Per week and a half earlier than the SLAM Summer time Basic Vol. 6 shut down Rucker Park, the legendary Harlem playground hosted one other particular occasion that’s develop into a New York basketball summer time staple: the HBCU All-Star Dream Basic. After a profitable inaugural occasion in 2023, it returned this yr greater and higher.
Harlem native Darryl Roberts is the founding father of Bridging Structural Holes, a nonprofit that spearheads the HBCU All-Star Dream Basic. Like many younger hoopers, he dreamed of taking part in at a excessive main. As a substitute, his alternative got here at Lincoln College, the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU. “I fell in love with HBCU tradition. My HBCU basis is pure and genuine,” Darryl says. “And so are my Harlem roots.
“Anyone who hasn’t lived beneath a manhole cowl understands that Harlem is the epicenter of Black excellence, Black tradition and Black creativity,” he provides. “So once we had been on the lookout for a location [for the HBCU All-Star Dream Classic], there was no second selection as a result of we wished to do issues outdoors of sports activities to encourage children as nicely.”
This yr’s Basic had all of it: an HBCU useful resource heart; meals from Charles Pan-Fried Rooster on the adjoining handball courts; AKAs strolling by, and a youth marching band taking part in throughout recreation breaks. There have been boosters chanting from the baseline; traditional Marvin Gaye blasting from the audio system. And even Harlem’s personal Pee Wee Kirkland. When you didn’t know any higher, you’d suppose you had been on the Biggest Homecoming on Earth.
Nonetheless, the primary cause that lots of of individuals gathered on this present day was to look at 40 of the very best HBCU hoopers within the nation placed on a present. After a tightly contested and action-packed ladies’ recreation that set the tone, the boys’ recreation that adopted was simply as thrilling. Each video games had been stuffed with highlights galore, prime examples of the overshadowed but high-level expertise that floods the HBCU basketball neighborhood and the way they’ll compete with the very best of ’em.
HBCU basketball has traditionally lacked advertising and promotion in comparison with its PWI counterparts, however that tide is popping slowly however certainly. They could by no means have the ability to take care of high-majors relating to assets, however the HBCU hoops expertise is second to none, and the HBCU All-Star Dream Basic reveals it on full show, making a loud and sturdy narrative about HBCUs, HBCU conferences and the HBCU way of life.
“For us, the scoreboard shouldn’t be vital,” says Darryl. “Our mission assertion is to offer alternative, entry and assets to assist folks make higher life selections.”
Generally, that “higher life selection” means sticking to your roots and etching your identify within the lovely material of HBCU tradition.
Photographs by Curtis Rowser III.
