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[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Half Smoke

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I know this falls into the who cares category
but I felt I had to post it somewhere - so I'm expecting bashing and ignoring
I'm 100% cool with that

hoops leaves me with bittersweet memories

basketball was everything to me between ages 13 and 20
in the summers, in 90-100 degree heat, I was at the playgrounds for around 6 hours every single day

this was in the DC area - in and around DC - I learned a very lot from the black players. they were way ahead of the game

I was somewhat unusual because at just 5'9" - I couldn't dunk - because I couldn't palm the ball - but I could go about 6" over the rim. now - that is nothing - even for a player that size - the players have evolved so much - but back then it was impressive to many

I did very well in h.s. - 18 p.p.g. my junior year
I badly wanted to play major college ball
but I'm only 5'9" - and I only got recruited by small colleges
major colleges wanted 6'4" guards

I know, and everybody who knew me knew that I could have competed at that level - not saying I would have started or been a star

it still hurts that I didn't get that chance when I think about it, as I'm sure disappointments have hurt many other hoopsters

I ended up playing 2 years for a small college - one freshmen and one varsity
back then freshmen were not allowed to play varsity

the team and the program sucked and after 2 years I transferred and my playing days were over

my claim to fame:

even though we were a small college Pitt was on our schedule
I had a 3 point play on Billy Knight, an All American and ABA and NBA all star
the funny thing is: he didn't foul me - he didn't even touch me - just got close - but the ref called it

it isn't much to brag about but it's the best I have

I don't know what was in the schedule makers minds - but every year they seemed to enjoy watching us get crushed by Pitt and Penn State - it was humiliating - my high school team could have easily beaten my college team - it was a college of only 3,000 students



when I think of hoops, I think of all the great players I saw and played with, who were much better than me, who just couldn't get to the NBA - the NBA was Supermen

their careers were over at age 21 - kind of sad

but still, they were great
back then, playing pro ball overseas was not a big option like it is now


a good thing about hoops for me was that it sharpened my competitive juices - and that is what carried me into profitability as an AP in blackjack


the website sports-reference.com makes a separate web page for every NCAAB player - back in the day when I played it was all NCAA - there were no divisions - now they only do it for Division 1 players

so they made a web page about me with my unimpressive college stats

sometimes I look at that web page and I think of all the good times

and sometimes I look at that web page and I think to myself........"it was all just a waste of time"







note: the 2 greatest players I got to scrimmage with on DC area playgrounds:


Elgin Baylor and Austin Carr - both are from DC


and no, I'm not trying to say I was in their league
but I got to be on the same court with them


Baylor was overweight and wasn't really playing seriously

but Austin Carr was

he was totally unstoppable - he could score at will
might as well not even bother to try to stop him



*

Great story, very well told!

Definitely not in the "who cares" category.