Asphalt Gods

An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament

Nonfiction, Sports, Basketball, History, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Urban
Cover of the book Asphalt Gods by Vincent M. Mallozzi, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
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Author: Vincent M. Mallozzi ISBN: 9780385506762
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication: June 17, 2003
Imprint: Doubleday Language: English
Author: Vincent M. Mallozzi
ISBN: 9780385506762
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication: June 17, 2003
Imprint: Doubleday
Language: English

The real basketball deal–the inside story of Harlem’s legendary tournament and the pros and playground legends who have made it world famous.

Earl “The Goat” Manigault. Herman “Helicopter” Knowings. Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond. Richard “Pee Wee” Kirkland. These and dozens of other colorfully nicknamed men are the “Asphalt Gods,” whose astounding exploits in the Rucker Tournament, often against multimillionaire NBA superstars, have made them playground divinity. First established in the 1950s by Holcombe Rucker, a New York City Parks Department employee, the tournament has grown to become a Harlem institution, an annual summer event of major proportions. On that fabled patch of concrete, unknown players have been lighting it up for decades as they express basketball as a freestyle art among their peers and against such pro immortals as Julius Erving and Wilt Chamberlain. X’s and O’s are exchanged for oohs and aahs in one of the great examples of street theater to be found in urban America.

Asphalt Gods is a streetwise, supremely entertaining oral history of a tournament that has influenced everything from NBA playing style to hip-hop culture. Now, legends transmitted by word of mouth find a home and the achievements of basketball’s greatest unknowns a permanent place in the game’s record.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The real basketball deal–the inside story of Harlem’s legendary tournament and the pros and playground legends who have made it world famous.

Earl “The Goat” Manigault. Herman “Helicopter” Knowings. Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond. Richard “Pee Wee” Kirkland. These and dozens of other colorfully nicknamed men are the “Asphalt Gods,” whose astounding exploits in the Rucker Tournament, often against multimillionaire NBA superstars, have made them playground divinity. First established in the 1950s by Holcombe Rucker, a New York City Parks Department employee, the tournament has grown to become a Harlem institution, an annual summer event of major proportions. On that fabled patch of concrete, unknown players have been lighting it up for decades as they express basketball as a freestyle art among their peers and against such pro immortals as Julius Erving and Wilt Chamberlain. X’s and O’s are exchanged for oohs and aahs in one of the great examples of street theater to be found in urban America.

Asphalt Gods is a streetwise, supremely entertaining oral history of a tournament that has influenced everything from NBA playing style to hip-hop culture. Now, legends transmitted by word of mouth find a home and the achievements of basketball’s greatest unknowns a permanent place in the game’s record.

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