Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament
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Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780385520997
ISBN: 0385520999
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: June 17, 2003
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: June 17, 2003
Sales Rank: 539561
Studio: Doubleday
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- BALLERS Asphalt Gods is the best book on the planet.If you love basketball you should read ... Read More
Rating:
- WHERE BASKETBALL PLAYERS COME TO PLAYMany players played for the Pied Piper(Holcombe Rucker).No one was has great as him though.He was a great ... Read More
Rating:
- EngrossingAn excellent book. Well worth the read. Great read on the history of the fabled blacktop and the man who dedicated ... Read More
Rating:
- THE BESTI've read Heaven is a Playground, City Game, and seen On Hallowed Ground, for anyone that is a "real" basketball fan ... Read More
Rating:
- Hey, I know that guy.....Great subject, great storytelling. By the way, I played with Rucker legend Billy Rieser (aka White Jesus) and he was ... Read More
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Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.