Playground Legends of Basketball

Ask a person who the greatest players in the history of basketball are, and you'll most likely get the same familar names. Michael Jordan. Wilt Chamberlain. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Larry Bird. The list goes on and on.

But what if you get answers like Swee' Pea, the Goat, Helicopter, Fly, Pee Wee, or the Destroyer? Would you know who they were? Yet if you ask people in inner-city New York or Philadelphia, a place where basketball is the ticket out of the ghetto and away from the drugs, those are some of the answers you'd get.

Basketball is life in the ghetto, and those who perform well on the playground become legends. And most of them remain just that. Unable to overcome the drugs and poverty, they stay on the streets, where the only record of their greatness is the memories of the people who were lucky enough to see them.

Below, I talk briefly about five of the greatest players never to make it. I'm not saying these are the five best, just that they deserve to be known. Earl Manigault, and Lloyd Daniels fans don't worry. They'll get their own biographies later.

Curtis Jones- Curtis Jones (CJ) was a 5'10" guard out of Detroit. During the 1960's, CJ dominated courts in the Detroit area. He attended Detroit Northwestern High School, where he led his team in points and assists his senior year. In 1967, he hit a game winner over 6'9", future NBA great, Spencer Haywood to win the state championhsip. With an IQ of 73, CJ didn't stand a chance of making it to a major college, and stayed on the streets of Detroit, getting into crack. However, he promised his mother that he would come clean. When he died at the age of 50 in 1999, there wasn't a trace of drugs in his system. He had kept his promise. NBA Hall-of-Famer George Gervin, said this of CJ in an interview:

Q. "Who's the best player you've ever seen?"
A. "Wilt Chamberlain"
Q. "They don't have to be famous. It could be anyone."
A. "Oh. Well, that's easy. It's a guy you probably never heard of. His name is Curtis Jones."

Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond- Coming out of New York City and standing 6'1", The Destroyer could score with anyone. During the late 1960's to the 1970's, Hammond embarassed opponents everywhere. In 1977 he returned to the Rucker Tournament after a four year absence to set a league single-game record with 73 points. The Destroyer had his chances at the NBA. The Lakers offered him a contract, but he turned it down because there wasn't a no-cut-clause. Another time, a pro scout came to see him, but Hammond told him to wait because he was busy shooting craps.

"Pound-for-pound, Joe Hammond was the greatest player ever to come out of Harlem." says Don Adams, Taft High School coach. However, Hammond turned to drugs, and ended up serving time in a prison in New York City.

Lewis "Black Magic" Lloyd- In the 1970's, Black Magic could be seen dominating the courts of Philadelphia. According to Sonny Hill League scorekeepers, Lloyd's points usually equaled his rebounds. Since both of those were usually in the twenties, his blocks could usually be found by dividing that number by 3. In a high-school all-star game in Ohio, Black Magic got the ball in the foul circle. He flashed his characteristic smile (his fans insist it's not cocky, just a sign that he knows what he's going to do) then proceeded to dunk so fiercely on 6'10" DeWayne Scales, that he nearly broke his hand. Lloyd played briefly for the Houston Rockets before being banned for two years from the NBA for drug violations.

James "Fly" Williams- In the late 1970's, Fly tore up New York City playgrounds with his dazzling moves and scoring abilities. In a Dappar Dan Classic, he dropped 63 points on NBA legend Moses Malone. As a freshman at Austin Peay University, Fly led the nation in scoring with a 29.4 average. "He had all of the Jordan moves before Jordan. It was like he had to score to keep breathing, to stay alive. I once asked Vinnie Johnson, he was from the same neighborhood as Fly, was it just me or was he that good? Vinnie said easily he was just that good," states Rick Telander, author of Heaven is a Playground.

Fly's career was cut short by an ill-fated robbery attempt. A shotgun blast left him with half his lungs, and a massive scar on the left side of his back.

Herman "Helicopter" Knowings- "When I was in 9th grade, I saw the Helicopter, with my own two eyes, pick a quarter off the top of the backboard to win a bet, and I was in complete shock," stated NBA great Bernard King.

King wasn't the only person shocked by the 6'4" Helicopter during the 1960's and mid-1970's. In a Rucker League game, he went for a ball fake in the lane, and as the man waited for him to come down, witnesses swear he treaded air until the referee called three-seconds. In another Rucker game, this one against a team of professionals including Willis Reed, Bob McCollough remembers that, "...there was one play where the pros brought the ball down, and Copter blocked a shot. Whap! The guy passed the ball to a teammate who tried to shoot. Whap! Blocked again. The next guy passed the ball to a third pro. Whap! Blocked again. Get the picture? Copter blocked three shots in a row by professionals."

Copter died at the young age of 37, when in April of 1980, the cab he was in was hit by another car.

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