UrbanLegends2

A Bronx Tale Part 2. Long before there was Allen Iverson, Pearl Washington, or Kenny Anderson, there was a guy in Co-op City named "Shot Gun". "Gun", you deserve your props. I was there and I saw the park fill up everytime you played. The whole neighborhood knew your game schedule. Your handle was off the meter. Every time you touched the ball the crowed made noise, cause they knew what was about to happen, dribble fake left then right, a stutter step... then you were gone. A game way ahead of its time (early 80's). Your nickname was "Shot Gun" but it could have been "Standing Room Only" cause when you played that's all there was. - Da Bronx!

Machito! The Puerto Rican Wonder. In the mid 80's this kid was the truth. If you think Reggie Miller could score points in bunches you had to see this guy. 6 feet, 155 pounds of quickness. I can still remember him weaving through defenses while dribbling the ball only inches off the ground. Michito lead the Puerto Rican Pro League in almost every guard stat. The NYC streets has produced many great guards. Machito is one of them. - Puerto Rico!

Hey, Shot Gun was good, but the real story was his high school team. Donnie Holder, Nigel Jones, Eric Howard, Steve Watts. This was Columbus High School in the Late 70's and they were good.

Steve Burt Sr. Was as tough as they come. I watched him destroy cats all over town summer after summer. Not only would he bust your ass he'd take your heart. And now there is Steve Burt Jr. Watch out for heart "playa" cause Jr. might take it. - NYC

When it comes to modern day legends, let's not forget Conrad McRae, A.K.A. McNasty. Big, strong and had major hops. 1994, NYC vs Windy City All-Stars. McNasty had 30 points, 24 on dunks! It got to the point where no one would even attempt to stop him for fear of getting their arm torn off. McNasty, we miss you. RIP. P.S. - shout out to Pookie Wilson and Big Bobby Boggie. - NYC

For modern day Urban Legend Stories the Gauchos Gym might have seen more then any other. Like the time Ernest Brown out played Tim Thomas. Ernest was a 6'8" freshman, Tim was a senior. How about when Stephon and Felepe played on the same Gauchos team. Felepe Lopez, at that time was the man. There where times when he would drop 35 in a game and after the gym cleared he would practice by himself for hours. "Steph", this kid used to pull up from the half and hit 4 or or five threes in a row. Let's not forget Shaheen Holloway, Shammgod Wells - one of the best handles ever! Richie Parker,who right now has more game then some cats in the pros. Trevor Diggs and Alan Griffin made a lot of guys look stupid during the Round Ball Classic. We can never, ever forget the show Kareem Reid used to put on game after game. The list goes on and on. In the 90s the Gauchos Gym was magic! The entire building should be given Urban Legend Status. - Bronx Ball Rules.

First of all, great site! Figures it comes from the heart of streetball, NYC, to create a site and some gear that really captures the flavor. Anyway, I'm 45 and orignally come from the East, but because of the job settled out here on the West Coast. I've seen some great battles, in the streets and on the hardwood, but nothing matched what I saw at a Christmas Tourney a few years ago down in San Diego.
There was great hype on Shea Cotton, the next great high schooler. Talk was real heavy that he was the answer to UCLA and would bring them a championship or two. And there was no doubt, he was a great baller.
But I got a call from a friend back East and he said I had to check out the latest and greatest addition to the Marbury legacy, Stephon. His Lincoln team was the defending NYC champs, and he showed all of us why NYC ball is still what all other ballers will be measured against.
The gym was twice Standing Room Only. Somehow I was standing next to the UCLA coach, Jim Harrick, as he was checking out Shea. The end of the second period will stay in my mind the rest of my life.
Shea's squad was up at the time by a few points. Stephon came down with the ball and pulled up for a three. Net. Shea then answered with a three of his own. Stephon raised the stakes with another three. And Shea did so again. Now, this is why Stephon is the greatest legend I have ever seen. He came down again. Pulled up three steps into the frontcourt and drained his third three in a row. That brought Lincoln to within 1, as I remember. Shea couldn't answer, but Stephon, with the rebound raced accross half court, pulled up two steps in and at the buzzer hit his fourth three in a row and put Lincoln ahead at half. All the coaches I saw around me were drooling, including Harrick, just whooping it up and forgeting Shea, just enjoying the show. Lincoln eventually won the game on the strength of Stephon.
Everyone knows of Stephon. Unfortunately most of you haven't seen Shea. He was also unbelievable, just not as much that day as Stephon. - Los Angeles

I see my friend James wrote you guys about his Stephon Marbury - Shea Cotton story. Heard it so many times, I can tell you it myself. Only wish I had been there myself. We have some great basketball out here in the sunny part of the world, so don't think you have it all. I'm only 20, but I hear the East Coast stories all the time. Best baller I ever saw was this dude named Bone Collector up in San Francisco. Put the ball between this duds legs, from behind!, had it come back out in front of his man, crossback over him, and drove and laid it up. I saw your letters on him and let me say he's the best on either coast.
But I must say your site is right on with the truth and flavor of what we all love. Now send me my shorts so I can show Venice Beach how real ballers suit up.
- Peace - Mike in LA

Hey, my friends told my about your site and its the joint. Mike got his Butt Print shorts and here is my order for two.
We got into a goodie last night about the greatest streetball brothers. Our friend James tells us of the Marbury brothers. I was just in Junior High, but I saw the Cotton brothers, Lorenzo and Shea. Man, I'd put them on anyone that you or any of your readers can come up with. Lo could leap with anyone, and Shea, he'd kill you from outside. - Respect the Coast! - LA

The story below is a GAME OVER Instant Classic. You have just won 2 tickets to a future NY Knicks game. Enjoy the game and keep checking us out. P.S. - we have heard of you and we know the story is true.

Yo, What's up Game Over. This is Mark Brown, A.K.A., DOC. Let's set the story. I agree on what the say about Fly Williams, he was the best to lace them up ever!!!!!! He is the king of Urban Legends, but I'm the Prince!!! Everybody has stories but nobody remembers who locked down the BRC after Fly did . . . D.O.C! Thats who. That's right. When I was 17 I did them dirty. Trust me on that. I was the one who started the between the leg DUNK. Ask somebody that was there, they saw it live at the best dunk contest New York ever had, the 1984 GOLDENHOOPS DUNK CONTEST. Where me and Bronx's own Chris Brook (50 inch verticle man) went head 2 head one crazy dunk after the other. It came down to 2 final dunks. He did a "DOMANIQUE" pump it down by his knees backwards dunk. I topped it with a bounce "DOMANIQUE" pump it by the knees backwards dunk. On his final dunk he came over to me and told me "this ones for you", and he went and did one of the most crazy dunks I have ever seen. He went baseline on the left side, jumped, tapped the ball on the left side of the glass, swung under the basket and Tomahawked on the right side of the rim. It was crazy! He came down and pointed at me! Then it was my turn and I only had one dunk that came close to that dunk so I went down in to left corner. I remember the noise they were making, still hyped from the Chris dunk , and my boy Dee Flowers voice in my ear. "Yo, you have to do "The Dunk" to beat him", I said "you think", and he said "I know", and I said "OK". I went baseline from the left, went up high, put the ball between my legs and dunked it so hard. The gym went crazy! People yelling, jumping . . . just madness. I came down and went over to where Chris Brooks was on the bench with a towel over his head. I picked it up and said "that ones for you!! He got up and said "you got it DOC. There's one story for you. GO all TRUE. - D.O.C., HALLA BACK

Pookie Wilson, if you never heard of him, listen up. Pookie was way ahead of his time. O nce went head to head with him in the Bronx. He got 41, I got 49. It was one of the best games I ever played. I was so hyped, I played at another level that night. From that night on Pookie's numbers went like this: 55,49,41,56,43, and on and on and on. The point is Pookie stayed at another level. The rest of us were only allowed to visit. R.I.P. Pookie, you brought out the best in me . . . "If only for one night". Game Over your site is bananas. Can't get enough. - JJ Uptown. The Boggie Down.

YO! What's up GO? DOC again coming back at you with another one. This is a story about the best two to ever play together, and that would be the 1-2 punch of Fes Academy. Who is DOC and Juice? We are the best thing since ice cream and cake, Batman and Robin, Bobby and Whitney, okay, maybe I went too far on the last one. Here is a West 4th story. One day my boy Juice had a game up there and I went to watch him do work. Juice is having a all right game killing as usual. Next thing you know I remember them calling time out right before the half and some of the guys on the team started talking about going to another game. A few of them ask me to play so they can go. So I agreed. When I went in the game I remember Kelly throwing me the ball and saying you got the point. First play down I throw a alley-oop to Juice coming base line. The second time down I throw one from half court that Juice caught on somebody. Now we had the crowd going crazy. We started to blow the team out. I throw in a quick 15 points and about 8 dimes. The game was real ugly at this point but we had 1 left for them. Me and Juice had a play called special. Juice would set up on the wing and I would be in the low post, Juice would drop the ball down to me, I would fake to the middle turn go back base and Juice would cut up the middle and I would throw a no look backwards alley-oop. But this time some kid jumped and Juice took it out of his hands and threw it on his head and that is our game over moment. The guy on the mic started yelling "Thats Game!, Thats Game!" and the crowd went crazy. Good thing it was only about 40 seconds left because they couldn't calm the crowd down. - Much Love to Game Over, DOC and Juice -- P.S. ask anybody that saw DOC and Juice play together on how tight we were.

I once witnessed Ron "Terminator" M------ score 63 points in a Nickelodeon Pro League game while sippin' on beverages hidden in a brown paper bag during time-outs and half time. - Brooklyn, NY

I once saw Jerry Stackhouse at The Golden Hoops catch an Alley-oop, kiss the ball, and then dunk it with two hands! Now, how's that for in your face?

I see that this site has a lot of Urban Legends from NY, but I have to give some respect to an entire court of balla's I saw this past summer in New Jersey. If you ever make a trip to Jersey, try and stop by a small town called Roselle. There's a small court uptown there they call Popular, and if you ever go there you'll understand why they call it that. It seems as if everyone there can fly and are extremely strong. And get this, no one is over 6'3". The second time I went I saw a guy name Dana catch a one hand dunk and tear a rim off an aluminium backboard, and he's only 6'1". So much love to Jersey!

I'm sorry, but Bone Collector is the nastiest street ball player now. If you watch the EBC tapes you will see what I'm talking about. In his first game he made someone fall, he is the nastiest . . . . . - Da Bronx, Holla at me!!

There are great ballers in OKC. I once saw a team wearing Game Over gear called NEW CITY SPORTS. With ten seconds on the clock in the game, New City was down 8 points. First, a little point guard named Terrance Gaines stole an inbound pass and hit a three. Now they were down five when a cat named Micheal Parks makes another steal and hits the three. Now they are down two. Next another steal and Poncho Joseph drives to the basket for a three point play. GAME OVER! THIS ALL HAPPENED IN TEN SECONDS. NEW CITY COULD PLAY WITH THE BEST NYC COULD OFFER.

Yo, check out Marbury, he is the real deal. None in EBC could stop this cat. I seen him do moves that none other then Bone Collector would think of. His jumper is sick, the only person that can guard him iz . . . . none can, my bad. Another thing in the EBC tape, my man Stevie Franchise shook the crap outta Headache. He is nasty too. People front on the NBA catz but they shut EBC down. Example - Baron Davis, AI , Stevie, Jamal Tins, Marbury, Al Harrington, Kobe, Shawn Marion, and Jermaine. onela and so many more

When it comes to urban legends, there's one sitting in Tulsa, Ok. You've seen him for one season with the Pheonix Suns, Richard Dumas!!! In 1986 at the AAU National Tournament at Georgetown University when he was sixteen, he was in the dunk contest. Dumas was with Elliot Perry, Alonzo Mourning, and Big Stanley Roberts as finalists. Each cat had three dunks. Richard's first was the infamous MJ one hand cuff float past the rim and throw it in as you past the rim. His second was a 360 two hand double pump, and his third was a Dominique two hand windmill. After all of that there was still a one dunk tie breaker, between Zo and Dumas. Zo's dunk was with two balls (basic). Dumas finished up the evening with a dunk that tops D.O.C.'s explanation of Chris Brooks dunk. Dumas went baseline from the left, jumped and put the ball in the rim took it out swung under the basket and Tomahawked it on the right side of the rim. The judges all threw up 10 cards and ran out the gym. The judges were Georgetown's own, Patrick Ewing, Michael Jackson, Gene Smith, Reggie Williams, David Wingate, and Sleepy Floyd. Oklahoma went on to win the 1986 AAU Nationals. After that we could say, GAME OVER!!! - Poncho Joseph

It's Lyndon and I have many D.O.C. legendary stories to tell, but I will start with the two that comes to mind first. It was a hot summer day in Brooklyn and there was a B-ball tournament going on in Foster Park. D.O.C.'s team was wearing all PINK uniforms and they were playing a team wearing black. I guess they didn't know about D.O.C. but by the end of this day they recognized. The game was flowing and the Park was so crowded that they had to rope off the sidelines so the fans wouldn't go onto the court. They also knew that D.O.C. was playin. There was a play where the point guard from the Pink team was on a fast break and D.O.C. was trailing with a defender between the both of them. The point guard threw the ball as if he was throwing an alley-oop, but it was the worst one I ever saw because he threw it too far under the basket and there was no way for D.O.C. to get it and lay it up. Not only did the D.O.C. catch the ball, but he somehow jumped so high and twisted in mid-air that he tomahawked it backwards. The crowd went crazy, broke the rope baracades down and started throwing bottles in the air. They had to stop the game for at least a half-hour to clean the court. Till this day alot of people still say it was the greatest dunk they had ever seen in game play.

The second story is when D.O.C. was playing for the Madison Square Broncos. They were playing the Gauchos who supposedly had the city's best players with Lloyd Daniels, Chris Brooks and many more. The Broncos had D.O.C., Juice and Jayson Williams - yes, the Jason Williams that played for the Nets. On this day Jayson was a no show. In the first half of this game Lloyd was killin' the Broncos because they were playin zone and Lloyd had a great jumpshot. I think Lloyd had 30 points at half time and D.O.C. had 6 points. At half time Lloyd came over to D.O.C. and said "D.O.C. I got your heart in my back pocket". D.O.C. said "WHAT!, your talkin Shit." I guess Lloyd should have let a sleeping dog lay because in the second half D.O.C. put it on Lloyd so bad that Lloyd must have thought he was dreaming. The Broncos came out playing man to man with D.O.C. on Lloyd. Now Lloyd is 6'7 or 6'8 and D.O.C. is maybe 6'4 and D.O.C not only locked the boy up, he made shots from all angles. Lloyd finished the game with 34 points and D.O.C had 42 points. He should have not awakened that sleeping dog. Oh yeah, the Broncos won that game. D.O.C. was one of the greatest players not to make the NBA. He could do it all, from scoring to rebounding to playing defense and could also pass his ass off. For those who don't believe me the reason D.O.C. didn't make the NBA was he went to college when Prop. 48 was introduced to the college world and we didn't understand the meaning. Trust me, I know I was there. I'm his cousin.

I remember in this one game, this guy named Edgar Mcphatter, a.k.a. Headbanger. He jumped from inside the dotted lines from the blind side to block a break away dunk by this 6'7 kid named Lloyd Clinton. The block was so vicious that Lloyd fell flat on his back. That was one of the best defensive stops I've seen. - Brooklyn, ST. JOHNS REC

Hey Game Over! I have heard a lot of different names of cats who were supposed to be so great. Can someone tell me some stories about some of
these guys? Artie Green, Gary Springer, Lowes Moore, Master Rob, Booga Smith, Carlton Green a.k.a. MOJO. - Young Buck in Brooklyn.

I once saw Jerry Stackhouse at The Golden Hoops catch an Alley-oop, kiss the ball, and then dunk it with two hands! Now, how's that in your
face? - Butch

Saturday, April 12, 2003 at the Big Aple Exposure Game held at John Jay College. I saw the best crossover from a big man ever. It was done by all of 6'6" Rashawn McCormack, A.K.A. The Beast of Lincoln High. He was being held by a 5'10" guy. You would think the little guy would easily strip him. Rashawn put it hrough his leg to the left, then crossed it back to the right, then went back to the left again, sending the little guy to the wall. The crowd went wild. That was the best big man crossover I have ever seen other than the one by Alimoe at the Rucker last summer. - orobin

Message: What's up GO,
Do you know who Curtis Redding is? Let me refresh your memory. Curtis was an All-City and All-American player for the 24-0 USA ranked #1 Canarsie High School basketball team in 1978. Curtis was a terror on the court. I never forget the game when he destroyed Stretch Graham from Lafayette High School. He was absolutely ridiculous, hitting jumpshots, slam dunking at will. He was such an overpowering 6'5 forward guard. I remember when he was playing for Kansas State as a freshman. He was killing Kansas at Kansas. This was a rival game, when Curtis went to the foul line the crowd began taunting him, after making two pressure free-throws, he turned to the crowd and began taunting them. Well, from then on, everytime he played against Kansas, they threw hotdogs at him, and he continued to bust their butts. That year he made freshman of the year.

Hey GO,
About a week ago while on vacation out of the country I ran into guy named Tony. Turns out he was from NYC and into the ball world big time back in his day. We swapped stories of some of the great players over the years that have blessed the parks with their talents. One name kept coming up . . . ARTIE GREEN! This story sums it up . . . It was a hot summer day in Harlem, 138th and Lenox Ave. The tournament was the Whitney M. Young Memorial Tournament. Artie was to play the last game of the day. The place was packed, the trees, tops of cars, fences, you name it, it became a seat. Needless to say Arite put on a show . . . spin moves ending with base line dunks, Tomahawk jams right in guys mugs. (NASTY) Artie did his thing. Artie's team was overmatched but Artie kept them in the game, he had about 40 pts. With about 5 min. left Artie fouls out, within minutes the park was empty. That's right once Artie fouled out it was "GAME OVER". Didn't matter how much time was left or what the score was . . . Game Over. Artie was the show and that dumb ass ref closed the show. - Newburgh NY.