Asphalt Gods: an Oral History of the Rucker Tournament.

by Vincent Mallozzi, Doubleday, June 2003 $24.00, ISBN 0-385-50675-9

Their names were as colorful as their game--The Goat, Helicopter, Fly, Jumping Jackie, Butterfly and Elevator Man. No, these athletes were not affiliated with the World Wrestling Federation. They made their mark above the rim on the blacktop in Harlem at Rucker Park, the most famous outdoor arena in the country. These b-ball magicians thrilled thousands of patrons each summer with dazzling ball-handling, incredible hang time, no-look passes and dunks that rattled the boards and shook the basic fundamentals of basketball.

Long before crossover dribbles and behind-the-back passes were commonplace in the NBA, such moves were de rigueur on the playgrounds of the nation among young African Americans. But as Vincent Mallozzi so memorably recalls, it took the vision of Holcombe Rucker to harness these skills and place them in an organized context through summer tournaments in the early 1950s. "The Rucker League featured a colorful flavor to the stiff and slower-paced version of the game being played at the collegiate and professional levels, ultimately changing it forever," Mallozzi writes in the book's introduction.

Mallozzi, a native of Harlem and a sports editor at the New York Times, complements his vivid memories of days at courtside, particularly with some of the Rucker League's most celebrated gods--Joe "The Destroyer' Hammond, Herman "Helicopter" Knowings, Earl "The Goat" Manigault, and Richard "Pee Wee" Kirkland, et al. Why many of the legends never made it beyond the pantheon of Rucker Park is a story Mallozzi skillfully delineates. Significantly, the life and legacy of Holcombe Rucker is woven like a sub-theme throughout the book.

Pros visited Rucker as though it were a summer basketball camp to hone their talents, to release their suppressed creativity. Vignettes provided by such notables as Julius "Dr. J" Irving, whose fingers were so long that he could "palm Sunday;" Earl "The Pearl" Monroe; Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, highlight the narrative, moving it episodically from the tournament's early years to the celebrity-filled current era. Who can forget Jumping Jackie Jackson who could soar so high that he could snatch quarters from atop the backboard. When Frank "Shake and Bake" Streety discloses the source of his wizardry in a recipe, it epitomizes Mallozzi's wizardry as well: "Use two full servings of between-the-legs dribbling. Toss in one behind-the-back-dribble, left to right. Toss in one behind-the-back-dribble, right to left. A touch of head-bob. A quick-dash of shuffling feet. Add a large dose of hesitation dribble. Sprinkle a smattering, of crossover dribbles until your opponent is good and red in the face. Spin 360 degrees once, twice, to make sure your opponent is completely cooked. Stick a fork in your opponent, he's done."

Add Mallozzi's delightful prose and resourceful informants and you have a slamdunk of a book.

--Herb Boyd is the editor of the recently published The Harlem Reader.