago.
In the 1940s, the spot was the crowded sandy Riis
beach courts in Far Rockaway, Queens, which featured Bob Cousy and
Floyd Lane, two All-City high school players who held their next into
the dusky night.
The fully packed Battlegrounds on Sugar Hill in Manhattan was notori-
ous for its no-foul rule, and men like Isaac “Rabbit” Walthour, a.k.a
“The Rab,” became legends, holding their next in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
The legendary pick up on 128th Street and St. Nicholas at the original
Rucker Park was equally strong, where Pro Rucker co-founders Bob
“The Whip” McCollough and Fred Crawford held ground, along with
Wilt Chamberlain, Connie Hawkins and Tiny Archibald.
During this time period, the greatest of all NBA scorers, Kareem Abdul-
Jabbar, was being pushed around up at Manhattan’s Dyckman Park
by NYU All-Star Russell Cunningham and the area’s best playground
performers – Andre Harris and Peter Rivera, who both participated in
the Holcombe Rucker League but never played a game of college ball.
“Kareem didn’t dominate but he blocked a lot of shots,” Harris said.
“He got pushed around by guys older than him and didn’t score much.
He de⇒ nitely was not the ⇒ rst pick when we chose up sides.”
Downtown in Manhattan, the West 4th Street cage, which began as a
pick up court, gained fame throughout the early ‘70s as a place where
city ballers could get together and play on a neutral court. Manhattan
and the Bronx’s ⇒ nest would play tough games against the best of
Brooklyn and Queens with bets placed on the outcome.
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