Rucker Park
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Rucker Park is a basketball court in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard across the street from the former Polo Grounds site; it is geographically at the base of a large cliff named Coogan's Bluff.[1] Many who played at the park in the Rucker Tournament achieved a level of fame for their abilities, and several have gone on to play in the NBA.
Rucker Park was featured in the TNT television film On Hallowed Ground: Streetball Champions of Rucker Park, which aired in 2000 and won a Sports Emmy Award.
History
The court is named after Holcombe Rucker, a local teacher and a playground director for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Rucker started a basketball tournament in 1950 in order to help less-fortunate kids stay off the streets and aim for college careers.[1][2] The players in the Rucker Tournament featured slam dunks, crossover dribbles, and bravado that excited the crowd, a playing style then foreign to the National Basketball Association (NBA).[3]
Notable players
Although many professional basketball players have played at the court after gaining prominence, many others developed their basketball skills at Rucker prior to becoming notable in the sport, including:
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- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar[2]
- Rafer Alston[4]
- Kenny Anderson[5]
- Nate Archibald[2]
- Ron Artest[citation needed]
- Sylvester Blye[2]
- Kobe Bryant[6]
- Vince Carter[7]
- Wilt Chamberlain[8][9]
- Julius "Dr. J" Erving[2][9]
- Connie Hawkins[5]
- Kyrie Irving[6]
- Allen Iverson[10]
- Jumpin Jackie Jackson[2]
- LeBron James[6]
- Earl Manigault
- Stephon Marbury[6]
- Jamal Mashburn[1]
- Earl Monroe[9]
- Chris Mullin[11]
- Joakim Noah[12]
- Satch Sanders[2]
- Lance Stephenson[5]
- Sebastian Telfair[13]
- Jamaal Tinsley[1][14]
- Kevin Durant[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 History in the Making at Rucker's Park Archived June 16, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Jamaal Tinsley Interview, Inside Hoops, January 7, 2005. Accessed October 7, 2007. "InsideHoops.com: In your high school years, out of the gym, which parks were you playing at? Jamaal Tinsley: Everywhere. West 4th. 68th, the Pro-Am tournament. Rucker. Soul in the Hole. That's it, mainly, in New York City."
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Official website
- Court profile of Rucker Park basketball court
- Photo gallery: Hopefuls Tryout for Rucker Park Basketball Tournament
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Sports venues in the New York metropolitan area
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