Just google Earl Manigualt and find out all about Rucker Park....
I went there in 1973 just to see the games after reading about The Rucker Tournament in the book "The City Game" by Pete Axthelm. Basketball was my passion and I wanted to see for myself the street legends of the game. I wasn't disappointed. If you ever wanted to get a sense of basketball in Harlem back in the day, I'd recommend getting a copy of the book. Fast reading. I couldn't put it down.
I went there in 1973 just to see the games after reading about The Rucker Tournament in the book "The City Game" by Pete Axthelm. Basketball was my passion and I wanted to see for myself the street legends of the game. I wasn't disappointed. If you ever wanted to get a sense of basketball in Harlem back in the day, I'd recommend getting a copy of the book. Fast reading. I couldn't put it down.
Thanks for all the replies everybody...yeah, I've recently 'discovered' these playground legends and am learning about all these guys. I recently saw the movie about Earl Manigualt also. It is called 'Rebound'. I wonder if it's the same one. That part at the beginning was true, where they asked Kareem at his retirement ceremony who was the best player he played with or against and he said, 'The Goat'. That had to be cool as hell to see these guys ball. They say people would climb trees to watch. I have only been to NYC a handfull of times. I wish I would've known about Rucker and W 4th then...I love playground hoops.
There was an Urban Legend that some NBA players would go to the playgrounds of Harlem to play a pickup game and were schooled by the locals. I'm glad to hear there is some truth to that.