June 17, 2024 • 23 mins
In this episode, we delve into the illustrious history of Boys High School, a powerhouse in Brooklyn high school basketball. Featuring interviews with greats such as Lenny Wilkens and Jackie Jackson, this episode highlights the extraordinary talent and unforgettable moments that defined Boys High. From dominating the PSAL championships to creating legends on the playgrounds, discover how Boys High set the standard for excellence in basketball.
- 02:01 - 06:00: Mel Davis on the allure of Boys High and his decision to attend
- 06:01 - 10:00: Peter Vecsey and Billy Cunningham on Boys High's dominance in the 1960s
- 10:01 - 18:00: Connie Hawkins' impact, legendary performances, and insights from Larry Brown and Lenny Wilkens
- 18:01 - 22:00: The epic 1960 PSAL semifinals featuring Hawkins and Roger Brown
- 22:01 - 26:00: The myth and reality of Jumpin’ Jackie Jackson
- 26:01 - 30:00: Sihugo Green and other Boys High legends who followed
- 30:01 - 34:00: The coaching legacy of Mickey Fisher and Howie Jones
- 34:01 - 38:00: Lenny Wilkens' journey from Boys High to the NBA Hall of Fame
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mel Davis was thirteen years old the first time he
saw Boys Hot play basketball.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I heard so much about it, and when I went
to a boys high game, I was just blown away
and I said, well, this is a place for I
need to come to. It was just awesome, the camaraderie,
the electricity there, and it was a Brooklyn phenomenal event
and I loved it.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
At halftime, Davis went into the locker room to meet
head coach Howie Jones.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
He was incredible. He had heard about me, and he
didn't have a lot of time to spend with me.
He said a few things to me that I remember
to this day. He said, wherever you go, Son, you're
going to be successful, he says, but one thing you
need to consider if you are as good as you
think you are when you come here and try and
play with the best. And that was it. He said,
good luck to you, and he went back to talking
(00:50):
to the team at halftime. And I'll never forget that.
And the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
This is the story of the first high school team
in New York City that was big given basketball. I'll
meet you dalk or the flyper Zombies, And this is
the legend of Boys High right here on Basketball's Borough.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Everybody knew about Boys High.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Everybody talked about Boys High. It was intimidated by Boys High,
probably because of what they did on the layup line.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That's Hall of Fame sports writer Peter Vessi, who played
ball at Auschbishop Malloy and Queen's and graduated in nineteen
sixty one right in the middle of Boys High, has
run dominated New York City high schools. That same year,
Billy Cunningham graduated from Erasmus Hall before going on to
North Carolina and then a Hall of Fame playing career
(01:55):
in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
In those days, Boys High was by far the best
high school basketball team in Brooklyn, New York. They were
quite unique that the first eight players, if I remember correctly,
all could dunk, and that was a big thing. You know,
Oh my goodness, all eight of them conduct. How could
you absolutely beat them? I think we're all were in
awe of the talent and the abilities of Boys High.
(02:19):
Everybody told Boys High and how they were doing competitively.
Get the Brooklyn Eagle to fight out the scores the newspaper,
and as I mentioned, the opportunity to scrimmage against Boys High,
and they usually would come to our place because we
had glass backboards, got an opportunity to play against them.
(02:39):
It was a great thrill. It was bigger than just
playing a game. They counted the scrimmage to participate against them.
That was a wonderful era for high school basketball in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Ask anybody about boys high and the names they just
spill out. It always starts with Connie Hawkins, Lenny Wilkins,
and Tommy Davis. But there's also Sahego Green and Vinnie Cohen, Jumping,
Jackie Jackson and Billy Burwell, Eldridge Webb, Sam Pencil and
(03:14):
Von Harper, Mel Davis, Jerry Powell, Haywood, Edwards.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Chet Walker, and Walter Davis.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
From nineteen fifty seven to nineteen sixty four, they went
to seven PSAL championship games.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
In eight years and won five.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
They won a total of eight city titles from nineteen
fifty two to nineteen sixty nine. There were College All Americans,
NBA All Stars, Harlem Globetrotters, and Hall of Famous, but
it was a team that built its lasting legend on
the playgrounds as much as the high school gyms. For
(03:55):
that part of the story, we're going to start with
Connie Hawkins.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
I tell every buddy this Contie Hawkins that at seventeen
and eighteen might have been as good a player as
only seventeen or eighteen year old.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Ever, that's all of fame coach Larry Brown, who got
his basketball education in Brooklyn by coming back to playing
the playground in places like the Brownsville Boys Club, even
after his family moved out to Long Island. Let's go
back to Larry Brown's college teammate Billy Cunningham.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Cottie was phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
We were good friends.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
I can remember running down Flatbush Avenue near a rismus
holing the different movies theaters, saying who could jump higher?
What letter could you hit? Running down the street, then
we go shoot some pool. He was so gifted. The
game was so easy to him at a young age.
Looking back, ego was never an issue with that. He
(04:51):
would rather make a nice pass or simple pass than
score two points. He got more joy out of doing
those types of things. And in many cases kids and
players the ego issue want to score points to get
a reputation.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
He never had that. Peter VESSI describe Hawkins the same way.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Connie was not to be believed he did things you'd
never seen before. Everything that needed to be done, he'd
get it done.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
But he do it kind of casually.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
He didn't really have passion. He wasn't ruthless, he wasn't crude.
You know, he just got it done.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Lenny Wilkins graduated Boys High in nineteen fifty six, just
before the Hawk came to high school.
Speaker 7 (05:33):
Connie was from my neighborhood and I saw him many
times on the playground. Incredible hands, I mean had huge
hands and he could pick the basketball up like it
was a grape fruit. Everybody knew that he was going
to be a star, that he was going to be
an incredible player. He was unselfish. He could run, he
(05:55):
could jump, he could block shots. He was just an
incredible player. Connie's was unbelievable. I think he was still
growing in high school. It got to be six ' nine.
He was long, lean, wiry, and to be able to
move like that, block shots, rebound, get out, run on
(06:15):
the fast break, be able to go to the basket,
come up on the other side, dunk it, or find
that open man. His skill was incredible, The control of
the ball, the way he could handle the basketball, No
guy his size could handle the ball like that. Years later,
doctor J. Lgim Baylor. But Connie, he could take that ball,
(06:37):
like I said, and just swirl it around his head
put it up on the other side of the basket.
He had such control. The size of his hands made
it easy for him.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
With Hawkins leading the way, Boys High went undefeated in
his junior and senior seasons and went back to back
PSAL City championships. But the game everybody remembers is the
one Connie foul out of in the third quarter. They
were up against another Brooklyn team, win Gate High School,
in the nineteen sixty PSL semifinals. There was a showdown.
(07:10):
The whole city was looking forward to win Gates. Roger
Brown went for thirty nine points that day at Madison
Square Garden, but Boys held on for sixty two to
fifty nine win and then beat Columbus for the championship.
Documentary filmmaker Ted Green as the producer, director, and writer
of the film Undefeated. The Roger Brown story.
Speaker 8 (07:32):
Still called by many the greatest schoolboys showdown in New
York City history, which is saying.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
A hell of a lot.
Speaker 8 (07:39):
Some people remember it as the finals, but it was
actually the semi finals at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It's one of those.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
Games where probably one hundred thousand people say they were there,
and there were actually probably you know, eight or nine thousand.
But that STEP's the legend of this game.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
And here's Peter VESSI.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
I wish I was at that game when they played
Boys High wing Gate. I did a big piece on it,
I don't know, fifteen twenty years ago. So and Connie
used to laugh at me, Man, you're the only guy
that I know that doesn't swear that he was at
that game at the garden. A friend of mine was
at it, but he said, that's the second biggest lie
(08:15):
is that everybody said they're at Wilt's one hundred point
game in Hershey, Pennsylvania. You know, amazingly to look it up,
but I think they were only like nine thousands the
garden for Connie's game. My friend who went there, he
became an NBA agent. He cut school, he went. He's
been talking about that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
His whole life.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
There was another player from that Boys, however, who inspired
the same kind of awe and myth making on the playgrounds.
You could always find he and Connie together on the
courts all around New York City or even playing together
for the all them Globe trotters. Let's let Connie himself
introduce you to the man so nice. They named him
twice jumping Jackie Jackson.
Speaker 9 (08:55):
And we had a guy w by named Jackie Jackson
who was like six foot four and actually touched top
of the backboard. I've heard people talk about guys touching
the backboard. This guy can do it. And we ran
a play and Whip used to shoot this fadeaway jump shot.
He used to draw up pine and shoot off the glass.
So we had a play that we would make Will
shoot the jump shot and Jackie would come over and
block it, and we had to play set up perfect,
(09:15):
went in and turned shot a jump shot. Jackie came
from the weak side and caught it and right at
the top of the of the backboard, and the crowd
went crazy. People were running around the place and jumping
off the fence and almost jumping off the ceilings and stuff,
and it was just phenomenal. And we looked over at Wilton,
what were staring at us? And he woke called time out,
just called timeout like that, and everybody was still running
(09:37):
around screaming and.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Back then there wasn't high five. They'd give everybody low
five and stuff.
Speaker 9 (09:40):
Everybody was clapping the can on and then the next
fifteen plays were dunked by Wilt that I've never seen
before in my life. He dunked every single way he
came to imagine for him.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
That was Connie talking to NBA TV back in twenty
thirteen about one of the fame rucket games between New
York and Philly teams that brought together some of the
best players of the day. Back in nineteen eighty nine,
Philadelphia basketball legend Sunny Hill told the La Times, I
have seen everybody. The greatest leaper I ever saw was Jackie.
(10:12):
Nobody ever played the game could rise any better than Jackie.
I saw him come down the floor once in the
Eastern League. On a fast break, Jay Norman, an outstanding
defensive player, went into his defensive stance at the foul line.
Jackie jumped over Norman's head and dunked the ball. Here's
Larry Brown.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
Jackie was the highest jumper I've ever seen. We played
an All Star game in Long Beach. Jack Blinis was
part of it. He brought Roger and Connie and Jackie Jackson.
A whole bunch of guys played against a bunch of
us from Long Island. I remember I shot a set shot.
I used to shoot two hands. I shot a set
shot about twenty feet and Jackie Jackson jumped.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Up and cornered in front.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Of the rim and soul body seemed to be over
the basket.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Even the ray Oscar Robertson out of Indianapolis and Cincinnati
knew the legend of jumping Jackie.
Speaker 10 (11:05):
Everybody knows about Jackie Jackson, I mean famous in New
York City in the playground. Jacket Jackson's the old man
Jacket Jackson.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
He can jump and take.
Speaker 10 (11:14):
The money off the top of the top of the backboard.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
And then you talk to.
Speaker 10 (11:17):
Will to say, yeah, I'd give him change.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
That's what I did.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Not everybody believes that story about grabbing a corter off
the top of the backboard. By the way, remember last
week when we were talking about myths and legends and
when the legend becomes fat print the legend. Maybe there's
a little bit of that at work too. But here's
the thing. Even the guys that don't buy it all
know the story. Here's Billy Cunningham, who could get off
(11:46):
the floor pretty good himself, so good that they called
Billy c the Kangaroo kid.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
He had that reputation for his ability to jump. Of course,
things tend to get exaggerated. That he could take a
quarter off the top of the backboarder leave you some change.
It might have been a half a dollar.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
I never saw anybody from Wilt chamber On touch the
top of the backboard get up there, But to this
day I would like to see that, and I've never seen.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
And Peter VESSI, I.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Don't believe the story about him, you know, touching the
top of the backboard, And to me, it's a myth.
You know the story, you know, yeah, the fifty cents
took change left change.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
You know, every story needs a starting point, and maybe
for Boys High and this particular era, Basketball's borough.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
It all starts with s Hugo Green.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I mean, if you ask Oscar Robinson about Brooklyn basketball,
the first words he'll say are to Hugo Green.
Speaker 10 (12:47):
The greatest forward that I've seen about six y three
in my lifetime.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The Big Old discovered Green while he was starring at
the University of Cincinnati, and Green was playing for the
Cincinnati Royals after he was a two time first team
All American that du Cane. The Royals took Green first
in the nineteen fifty sixth draft, right ahead of a
guy named Bill Russell. After Green graduated Boys High, there
(13:14):
was Vinnie Cohen, who led the Way to the city
title in nineteen fifty two, then was an All American
as Syracuse. He led the Orange and scoring three straight
years while playing with football Hall of Famer Jim Brown.
Then came Tommy Davis, all City in basketball and best
friends with Lenny Wilkins. But it turned out Tommy was
(13:36):
even better on the baseball Domin he signed with the Dodgers,
went West, and in nineteen sixty two he led the
league in Batten average, hits and rbrs and finished third
in the MVP voting. In nineteen sixty three, he went
to his second All Star Game, won another Batten title,
and the Dodgers won.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
The World Series.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Billy Burwell, the six FO center, started on an undefeated
championship team in nineteen fifty seven, then one again teamed
up with Connie Hawkins in nineteen fifty nine. In three
years at Illinois, he averaged fifteen points a game and
won the Big Ten title as a senior. Even the
graduation of the great Connie Hawkins didn't slow the Boys machine.
(14:22):
They won the city again in nineteen sixty two and
nineteen sixty four. In between Clinton edged them by a
point in the nineteen sixty three PSAL title game. They
had Sam Penzel and Von Harper, who both went on
to Syracuse to play with Dave Bing and Jim Beaheim,
(14:43):
and guard Eldridge Webb, who was so good they retired
his jersey number on the spot after his last game.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Ray Haskins grew up.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
In bed Star across from forty four Park, which you
know today as Solo in the Whole. He graduated from
Boys High in sixty seven and was championship coach in
high school and college in Brooklyn. Haskins led Alexander Hamilton
to the PSAL title in nineteen eighty one and took
Long Island University to the NCAA tournament in nineteen ninety
(15:15):
seven ELVI twelve.
Speaker 11 (15:18):
He played with Von Harper. A lot of people didn't
know that Varn Harper was a radio personality. They didn't
know he was an All American basketball player from Boys
High and They tell the story at Tulsa University where
they say the best player that ever played at Telsa
with all the pros they had was Elvis Webb. He
was an amazing, amazing player. He never went to the NBA.
(15:38):
He wound up playing with for Marcus Haynes's show team,
the Musicians, where.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
He traveled all over, but we had a lot of grace.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Finally, there was Mel Davis, who went to Boys High
to play with the best, just like coach Howie Jones
said he should. The big man hit the championship game
winner with six seconds left against clin And in nineteen
sixty eight, then had thirty five points when Boys rolled
over Van Buren in nineteen sixty nine, making an even
(16:08):
fifty straight wins. That was also the end of an era.
Mel's senior year was the last for coach Howie Jones,
who moved on to succeed another Brooklyn legend, Dolly King,
as head coach at Manhattan Community College. After King passed away,
Jones left Boys High with a spectacular one twenty four
(16:29):
to sixteen record.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Here's Mel Davis.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I kept in touch with Howie weekly. I mean, he
was like a father figure to me. Dear friend until
he passed. I think it was three years ago we
lost him. He was a phenomenal coach, a legend in Brooklyn.
He helped so many ball players for my father figure
to advice to schooling. He just meant so much to
so many players that played for him and well respected
(16:54):
and well loved.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Jones had followed Mickey Fisher, who coached Boys High for
twenty six years. Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkins remembers his
high school coach.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
Our coach, Mickey Fisher was a stickler for passing, for defending,
moving the ball, stuff like that. Remember we had a drill,
the pregame drill, and he would let us do it
where everybody had to dunk the ball at the end
of the drill. But he would not let us dunk.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
In the game.
Speaker 7 (17:24):
He wasn't into that, but to use it to intimidate
then opposing team. He would let us dunk and warm up,
not in the game.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It's funny how things work out. Lenny Wilkins actually didn't
play much high school ball at Boys. He had a
job after school, so he only played a few games
as a senior. After Tommy Davis talked to him into
coming out for the team. But of all the legends
that came out of Boys High, the college stars, the pros,
and the playground ballers that inspired decades of myth making,
(17:56):
nobody has had more accomplished basketball life than Lenny Wilkins.
Here's Billy Cunningham.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
As classy a man as you'll ever meet your life,
and obviously a great besketball player. You knew what Lenny
Wilkins was gonna do, and you couldn't stop him. He
was going to go to his left, and I don't
care how hard you try to push him to his right.
Somehow he always got back to that left and was
a great player and went on to Providence as we go,
(18:24):
and had a great career there and made them a
real force during his period of time, and then went
on to play for the Saint Louis Hawks. He represents
everything good that came out of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
The great Lenny Wilkins is in the Hall of Fame
three times as a player, as a coach and as
an assistant coach with the legendary Dream Team, the nineteen
ninety two Olympic gold medalist. And we're going to talk
about Lenny's coaching career. In a few weeks hair on
Basketball's Borough when we've got an episode dedicated to all
(18:59):
the great coaches that come out of Brooklyn. But for now,
we're gonna talk about the smooth lefty point guard who
was a two time All American at Providence College and
the first round draft pick by the Saint Louis Hawks
in nineteen sixty. Lenny played fifteen years in the NBA
for the Hawks, Sonics, Calves, and Blazers and went to
(19:22):
nine All Star Games, winning the MVP in nineteen seventy one.
When he retired in nineteen seventy five, he was second
in NBA history and assists, behind only Oscar Robinson, who
he played against in the league for fourteen years.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Here's the big O on Lenny Wilkins. He and I
went into the NBA the same year in nineteen sixty.
Speaker 10 (19:42):
Matter of fact, Lenny was also a member of the
Olympic tryout.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Team, but he didn't make the team. He should have
made the basketball team. He would have made the team,
but he didn't.
Speaker 10 (19:50):
But that was a difficult situation because they didn't want
too many black people on the team.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Out said put it that way. Lenny and I played
on an All Star.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
Team that big to Nicks at nineteen sixty before the
season started. Then it was very good basketball player, very good.
Went to Saint Louis and stabilized at the offense for
for many many years. Was a great player, and he
was smart lieutenant player. You know, he set up great
point guard. He didn't have the prolific scoring type basketball,
but he was very good in that type of offense.
(20:19):
And he played years at Providence. Very good player, All Star,
All America.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
What else can you say?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
When the NBA had it say about the greatest players
of all time for his fiftieth anniversary and seventy fifth
anniversary teams Boys Highs, Lenny Wilkins made the cut.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
I heard years later they would say I had a
drag shot. It was kind of like a hook shot,
a floater that you see a lot of guys used today.
I knew I could get to the basket.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I had no.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
Fear of being bumped or pushed or whatever. But I
could get to the basket, and if someone came to help,
I knew where his man was. I think that my
court vision was very good, so I could always find
the open man. And guys knew that so a lot
of times. The other thing that I started doing was
when I got close to the basket, I could use
(21:10):
either hand and I'd put the ball up on the
board because I knew once it got on the board,
if you touched it, it was goaltending. To me, that
was the fun of the game, penetrating finding the open man,
making a layup, putting the spinner on the ball, stuff
like that.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I pride it myself.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
In my defense, I wasn't gonna let you just walk
to the basket. You couldn't put the ball down in
front of me because I could get it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
The end of an ever in nineteen sixty nine didn't
mean the end of the story at Boys High. There
were more championships, including three straight in twenty ten, twenty eleven,
and twenty twelve, and more legendary players like the great
Pearl Washington. But we'll talk more about him a little
bit down the road on Basketball's burrow. In the meantime,
(21:59):
let's go back to the man who started his story
for US, Mel Davis. After Boys High, Mel starred at
Saint John's and was the first round pick by the
Knicks in nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
After his playing days were done.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Mel worked in the NBA League Office and then with
the NBA Retired Players Association. All along he kept the
Boys High Race together with regular reunions.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I think that Boys Hi sister standard for all of
the schools in Brooklyn, and they won so many championships.
They've got so many players that's come out of there.
They're basically legendary. There's no question about it. When you
think about Boys Hie, you think about Connie Hawkins, Lenny Wilkins,
Tommie Davis, and the list is endlest. It was a
(22:44):
wonderful time and you just want to continue that legacy.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Coming up next week on Basketball's Burrow Black Ball From
Brooklyn to the ABA, we'll have more on what happened
to Connie Hawkins Boys High and the journey of his
rival Roger Brown. They were part of the wave of
Brooklyn talent that got a second chance in a renegade
basketball league and helped shape the ABA
Mel Davis was thirteen years old the first time he
saw Boys Hot play basketball.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I heard so much about it, and when I went
to a boys high game, I was just blown away
and I said, well, this is a place for I
need to come to. It was just awesome, the camaraderie,
the electricity there, and it was a Brooklyn phenomenal event
and I loved it.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
At halftime, Davis went into the locker room to meet
head coach Howie Jones.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
He was incredible. He had heard about me, and he
didn't have a lot of time to spend with me.
He said a few things to me that I remember
to this day. He said, wherever you go, Son, you're
going to be successful, he says, but one thing you
need to consider if you are as good as you
think you are when you come here and try and
play with the best. And that was it. He said,
good luck to you, and he went back to talking
(00:50):
to the team at halftime. And I'll never forget that.
And the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
This is the story of the first high school team
in New York City that was big given basketball. I'll
meet you dalk or the flyper Zombies, And this is
the legend of Boys High right here on Basketball's Borough.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Everybody knew about Boys High.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Everybody talked about Boys High. It was intimidated by Boys High,
probably because of what they did on the layup line.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That's Hall of Fame sports writer Peter Vessi, who played
ball at Auschbishop Malloy and Queen's and graduated in nineteen
sixty one right in the middle of Boys High, has
run dominated New York City high schools. That same year,
Billy Cunningham graduated from Erasmus Hall before going on to
North Carolina and then a Hall of Fame playing career
(01:55):
in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
In those days, Boys High was by far the best
high school basketball team in Brooklyn, New York. They were
quite unique that the first eight players, if I remember correctly,
all could dunk, and that was a big thing. You know,
Oh my goodness, all eight of them conduct. How could
you absolutely beat them? I think we're all were in
awe of the talent and the abilities of Boys High.
(02:19):
Everybody told Boys High and how they were doing competitively.
Get the Brooklyn Eagle to fight out the scores the newspaper,
and as I mentioned, the opportunity to scrimmage against Boys High,
and they usually would come to our place because we
had glass backboards, got an opportunity to play against them.
(02:39):
It was a great thrill. It was bigger than just
playing a game. They counted the scrimmage to participate against them.
That was a wonderful era for high school basketball in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Ask anybody about boys high and the names they just
spill out. It always starts with Connie Hawkins, Lenny Wilkins,
and Tommy Davis. But there's also Sahego Green and Vinnie Cohen, Jumping,
Jackie Jackson and Billy Burwell, Eldridge Webb, Sam Pencil and
(03:14):
Von Harper, Mel Davis, Jerry Powell, Haywood, Edwards.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Chet Walker, and Walter Davis.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
From nineteen fifty seven to nineteen sixty four, they went
to seven PSAL championship games.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
In eight years and won five.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
They won a total of eight city titles from nineteen
fifty two to nineteen sixty nine. There were College All Americans,
NBA All Stars, Harlem Globetrotters, and Hall of Famous, but
it was a team that built its lasting legend on
the playgrounds as much as the high school gyms. For
(03:55):
that part of the story, we're going to start with
Connie Hawkins.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
I tell every buddy this Contie Hawkins that at seventeen
and eighteen might have been as good a player as
only seventeen or eighteen year old.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Ever, that's all of fame coach Larry Brown, who got
his basketball education in Brooklyn by coming back to playing
the playground in places like the Brownsville Boys Club, even
after his family moved out to Long Island. Let's go
back to Larry Brown's college teammate Billy Cunningham.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Cottie was phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
We were good friends.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
I can remember running down Flatbush Avenue near a rismus
holing the different movies theaters, saying who could jump higher?
What letter could you hit? Running down the street, then
we go shoot some pool. He was so gifted. The
game was so easy to him at a young age.
Looking back, ego was never an issue with that. He
(04:51):
would rather make a nice pass or simple pass than
score two points. He got more joy out of doing
those types of things. And in many cases kids and
players the ego issue want to score points to get
a reputation.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
He never had that. Peter VESSI describe Hawkins the same way.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Connie was not to be believed he did things you'd
never seen before. Everything that needed to be done, he'd
get it done.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
But he do it kind of casually.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
He didn't really have passion. He wasn't ruthless, he wasn't crude.
You know, he just got it done.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Lenny Wilkins graduated Boys High in nineteen fifty six, just
before the Hawk came to high school.
Speaker 7 (05:33):
Connie was from my neighborhood and I saw him many
times on the playground. Incredible hands, I mean had huge
hands and he could pick the basketball up like it
was a grape fruit. Everybody knew that he was going
to be a star, that he was going to be
an incredible player. He was unselfish. He could run, he
(05:55):
could jump, he could block shots. He was just an
incredible player. Connie's was unbelievable. I think he was still
growing in high school. It got to be six ' nine.
He was long, lean, wiry, and to be able to
move like that, block shots, rebound, get out, run on
(06:15):
the fast break, be able to go to the basket,
come up on the other side, dunk it, or find
that open man. His skill was incredible, The control of
the ball, the way he could handle the basketball, No
guy his size could handle the ball like that. Years later,
doctor J. Lgim Baylor. But Connie, he could take that ball,
(06:37):
like I said, and just swirl it around his head
put it up on the other side of the basket.
He had such control. The size of his hands made
it easy for him.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
With Hawkins leading the way, Boys High went undefeated in
his junior and senior seasons and went back to back
PSAL City championships. But the game everybody remembers is the
one Connie foul out of in the third quarter. They
were up against another Brooklyn team, win Gate High School,
in the nineteen sixty PSL semifinals. There was a showdown.
(07:10):
The whole city was looking forward to win Gates. Roger
Brown went for thirty nine points that day at Madison
Square Garden, but Boys held on for sixty two to
fifty nine win and then beat Columbus for the championship.
Documentary filmmaker Ted Green as the producer, director, and writer
of the film Undefeated. The Roger Brown story.
Speaker 8 (07:32):
Still called by many the greatest schoolboys showdown in New
York City history, which is saying.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
A hell of a lot.
Speaker 8 (07:39):
Some people remember it as the finals, but it was
actually the semi finals at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It's one of those.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
Games where probably one hundred thousand people say they were there,
and there were actually probably you know, eight or nine thousand.
But that STEP's the legend of this game.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
And here's Peter VESSI.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
I wish I was at that game when they played
Boys High wing Gate. I did a big piece on it,
I don't know, fifteen twenty years ago. So and Connie
used to laugh at me, Man, you're the only guy
that I know that doesn't swear that he was at
that game at the garden. A friend of mine was
at it, but he said, that's the second biggest lie
(08:15):
is that everybody said they're at Wilt's one hundred point
game in Hershey, Pennsylvania. You know, amazingly to look it up,
but I think they were only like nine thousands the
garden for Connie's game. My friend who went there, he
became an NBA agent. He cut school, he went. He's
been talking about that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
His whole life.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
There was another player from that Boys, however, who inspired
the same kind of awe and myth making on the playgrounds.
You could always find he and Connie together on the
courts all around New York City or even playing together
for the all them Globe trotters. Let's let Connie himself
introduce you to the man so nice. They named him
twice jumping Jackie Jackson.
Speaker 9 (08:55):
And we had a guy w by named Jackie Jackson
who was like six foot four and actually touched top
of the backboard. I've heard people talk about guys touching
the backboard. This guy can do it. And we ran
a play and Whip used to shoot this fadeaway jump shot.
He used to draw up pine and shoot off the glass.
So we had a play that we would make Will
shoot the jump shot and Jackie would come over and
block it, and we had to play set up perfect,
(09:15):
went in and turned shot a jump shot. Jackie came
from the weak side and caught it and right at
the top of the of the backboard, and the crowd
went crazy. People were running around the place and jumping
off the fence and almost jumping off the ceilings and stuff,
and it was just phenomenal. And we looked over at Wilton,
what were staring at us? And he woke called time out,
just called timeout like that, and everybody was still running
(09:37):
around screaming and.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Back then there wasn't high five. They'd give everybody low
five and stuff.
Speaker 9 (09:40):
Everybody was clapping the can on and then the next
fifteen plays were dunked by Wilt that I've never seen
before in my life. He dunked every single way he
came to imagine for him.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
That was Connie talking to NBA TV back in twenty
thirteen about one of the fame rucket games between New
York and Philly teams that brought together some of the
best players of the day. Back in nineteen eighty nine,
Philadelphia basketball legend Sunny Hill told the La Times, I
have seen everybody. The greatest leaper I ever saw was Jackie.
(10:12):
Nobody ever played the game could rise any better than Jackie.
I saw him come down the floor once in the
Eastern League. On a fast break, Jay Norman, an outstanding
defensive player, went into his defensive stance at the foul line.
Jackie jumped over Norman's head and dunked the ball. Here's
Larry Brown.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
Jackie was the highest jumper I've ever seen. We played
an All Star game in Long Beach. Jack Blinis was
part of it. He brought Roger and Connie and Jackie Jackson.
A whole bunch of guys played against a bunch of
us from Long Island. I remember I shot a set shot.
I used to shoot two hands. I shot a set
shot about twenty feet and Jackie Jackson jumped.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Up and cornered in front.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Of the rim and soul body seemed to be over
the basket.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Even the ray Oscar Robertson out of Indianapolis and Cincinnati
knew the legend of jumping Jackie.
Speaker 10 (11:05):
Everybody knows about Jackie Jackson, I mean famous in New
York City in the playground. Jacket Jackson's the old man
Jacket Jackson.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
He can jump and take.
Speaker 10 (11:14):
The money off the top of the top of the backboard.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
And then you talk to.
Speaker 10 (11:17):
Will to say, yeah, I'd give him change.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
That's what I did.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Not everybody believes that story about grabbing a corter off
the top of the backboard. By the way, remember last
week when we were talking about myths and legends and
when the legend becomes fat print the legend. Maybe there's
a little bit of that at work too. But here's
the thing. Even the guys that don't buy it all
know the story. Here's Billy Cunningham, who could get off
(11:46):
the floor pretty good himself, so good that they called
Billy c the Kangaroo kid.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
He had that reputation for his ability to jump. Of course,
things tend to get exaggerated. That he could take a
quarter off the top of the backboarder leave you some change.
It might have been a half a dollar.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
I never saw anybody from Wilt chamber On touch the
top of the backboard get up there, But to this
day I would like to see that, and I've never seen.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
And Peter VESSI, I.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Don't believe the story about him, you know, touching the
top of the backboard, And to me, it's a myth.
You know the story, you know, yeah, the fifty cents
took change left change.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
You know, every story needs a starting point, and maybe
for Boys High and this particular era, Basketball's borough.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
It all starts with s Hugo Green.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I mean, if you ask Oscar Robinson about Brooklyn basketball,
the first words he'll say are to Hugo Green.
Speaker 10 (12:47):
The greatest forward that I've seen about six y three
in my lifetime.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The Big Old discovered Green while he was starring at
the University of Cincinnati, and Green was playing for the
Cincinnati Royals after he was a two time first team
All American that du Cane. The Royals took Green first
in the nineteen fifty sixth draft, right ahead of a
guy named Bill Russell. After Green graduated Boys High, there
(13:14):
was Vinnie Cohen, who led the Way to the city
title in nineteen fifty two, then was an All American
as Syracuse. He led the Orange and scoring three straight
years while playing with football Hall of Famer Jim Brown.
Then came Tommy Davis, all City in basketball and best
friends with Lenny Wilkins. But it turned out Tommy was
(13:36):
even better on the baseball Domin he signed with the Dodgers,
went West, and in nineteen sixty two he led the
league in Batten average, hits and rbrs and finished third
in the MVP voting. In nineteen sixty three, he went
to his second All Star Game, won another Batten title,
and the Dodgers won.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
The World Series.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Billy Burwell, the six FO center, started on an undefeated
championship team in nineteen fifty seven, then one again teamed
up with Connie Hawkins in nineteen fifty nine. In three
years at Illinois, he averaged fifteen points a game and
won the Big Ten title as a senior. Even the
graduation of the great Connie Hawkins didn't slow the Boys machine.
(14:22):
They won the city again in nineteen sixty two and
nineteen sixty four. In between Clinton edged them by a
point in the nineteen sixty three PSAL title game. They
had Sam Penzel and Von Harper, who both went on
to Syracuse to play with Dave Bing and Jim Beaheim,
(14:43):
and guard Eldridge Webb, who was so good they retired
his jersey number on the spot after his last game.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Ray Haskins grew up.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
In bed Star across from forty four Park, which you
know today as Solo in the Whole. He graduated from
Boys High in sixty seven and was championship coach in
high school and college in Brooklyn. Haskins led Alexander Hamilton
to the PSAL title in nineteen eighty one and took
Long Island University to the NCAA tournament in nineteen ninety
(15:15):
seven ELVI twelve.
Speaker 11 (15:18):
He played with Von Harper. A lot of people didn't
know that Varn Harper was a radio personality. They didn't
know he was an All American basketball player from Boys
High and They tell the story at Tulsa University where
they say the best player that ever played at Telsa
with all the pros they had was Elvis Webb. He
was an amazing, amazing player. He never went to the NBA.
(15:38):
He wound up playing with for Marcus Haynes's show team,
the Musicians, where.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
He traveled all over, but we had a lot of grace.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Finally, there was Mel Davis, who went to Boys High
to play with the best, just like coach Howie Jones
said he should. The big man hit the championship game
winner with six seconds left against clin And in nineteen
sixty eight, then had thirty five points when Boys rolled
over Van Buren in nineteen sixty nine, making an even
(16:08):
fifty straight wins. That was also the end of an era.
Mel's senior year was the last for coach Howie Jones,
who moved on to succeed another Brooklyn legend, Dolly King,
as head coach at Manhattan Community College. After King passed away,
Jones left Boys High with a spectacular one twenty four
(16:29):
to sixteen record.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Here's Mel Davis.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I kept in touch with Howie weekly. I mean, he
was like a father figure to me. Dear friend until
he passed. I think it was three years ago we
lost him. He was a phenomenal coach, a legend in Brooklyn.
He helped so many ball players for my father figure
to advice to schooling. He just meant so much to
so many players that played for him and well respected
(16:54):
and well loved.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Jones had followed Mickey Fisher, who coached Boys High for
twenty six years. Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkins remembers his
high school coach.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
Our coach, Mickey Fisher was a stickler for passing, for defending,
moving the ball, stuff like that. Remember we had a drill,
the pregame drill, and he would let us do it
where everybody had to dunk the ball at the end
of the drill. But he would not let us dunk.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
In the game.
Speaker 7 (17:24):
He wasn't into that, but to use it to intimidate
then opposing team. He would let us dunk and warm up,
not in the game.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It's funny how things work out. Lenny Wilkins actually didn't
play much high school ball at Boys. He had a
job after school, so he only played a few games
as a senior. After Tommy Davis talked to him into
coming out for the team. But of all the legends
that came out of Boys High, the college stars, the pros,
and the playground ballers that inspired decades of myth making,
(17:56):
nobody has had more accomplished basketball life than Lenny Wilkins.
Here's Billy Cunningham.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
As classy a man as you'll ever meet your life,
and obviously a great besketball player. You knew what Lenny
Wilkins was gonna do, and you couldn't stop him. He
was going to go to his left, and I don't
care how hard you try to push him to his right.
Somehow he always got back to that left and was
a great player and went on to Providence as we go,
(18:24):
and had a great career there and made them a
real force during his period of time, and then went
on to play for the Saint Louis Hawks. He represents
everything good that came out of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
The great Lenny Wilkins is in the Hall of Fame
three times as a player, as a coach and as
an assistant coach with the legendary Dream Team, the nineteen
ninety two Olympic gold medalist. And we're going to talk
about Lenny's coaching career. In a few weeks hair on
Basketball's Borough when we've got an episode dedicated to all
(18:59):
the great coaches that come out of Brooklyn. But for now,
we're gonna talk about the smooth lefty point guard who
was a two time All American at Providence College and
the first round draft pick by the Saint Louis Hawks
in nineteen sixty. Lenny played fifteen years in the NBA
for the Hawks, Sonics, Calves, and Blazers and went to
(19:22):
nine All Star Games, winning the MVP in nineteen seventy one.
When he retired in nineteen seventy five, he was second
in NBA history and assists, behind only Oscar Robinson, who
he played against in the league for fourteen years.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Here's the big O on Lenny Wilkins. He and I
went into the NBA the same year in nineteen sixty.
Speaker 10 (19:42):
Matter of fact, Lenny was also a member of the
Olympic tryout.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Team, but he didn't make the team. He should have
made the basketball team. He would have made the team,
but he didn't.
Speaker 10 (19:50):
But that was a difficult situation because they didn't want
too many black people on the team.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Out said put it that way. Lenny and I played
on an All Star.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
Team that big to Nicks at nineteen sixty before the
season started. Then it was very good basketball player, very good.
Went to Saint Louis and stabilized at the offense for
for many many years. Was a great player, and he
was smart lieutenant player. You know, he set up great
point guard. He didn't have the prolific scoring type basketball,
but he was very good in that type of offense.
(20:19):
And he played years at Providence. Very good player, All Star,
All America.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
What else can you say?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
When the NBA had it say about the greatest players
of all time for his fiftieth anniversary and seventy fifth
anniversary teams Boys Highs, Lenny Wilkins made the cut.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
I heard years later they would say I had a
drag shot. It was kind of like a hook shot,
a floater that you see a lot of guys used today.
I knew I could get to the basket.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I had no.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
Fear of being bumped or pushed or whatever. But I
could get to the basket, and if someone came to help,
I knew where his man was. I think that my
court vision was very good, so I could always find
the open man. And guys knew that so a lot
of times. The other thing that I started doing was
when I got close to the basket, I could use
(21:10):
either hand and I'd put the ball up on the
board because I knew once it got on the board,
if you touched it, it was goaltending. To me, that
was the fun of the game, penetrating finding the open man,
making a layup, putting the spinner on the ball, stuff
like that.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I pride it myself.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
In my defense, I wasn't gonna let you just walk
to the basket. You couldn't put the ball down in
front of me because I could get it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
The end of an ever in nineteen sixty nine didn't
mean the end of the story at Boys High. There
were more championships, including three straight in twenty ten, twenty eleven,
and twenty twelve, and more legendary players like the great
Pearl Washington. But we'll talk more about him a little
bit down the road on Basketball's burrow. In the meantime,
(21:59):
let's go back to the man who started his story
for US, Mel Davis. After Boys High, Mel starred at
Saint John's and was the first round pick by the
Knicks in nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
After his playing days were done.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Mel worked in the NBA League Office and then with
the NBA Retired Players Association. All along he kept the
Boys High Race together with regular reunions.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I think that Boys Hi sister standard for all of
the schools in Brooklyn, and they won so many championships.
They've got so many players that's come out of there.
They're basically legendary. There's no question about it. When you
think about Boys Hie, you think about Connie Hawkins, Lenny Wilkins,
Tommie Davis, and the list is endlest. It was a
(22:44):
wonderful time and you just want to continue that legacy.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Coming up next week on Basketball's Burrow Black Ball From
Brooklyn to the ABA, we'll have more on what happened
to Connie Hawkins Boys High and the journey of his
rival Roger Brown. They were part of the wave of
Brooklyn talent that got a second chance in a renegade
basketball league and helped shape the ABA
Host
Meechy Darko
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