A few years back I happened to stop by a park across the street from where the GOAT tourney is played to watch a girls basketball game coached by my recently deceased cousin Guy Hughes.  At half time Goat passed by and the two of them got into a conversation about the old Rucker days.  Goat began telling me stories about what a hell of a player Guy was.  He spoke about when Dr. J. first came down to the Rucker how Guy threw his shot out of the park!  Goat said Huey, as we called him, had one of the deadliest jumpers in the league.  I've learned more about Guy and his playing days in the Rucker since his passing than I knew when he was alive.  At his funeral Pee Wee Kirkland also spoke highly of Guy's playing days.  If anyone out there from that era has any Guy Hughes stories please post them.  It would be great to know more.  - Kevin

Bone Collector is hands down the best.  About 5 years ago I played against him continuously for about 2 weeks.  He came up to my park with his homies in Azusa, California.  His old name use to be Speedy.  It still is when he's back home.  But I remember he used to always ask to borrow my friends’ ball.  His friends said he would smoke blacks and dribble all night. lol.  The dude is the truth.  There is nobody in the streetball game today that is better. Hot Sauce doesn't have a chance, nobody does.  -  anthernandez23

Hey, tell me more about James Cousar from Clinton in the BX I was in the Vernon at that time and now I remember the name but I was curious if he died before a cat named Sekke (Freaky Zeke).  Clarke transferred to Clinton as a 10th grader.  They had to be backcourt mates I think.  I never saw Cousar play but Zeke gave me fits - Andrew Toney style jumper from 20 ft in and herky-jerky handle style something like Steve Nash but more languid like Pearl W. and could finish strong w/ either hand.  5'10" as a 10th grader but grew to about 6' or 6'1". -  Lee, Bowie, MD

Hey, I saw an entry on another page on this site talking about James Cousar who went to Clinton in the Bronx in the early 80's.  I never saw him play but I remember the name.  Was he better than Rod Strickland? Also, do you remember Cousar's backcourt mate Zeke Clarke?  Zeke was from the Vernon but transferred as a 10th grader.  A PG who had SERIOUS game.  He was as good as any PG in my age group I ever played against and I played against Mark Jackson and Dee Mac.  Never played against Strick though.  Well, maybe not as good as Ernie Myers and I played against him as well although EM wasn't a true point. Zeke had an Andrew Toney style J and a Steve Nash style herky-jerky game with eyes in the back of his head.  He was about 5'10 but grew to be about 6'1"  -  swish526

There was a basketball legend out of Mineola (NY) named Bart Finkleburg.  Finkleburg would hit the playgrounds of Manhasset, Bellmore and Oyster Bay and built a name for himself.  He was the unsung hero for Mineola High with his signature set shot.  He stood 5'5 with thick glasses but was a force to be reckoned with.  The crowd would yell Finkleburg!! Finkleburg!!  I dont know why he never made it to the NBA.  Politics man...-  jgoldbaum

Yo, what it do Game Over?....speakin of game over.....I wanna talk about a dude where every time he dunks the game is over...shut it down....people know him as Rabbit...others know him as Conflict or call him Kobe....I'm talkin' about my cousin Russell William.  Yeah, that's right, I'm his cousin.  Last time I balled with Russell was at Basketball City  -when And1 came to NYC.  Let me tell you man, Lebron ain't got nothing on him.  This dude Rabbit leaps out the building.  We were on a fast break, I'm on the right, he on the left.  When I got to the paint I threw the alley to him....and he had the illest damn reach.  He was eye level with the rim and jammed .....1 hand........bong......the backboard was shakin like its a earthquake...lol.  When we were at half court I passed it to Russell....we slowed down the play.  Russell passed it back to me.  I faked the dude out and dished it back to Russell.  Russell crossed this man and he called me Krossin Guard...lol.  He caught the dude with a stiff leg then cut to the paint....bong bong.....took off and banged it....lol.  Thats may kuzzo. He doin' big things.  And I'm right behind him leapin'.  Only 15, 5'8", grabbin 10ft.  Ain't bangin yet but close.  And my ball handling game is cray-z.  Russell Williams a.k.a Conflict a.k.a Kobe a.k.a Rabbit n ya boy Aaron Aniton a.k.a Lockdown a.k.a The One a.k.a Krossin Guard unO.  -  Aaron, Garden City, NY

The best tourney in Brooklyn was not Soul in the Hole back n day.  It was almost the best. It was not Tillary Park, nor was it Kingston.  It wasn't even Riis Beach, which Brooklyn claimed even though it was in Queens.  It was not Ditmas Park, BRC nor any other.  It was definitely the BREEVORT Tourney, where Ollie "Buggy Lenard, Sam Worthen, Vinny Johnson and the crew did work.  It was an outdoor arena where the ball was downright nasty. We had play-by-play by one of the twins (forget his name) he was the black Marv Albert.  Al King, Bernard King and others were killing them back in the day. - Vince, Burbank, CA

His name is Mitchell Atwood, 6'8", and he went to Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn, NY.  At 6.8ft he handled the ball like a point guard (Magic Johnson) at that height, as playing some streetball in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, with a crowd formed to watch the game.  Mitch, known as "Leggey" or "Spider" because of his long arms and legs, [?] as a player was playing defense against Mitch with his back towards the defender, Mitch with his long arms threw the ball around his on the defenders rightside behind his back and with that one bounce caught the ball from that bounce and dunked or Jammed (back in the day they called it) and the crowd went wild. Mitch passed away on November 7, 1984, not of suicide but of an accidental death by falling sleeping on the Far Rockaway Beach.  During the high tide he drowned and his body was never washed out to sea.  If Mitch would of jump into the water his body would might never been found because of the currents and winter season. R.I.P. Mitch.  I think about you everyday, love your brother Vince. PS: Bagman00 call me or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 818.762.2766 anytime day or night.  -  Vince, Burbank, CA

I would like to share some information with you and hopefully your readers regarding a man who is still considered L.A.'s Ultimate Basketball Player. His name is Raymond Lewis. (Who you might ask yourself?)  Raymond Lewis, a playground legend from Watts, CA who ruled the basketball world in Los Angeles in the early seventies & eighties and to this day is considered one of the greatest basketball players that ever lived, and without exception the best to ever come out of California.

I have made a personal commitment to keeping his awesome legacy alive, and have created the website www.raymondlewis.com for alltrue bas ketball fans to see. Some of his accomplishments listed below are from newspaper archives.
1. Earned three consecutive California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and state championships in 1969, 1970, 1971. He led Verbum Dei High School to an 84-4 winning record.
2. Named CIF player of the year in 1970 and 1971 only the second player in history to achieve this award.
3. Scored 52 points against the L.A. Lakers rookie team while still in high school.
4. Played 30 top street ballers on the same day and beat them all 30-zip.
5. Received 250 scholarship offers from colleges nationwide. UCLA, USC, Notre Dame etc., He decided to attend Cal State L.A. where he still holds scoring records.
6. Lewis led the nation in scoring with a 38.9 average as a college freshman in 1972. NBA Hall of Famer David "Sky Walker" Thompson was second.
7. Scored 73 points against UC Santa Barbara hitting 30 of 40 shots and making 13 free throws. ( Games were played before the insertion of the 3-point shot!)
8. Scored 53 points in upset win against number three ranked 22-1 Long beach State coached by legendary Jerry Tarkanian.
9. 18th overall pick in the first round of the 1973 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. At that time Lewis was the youngest player ever drafted and signed. Lewis, by all accounts out played the number one draft choice Doug Collins reportedly scoring 60 points by half time. Lewis who was representing himself without an agent found out that Collins signed a contract that was basically twice the money Lewis had signed for. He then wanted to renegotiate his contract but Philadelphia said no. The 76ers then said Lewis left the team, but Lewis said he was told to sit out a year to mature. In any event he ended up never playing in the NBA.
10. Sports Illustrated ran a ten page article on Raymond Lewis on Oct. 16, 1978 issue. (I have the original article.)
11. 1981 averaged 54 points per game in a highly regarded basketball summer league game featuring many NBA pros.
12. 1983 Lewis scored 56 points against NBA's defensive star Michael Cooper of the Los Angeles Lakers in a pro summer league game.
13. Scored 62 points in a 1983 summer league game against the NBA's Golden State Warriors Lorenzo Romar, who is now the head coach of the Washington Huskies.

Lewis was a pure shooter with unlimited range. Every time he would shoot his patented 35 foot jumper the crowds would go wild. At that time they only counted as two points but were sure fun to watch. And when he shot his deadly shot from 20 feet the fans would collectively shout LAY-UP!!!  I recently read the book Runnin' Rebel by legendary basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian. This is a man who has coached men's college basketball for over 37 years with a 988-228 winning record, and have sent more than forty players to the NBA.  He'll tell you that the greatest player he ever saw was Raymond Lewis.. Tark should know, Lewis lit his Long Beach State team up in 1973 for 53 points to upset the number three ranked 49ers. One of the reasons I bring this up is that Tarkanian, while at Long beach State, recruited New York player of the year and playground legend Ernie Douse.  When Raymond heard that Douse was in town he went to the Long Beach States gym and a one-on-one game between Lewis and Douse, was set up by an assistant coach.  Tarkanian got the news about the game and rushed out of his office to stop the event.  When he approached the court Lewis was already killing Ernie 18-4.  Tark immediately stopped the game because he was afraid that Ernie was going to catch the next flight back to New York. Believe me I'm not a New York hater, I was born in NJ and spent many a summer in Harlem, NY while growing up before I moved to Compton, CA in 1967. 

I hope anyone who reads this article will visit the website www.raymondlewis.com.  I welcome all my East Coast brothers and sisters to read about this phenomenal athlete.  I'm quite sure Pee-Wee Kirkland and other New York greats would appreciate the website.  I'm actively working on a documentary film of Raymond Lewis.  To view the website and read what former NBA, College Coaches, Sports Writers and street ballers have to say about Lewis, please go to www.raymondlewis.com.  Raymond died in 2001 at the age of 48, but his legend will live forever.  -  DJ, Los Angeles, CA

Like some of the legendary teams back east (Ben Franklin H.S.with Richie Adams, Gary Springer, & Kenny Hutchinson) or the Baltimore Dunbar teams with Reggie Williams, David Wingate, & Herman Harried, the Crenshaw of L.A. teams had talent to rival some of the best HS teams ever.  Players like Stevie Thompson (Syracuse) and John "Hot Plate" Williams (LSU) are some of their better known players, but the greatest offensive player they ever had, the best scorer ever to go through the 'Shaw was John Staggers.  6-foot-4 and could score from anywhere. 

Peep game, the team was so talented and pressed so much, that Staggers came off the bench. He was so good that he was voted the 1988 L.A. City Player of th Year ahead of Chris Mills of Fairfax, who was a national top 5 recruit with Alonzo Mourning, Billy Owens, Shawn Kemp, and Chris Jackson.  Crenshaw was so good that 6-foot-7 Danny Griffin came off the bench, but still got a schollie (scholarship) offer from Pitt and eventually played for Tark at UNLV.  Staggers went to a couple of JC's , but didn't stick.. He returned to L.A. and dominated Venice Beach.  He's he best ever to build a rep at Venice (Beach).

Recently, I ran into Danny Griffin at Cerritos College where HS phenom O.J. Mayo was playing against two of Cali's best teams.  Me and Griffin started talking about the great L.A. players of the past and he said "Mayo isn't better than Staggers!."  I have to agree.  -  Ronnie, Long Beach, CA