By: Russ Bengtson

Walk into Harlem’s Rucker Park, located on 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in New York City—right across the street from where the Polo Grounds used to stand—on an ordinary afternoon, and you might not understand. Not right away at least. Sure, there are bleachers, both metal and concrete, surrounding the single court, and there’s a scoreboard above the seats by midcourt. Other than that though, it’s just one more blacktop in a city that has thousands of them. Right?

Wrong. Don’t believe me? Take it from Fat Joe. The Bronx-born rapper started coming to the park in ‘91, before he was spitting, before he was famous. He eventually led a team of his own, Terror Squad, to multiple Entertainers Basketball Classic (EBC) chips on 155th.

“You know the basketball culture in New York City is everything,” Joe says. “Every summer, all attention goes there and everybody comes out to the Rucker. You get a feeling and a vibe like nowhere else. Everybody knows this. All five boroughs know summertime, Harlem, the Rucker. It's lit.”

Harlem playground director Holcombe Rucker founded the park’s inaugural tournament, The Rucker League, in the ‘50s. It quickly transformed into a summer Pro-Am showcase where NBA players faced off against New York street legends like Earl Manigault and Pee Wee Kirkland. NYC’s basketball fans didn’t see the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving for the first time at Madison Square Garden—they witnessed them, in action, at the Rucker.

Over time, the pros transitioned from playing regularly to making special appearances. Still, streetballers continued to establish themselves at the park. Kareem Reid became “The Best-Kept Secret,” Rafer Alston “Skip to My Lou,” and a young God Shammgod was dubbed “The Freshman.” Players like Ali Moe, A Butta, and Master Rob were better known by their Rucker names than by their government names.

“Most people don't wanna be a celebrity for the whole world. They just wanna know that they are important to the people they see everyday,” Shammgod says. “So, when you go to ‘55th and get a name and then walk around the neighborhood and they all like, ‘Oh, that's A Butter. That's Kareem Reid. That's Skip. Oh, that's Shammgod.’ You feel proud cause you feel you doing something for your neighborhood.”

53 years after Holcombe Rucker passed away at 38, the Rucker remains a legendary place hidden in plain sight, across the way from the B-D subway line. The late Greg Marius gave the court a boost when he founded the Entertainers Basketball Classic in 1982, and it will receive another nod this year as the backdrop of the new Uncle Drew movie — which you can catch in theaters on June 29. Thanks to the film, the younger generation will understand what this park has meant and continues to mean for the game of basketball.

The Mecca is Built (1954-1972)

The first years of the Rucker Tournament weren’t held at the place known as Rucker Park today. And it wasn’t dedicated, as such, until years after Holcombe Rucker passed away in 1969. But the competition was intense from the jump. The Rucker represented a platform for players not only from New York City, but all over the tri-state area and beyond, to flex their blacktop skills. Players from Philadelphia, like a young, gargantuan Wilt Chamberlain, made regular pilgrimages. As a pro in the early ‘60s, he learned quickly what the game was like in New York, as he was repeatedly challenged by high-flying “Jumpin’ Jackie” Jackson, a 6’2” guard who could snatch quarters from the top of backboards, dunk with the best of them, and pin Wilt’s shot to the backboard.

Jackson wasn’t the only local talent. There was Earl Manigault, “The Goat,” master of the double dunk, where he dunked a ball with his right hand, caught it with his left, and dunked it again. There were high schoolers Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown, who’d go on to star in the ABA; Cal Ramsay, who would play for City College and the Knicks; future Hall of Fame point guard Nate “Tiny” Archibald; and of course, Lew Alcindor of Power Memorial, who would later win championships at UCLA and with the Lakers, and finish his career as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer—a record that stands to this day.

The ‘70s witnessed the arrival of a Long Island kid with a huge afro and even bigger hops—his name was Julius Erving, but they called him “The Claw” up at 155th. He starred for the Westsiders—a team coached by longtime columnist Peter Vecsey—and found his foil in Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond, a slim 6’4” guard whose bank shot never missed and whose scoring records were most often broken by himself. He played for Milbank, with a backcourt partner by the name of Pee Wee Kirkland, who came to games in style, specifically in a Rolls-Royce. Kids climbed trees and sat on the tops of fences just to catch a glimpse of the greats going at it.

Even the New York Knicks—who won two titles in four years in the early ‘70s—played at the Rucker, from Willis Reed and Earl “Black Jesus” (before he was “The Pearl”) Monroe, to Clyde Frazier. They faced off against the likes of Herman “The Helicopter” Knowings, rather than the Celtics or the Lakers. In fact, the Knicks found one of their players, Harthorne Wingo, at the Rucker. While the Rucker was Madison Square Garden to some, playing there led Wingo to the real deal.

Jabbar once admitted his greatest battles took place at the Rucker, but it wasn’t just the basketball games that were legendary. Dr. J and (then) Alcindor set the tone for basketball style with their classic Converse kicks. Of course, Frazier—the swag God himself—donned mink coats, printed and patterned suits, and fedoras, looking fly before the word was even in the lexicon.

The Lean Years (1973-1981)

If there were ever lean years at the Rucker, they started in 1972, when a series of high-profile injuries led the tournament to be moved indoors. In 1971, Pee Wee Kirkland began serving a 10-year prison sentence, and NBA stars started thinking twice before playing in a summer league. It wasn’t until 1977 that the tournament moved back uptown to 155th.

Some of the big names of the early ‘70s had moved on, but there was a new crop, including Lloyd Free, later World B. Free, who would eventually play for the Philadelphia 76ers alongside Dr. J. A 6’2” shooting guard (emphasis on “shooting”) from Atlanta, Free grew up in Brooklyn, playing for Canarsie High. At the Rucker, he took the court with fellow Brooklyn gunner James “Fly” Williams, who’d set a freshman scoring record at Austin Peay State University and enjoy a short stint in the ABA with the Spirits of St. Louis. They never won a Rucker title, but they got plenty of buckets.

And there was still Joe Hammond, The Destroyer, who turned down offers to play professionally for the Lakers and the then-ABA Nets. He was making more money in the streets. After serving time in jail, Hammond returned to the park and dropped 59 and 73 points in back-to-back games, eventually breaking his own record with a 76-point explosion. Apparently, he even torched Dr. J for 50 points one day.

By the early ‘80s though, Rucker had gone quiet. The Westsiders, once led by Julius Erving, now featured Bucks forward (and eventual Knick) Pat Cummings. It was past time for a change.

Basketball, Hip-Hop, and the EBC (1982-1993)

In 1982, a DJ named Greg Marius founded the Entertainers Basketball Classic, representing the first official melding of basketball and hip-hop. For half a decade, it was played away from the Rucker, before landing at the iconic park in 1987. Eventually, the rosters were supplemented by local talent, which brought the level of competition back up, even as holdover pros like Sam Worthen kept things alive. There were local stars like Ronnie Mathias, better known as “The Terminator,” and young up-and-comers like Walter Berry and Richie “The Animal” Adams, who’d go on to play for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, but also wound up doing stints in prison.

Then, in the late ‘80s, a new generation appeared, led by “The Future” himself, Malloy Nesmith. God Shammgod, who grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Harlem as an 11-year-old, saw The Future the first time he went to Rucker.

“We couldn't get in the park and I'm like, ‘Man this park is crowded,’” Shammgod says. “I thought it was more of a party because there was so many people there. Malloy Nesmith, they call him ‘The Future,’ was coming up the court. He just stood there and did a split, but not touching the ground. A guy named Mike “Boogie,” Mike Thornton dribbled between his legs. I thought it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. From that day forth, I fell in love with basketball.”

Others left an impression on the young Shammgod too, including Rob “Master Rob” Hockett.

“I saw Master Rob come down and throw a behind-the-back pass from one foul line to the next foul line to somebody,” Shammgod recalls. “Then Terminator dunked the ball. I've never seen that in my life.”

Rucker Park may have been known as a place for showmanship and fancy dribbling, but make no mistake, the paint was still a battleground. Perhaps no one personified that more in the '90s than Conrad McRae, a Brooklyn product and former Syracuse forward who earned his "McNasty" nickname at the Rucker, thanks to his bruising style of play and vicious dunks. Sadly, he passed away in 2000 at the age of 29.

Holcombe Rucker himself was a firm believer in “each one teach one,” which applied equally to generations of players at the Rucker. The Future never made it to the NBA, but he left a legacy picked up by players to come—God Shammgod, Kareem Reid, Stephon Marbury, and Rafer Alston among them. This next crop of New York guards would take the Rucker into the ‘90s. Not to mention, they helped lay the groundwork for the birth of the And1 era, which combined basketball and hip-hop.

That marriage set the tone for Rucker for generations to come. Rappers like Diddy and Fat Joe, and later Dipset and Fabolous, would come through, transforming the park from a basketball battleground to a cultural phenomenon.

And1 Era (1994-2002)

Born and bred in Coney Island, where he played for the Lincoln Railsplitters on Mermaid Ave, Stephon Marbury first took his talents to the Rucker as a high schooler. So did Kareem Reid, who balled for St. Raymond’s in the Bronx. Marbury, of course, would become a two-time NBA All-Star, but it was Reid, a future journeyman pro, who turned into a true Rucker Park legend. He started early, putting a 50-spot on The Future and earning his “Best Kept Secret” nickname.

Fat Joe, who had both Marbury and Reid on his EBC roster, doesn’t hesitate to give Reid the highest praise.

“The guy who won all my chips, who was my favorite player, was Kareem Reid,” Joe says. “When it came down the line, he knew who to pass it to, he knew what do do, he knew how to win a chip. He was blue-collar, but faster than anybody.”

Shammgod remembers a time when Reid took it right at Maryland big man Joe Smith, who was about to become the number-one overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft.

“Joe Smith came up there, and Kareem went off for 42 points and this is unheard of,” Shammgod says. “Kareem was a 5'11" point guard. He just went to work.”

Before Fat Joe brought teams to the Rucker, Sean “Puffy” Combs—the man who recruited Smith for that losing effort against Reid—was winning chips with his Bad Boy squads. Reid eventually played for Puff and for Fat Joe, racking up a bunch of tourney wins, in the process. He also paired Marbury in the backcourt with a Virginia guard by the name of Allen Iverson, who Joe remembers smoked people on the court while wearing his iconic diamond earrings. “The Answer” would stroll through in his baggy shirts and pants, and gold chains, borrowing his look from the hip-hop world and influencing his peers around him (so much so, in fact, that the NBA changed its dress code policy because of him).

Then there was Rafer Alston (a.k.a. “Skip to My Lou”), a skinny guard from Queens whose dizzying array of moves (and skip-dribbling) were collected in the legendary And1 Mixtape. The videos, which contained content mirroring that of Rucker’s own DVDs, received nationwide distribution through And1. Alston parlayed his Rucker fame into a Fresno State ride and made $30 million in the NBA. But Skip to My Lou didn’t even have the Rucker’s best handle, at least according to Fat Joe.

“The best handle I ever seen out there was the Bone Collector,” Joe says. “I could never have him play for me, he would ask me every year. And I’d be like, ‘Yo bro, I love you, I worship you, you don't wanna win. You wanna play yourself. You wanna come out there and play games with all these people. I'm about a chip.’"

And then there was Shammgod himself, inspired by The Future and whose middle school gym teacher was none other than Tiny Archibald. Shammgod unleashed one of the most vicious crossovers in Rucker history—which has been imitated by the likes of Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook and is known simply as “The Shammgod.”

“I see little kids and their father bring them to me and say, ‘You know the move you always do? The Shammgod? That's him,’” Shammgod says. “And they're like, ‘No that's not. That's not a person, that's a move.’”

The NBA-caliber dribbling skills—this new style of basketball—that Bone Collector, Skip, and Shammgod possessed (and put on display) influenced the game dramatically, which can be seen in the modern NBA. It paved the way for dudes like Kyrie, Steph, CP3, Jamal Crawford, and more to develop ridiculous handles.

By 2001, the Rucker was so big that it was attracting presidents. "When I coached at the Rucker, Bill Clinton was in the stands. David Stern was in the stands," Fat Joe says. "White people before gentrification. That was the beginning of gentrification of the Rucker."

The Modern Day Rucker and The Greatest Game Never Played (2003-2018)

In the summer of 2003, the greatest basketball game that was never played took place. Fat Joe’s Terror Squad had a new challenger in Jay-Z’s S. Carter team.

“I brought the energy back to Rucker,” Joe says. “Then Jay-Z wanted to get a team at the Rucker? I was just so offended, man. I was just like, ‘Yo. This guy got everything. He got Beyonce. He got cabillions of dollars. This guy, what the f*** he want with my park? This is Joe's park!’”

It was an understandable feeling—Joe had put in countless seasons of work recruiting talent to run the summers (“There's a kid buzzing out in Brooklyn, Lance Stephenson. I gotta go to like 10 of his games so he can start liking me, so somehow he can play for my team at the Rucker”). Meanwhile, Jay-Z was, well, Jay-Z. So while Joe had his NBA squad—from Steph and AI, to Mike Bibby and Zach Randolph—Jay recruited 18-year-old phenom LeBron James and a dominant, Hall of Fame big man.

“If they would have brought Shaq, because they said they had Shaq, they would have won the chip,” Joe admits now. “At that time, Shaq could take a whole team on his back, let alone at the Rucker.”

Despite drawing an enormous crowd, the game never happened. A blackout hit NYC.

“They reschedule the game, let's just say that Monday or whatever,” Joe says. “We showed up. For some strange reason, they didn't show up. The only player I seen on Jay-Z's team at the Rucker was John Strickland, suited up, warming up. I had Steph. I had everybody in the park. We waited for hours. They never showed up.”

Strickland, who died in 2010 at 40 and was immortalized in a 2003 Jay-Z verse—”My homie Strick told me, ‘Dude finish your breakfast’"—was one of Joe’s favorite players, too.

“John Strick, he was the glue,” Joe says of his championship teams. “He was everything to our team. Whenever we felt like we were going to lose, he'd be the one in the middle of the huddle like, ‘Yo, wake up. Let's go.’”

Thanks to the likes of Puff and Joe, NBA stars returned to the Rucker to test their mettle against New York’s best. Kobe Bryant came through and played in Uptowns, although his game was cut short by rain.

“Kobe Bryant's about that life, man,” Joe says. “He came out there to destroy. I think he dropped like 20 points in five minutes.”

Allen Iverson returned as a pro, as did Stephon Marbury and Ron “True Warrior” Artest. And of course, Kevin Durant stopped by. During a humid August night in 2011, KD put on a masterful streetball display, reminiscent of a Joe Hammond.

“The greatest NBA performance out in the Rucker was Kevin Durant,” Joe says. “That day, not in the NBA, not in OKC, that day was when I realized how phenomenal Kevin Durant was. Because this ain't no money involved, this ain't no NBA. This is the park and that boy dropped maybe like 90 points on them.” (It was 66, but it probably felt like 90 to whoever was trying to guard him.)

“Every time he'd take out the ball, five players would be coming at him like this, and he'd just shoot from the other side from the half court, three-quarter court, and was dropping threes on 'em. I’d never seen something like that.”

A new generation of New York players grew up at the Rucker too, from Kemba Walker—now an All-Star guard with the Charlotte Hornets—to Isaiah Washington, a 6’1” point guard from Harlem who had fans worldwide before he ever played a game of college ball (he just finished his freshman year at Minnesota). The virality of the #JellyFam style lay-up / finger-roll transcended the game of basketball and became a mainstay on social media feeds.

“When I see Isaiah, he embodies everything Harlem is built on, as far as basketball,” Shammgod says. “The whole ‘Jelly Fam’ movement and things like that. It's so incredible, but it couldn't happen for a better kid.”

And now, as the Uncle Drew movie introduces Rucker Park to yet another generation, the question is the same one that’s been asked since Holcombe Rucker first put his tournament together so many years ago: Who’s got next?