Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament

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.

• Author
• Vincent M. Mallozzi

• Format
• hardcover

• Pages
• 272

• Publisher
• Doubleday

• Language
• english

• ISBN
• 9780385506755

• Genres
• basketball

• Release date
• 2003