Chicago Hoops: Chicago’s Top Players Since 1950 A Personal Story of Books, Basketball, and a Career in Education

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During the 1950s, the great migration from the South led many Black families to the city of Chicago. As African American families took up residency all around the city, the talent in the Chicago Public League's high schools took a huge leap. Many of the schools that were previously predominantly White became Black. Neighborhoods throughout the city changed as well. Many White families moved to suburban areas outside of Chicago.

Since that time, basketball has created thousands of scholarship opportunities for Black student athletes, including myself. My version of the Top 100 Players of All Time will not only be similar to many but also different from what other writers would put together. The arguments about who belongs will always be present when the conversation centers on Chicago high school basketball.

My story is something I hope will be educational and inspirational to others who take the path I took as an inner-city resident who put in the extra effort in the classroom, on the court, and in the community to find success. I am a student of the human condition, wielding the written craft to enrapture the mind much like an artist wields a brush. The pages are a blank canvas on which to draw from a talent heralded by many but matched only by an imagination that rises to the task and delivers positivity.