Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament Hardcover - 2003 - 1st Edition

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.

Details

• Title Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament
• Author Vincent M. Mallozzi
• Binding Hardcover
• Edition number 1st
• Edition 1
• Pages 255
• Volumes 1
• Language ENG
• Publisher Doubleday Books, New York
• Date June 17, 2003
• Illustrated Yes
• ISBN 9780385506755 / 0385506759
• Weight 0.9 lbs (0.41 kg)
• Dimensions 8.5 x 5.76 x 1.03 in (21.59 x 14.63 x 2.62 cm)
• Library of Congress subjects Basketball - Tournaments - New York (State)
• Library of Congress Catalog Number 2003043538
• Dewey Decimal Code 796.323