By Anthony Bosco
A young fan decked out in And 1 gear preached the gospel according to Skip 2 My Lou Saturday afternoon as he walked with his family toward the basketball gym at Harlem’s Riverbank State Park.
“Skip 2 My Lou,” the young fan said, “Often imitated, but never duplicated.”
He was speaking of former Cardozo High School star Rafer Alston, playground legend and current guard with the Milwaukee Bucks, whose playground name drew a capacity crowd to the gym for the first annual Skip 2 My Lou Celebrity All-Star Game.
Also showing up to lend their support to Alston were NBA stars Elton Brand, Ron Artest and Tim Thomas as well as a host of friends and a few other Cardozo alumni, including former teammate Duane Woodward and last year’s star point guard “Showtime” Daryl Hill.
“Next year I’ll do like a two-, three-day event,” Alston said. “The first time, I wanted to see how it was going to go. I didn’t want to make it just a basketball event. It’s pretty cool. It’s great. I’m having a great time. Everybody’s having a great time. They came to see me and a lot of the other guys.”
But the game, the brainchild of two close childhood friends who grew up in South Jamaica — Bruce Hatcher and Alston — almost never happened.
The Monday before the event, Hatcher and Alston received word that they had not met all the city’s requirements to hold event and the permit was revoked. But some leg work by the co-founders, as well as that of Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio and the influence of some local politicians enabled the game to come off on schedule without a hitch.
Alston’s playground moniker “Skip 2 My Lou” was given to him by announcers when he was named MVP at the prestigious Rucker Tournament before being drafted by the Bucks three years ago. His promotional work with the sneaker company And 1, along with a promotional tape of his playground exploits distributed by the company, has seen his underground legend grow to epic proportions.
But despite the obvious interest of the public in seeing him play, the game was all but dead last week. A lack of communication between those in charge of approving the event and Hatcher led to the cancellation before some friends stepped in and saved the day.
“As of Monday, this thing was canceled,” Hatcher said. “I want to thank all those people that helped us out.”
Thousands of spectators came to the event, not to see celebrities, of which there were a handful, including world junior welterweight boxing champion Zab Judah, a bevy of personalities from the rap world and some of basketball’s best, but to see Alston in full effect.
When he was finally introduced to the crowd, Alston was met by thunderous applause.
“We came up with the idea about a month ago,” Hatcher said. “Skip 2 My Lou is a Rucker Park legend and he’s got a lot of fans here in Harlem and Jamaica, Queens. So we came up with idea of doing a celebrity game and donating the money, the proceeds, to the Cardozo athletic department, the high school he went to before he went to the NBA. Basically that’s why we’re doing this.”
Hatcher, who has been friends with Alston for more than 15 years, was the founder of Positive Project 2000, an entertainment event held last year to benefit the South Jamaica Houses.
He called on his experience in the entertainment field, as well as Alston’s basketball ties to bring in some of the stars to the fledgling tournament.
“All these guys here are basically friends of ours,” Hatcher said. “They all came out to support us. We have a personal relationship with them. They like us and we like them.”
As for the game itself, Artest was the only other NBA star to play in the game against Alston, with Brand and Thomas acting as coaches. The play was less than controlled, but featured some breathtaking ball-handling, passing and outright entertaining by Alston.
That was what the crowd came to see and they did not leave disappointed.
“I’m just happy for him,” said Naclerio, Alston’s high school coach and friend. “It turned out really nice.”
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
