Rucker Park

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Rucker Park is a basketball court in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, in the Harlem neighborhood. It is on the former site of the Polo Grounds. Many people who played at the park achieved a level of fame for their basketball abilities, and several went on to play in the NBA.

Besides its fame for basketball, Rucker Park is also a center of cultural activity. In it, one can find many sights, sounds, and activities that typify urban culture.

1 Location
2 Games
3 Layout/Appearance
4 Important ballers
5 External links

[edit] Location

The park is located at 155th street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and can be best reached by the B train or the D train.

[edit] Games

The basketball tradition began with Holcombe Rucker who ran a semi-professional basketball tournament at a playground on 7th Avenue between 128th and 129th streets starting in 1946. The tournament moved to the current location in 1965. Currently the Entertainers Basketball Classic (EBC) league represents the highest level of play on the courts. The Terror Squad, sponsored by rapper Fat Joe, has won the EBC championship in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

During league play, MCs give the action flavor through constant play-by-play and by teasing players for bad plays and perceived weaknesses. Otherwise, the park is known for the high level of basketball played publicly, particularly for its streetball style.

[edit] Layout/Appearance

The court surface is green with red paint. There are bleachers, but they are fairly run-down. The rims are breakaway, to allow for the rugged streetball style of play, and in a nod to the importance of the venue, there are permanent scoreboards.

[edit] Important ballers

The park has seen many NBA and streetball legends such as Pee Wee Kirkland, Earl "The Goat" Manigault, Wilt Chamberlain, Connie Hawkins, Julius Erving, Nate Archibald, Ronald Levine, and brothers Hamad "KillaCrossova" Mughal and Ahmad "ANR'z" Mughal.

Corey "Homicide" Williams is the reigning EBC league MVP.

Current and Former NBA players who have played at Rucker Park include: