Hoop Dreams Page #2

going out to a far-out school.

I saw a rug, flowers, clean hallways...

things that I didn't see

in an ordinary school.

Gotta move! Gotta move!

Come on.

- Three, four, five or 10?

- Ten.

You got it. Three, four, five?

Arthur wins the starting

point-guard position on the freshmen team.

Agee, I want you to find

in that warm-up number two.

Brown, number three.

Ettmeyer, four.

Hey, Arthur, you know

if you miss free throws...

they count 'em up,

and you have to pay 15 cents.

Then if you don't pay

it, they gonna make you

run 50 laps, and still

you have to pay the money.

- You still gotta pay the money?

- That's way out.

When Arthur first started at St.

Joseph's...

he was a good kid,

from what we saw...

but he was very immature.

He might have been a little more

disruptive, speaking out...

getting into childish things.

He wasn't used to the discipline

and the control.

He reverted back to, maybe,

his environment, where he came from.

I just never been around

a lot of white people and...

it was different, because at a black school

I could associate with the people.

They talk the way I talk.

It was a little hard,

but I can adjust to it.

You can see there was talent there.

We kept saying up in the stands,

"Get the ball to Arthur...

because he's going to do it for you. '"

And sure enough, they gave him the ball

with seconds on the clock.

I noticed a change immediately

after he started going out there.

To see your child mature, you say,

"Oh, maybe this is good for him."

William begins

his freshman season on St. Joe's varsity...

the top-ranked squad in the state.

He's already received several letters...

from Division I schools -

Marquette and Rice and Creighton,

Illinois State...

to name a few.

Beat him! Beat him! Beat him!

Keep back!

Hold it up! hold it up!

You're killing us!

Why did he get to the ball before you?

He asks me, do I wanna be

a great player? And I keep saying yeah.

He said, "For four years,

I'm gonna be on you every day."

So he said, "You might as well

get used to it now."

hard left. No, no. Go hard left.

Right, I know you can do it.

Left, you can't. All right? Go hard.

Not bad. Do it again.

If you look at Matthew,

and again he's saying...

at the time the kingdom of heaven

will be like this.

This is how Matthew's gonna use Jesus.

This is how he's gonna start it out.

What this is saying

is you have to take the faith-

When I first came out here,

it was, like, "I wanna go home.

Is this really the right school for me?'"

But every little thing you do

that go against their rule...

you have detention.

And they'll suspend you quick

at the school too.

They'll suspend you quick.

The kids that are willing to do it...

are gonna take something away

that will help them for

the rest of their life.

The kids that are not willing to do it...

for whatever reason, uh...

are not gonna be very successful

as far as here.

The civil rights movement

started up in the '50s.

When William first entered St. Joe's...

tests revealed he was working

on a fourth or fifth-grade level.

I could see that he had the potential...

but because he was shy, it seemed as though

no one was trying to reach him.

Sister Marilyn told me,

"You have to be one good ballplayer...

to get in this school with these grades. '"

- What war beginning in the '60s?

- Vietnam.

At the end of the year,

he had gone four grades above...

just in the way he listened and learned.

Back in grammar school...

academics really didn't matter

too much to me at all.

It was playing ball for the team-

really, we was the standouts in the school.

If you showed up in class,

that was good enough for them.

I was just going to school for the girls.

Trip out with your friends...

get out, go play some more basketball.

That was basically it.

Arthur also entered St. Joe's

on a fourth or fifth-grade level.

Nobody in their right mind

is crazy about school.

If the president brought

up a thing right now

that say, "Close all schools"...

do you think any kids would be trying

to go out there, stand on a picket line...

and wave and get billboards...

saying, "Reopen schools"?

Nice and tall, guys.

Now, don't look at the flash.

Arthur was in

the lower group of the general program.

Okay, fellas. Good.

At the end of the year,

he was still in the lower group.

One, two, three.!

For Arthur, the season is over.

His freshman team finished second

in the conference.

William's varsity is rolling

through the play-offs.

Against Proviso East,

William plays his best game yet.

And the Chargers move a step closer to

going downstate to compete for the title.

St. Joe's made it downstate

five of the last six years.

The one thing we haven't done

is win a state tournament.

Man, that'd be a big thing

if I could go downstate as a freshman.

Isiah was good enough

to start on the varsity as a freshman.

I didn't do it because I was worried

about bringing him along too rapidly.

I think by not doing it,

it cost us a state championship.

In the sectional finals,

Fenwick challenges St. Joe's title hopes.

But in the second quarter,

William steps up.

With his brother Curtis looking on...

William scores 16 points to lead

the Chargers to the sectional title.

From Chicago, it's The

Sports Writers On TV.

I think I may have seen

the next Isiah Thomas.

St. Joe of Westchester

has a kid named William Gates...

who is starting as a freshman.

Remember, you heard it first

from Bill Gleason.

Put it in your memory banks,

ladies and gentlemen.

William Gates.

In the supersectionals,

St. Joe's meets DeSalles...

to decide who will go downstate.

William plays more like

an intimidated freshman

than a freshman sensation.

Six-nine senior all-American

Eric Anderson dominates St. Joe's.

But in the third quarter,

William takes over again.

He fires over Anderson

and is fouled.

William's 13 points

in the second half...

pull the Chargers to within four.

With less than two minutes to play,

it's a must-score.

St. Joe's jump shot falls short.

Eric Anderson.!

Despite the loss,

William's gutty performance...

bodes well for next year.

There will be an announcement

on ticket sales immediately

following the game.

Rewriting 7,300 times 10...

to the negative fifth

in scientific notation.

Who wants that problem?

- I do.

- Go ahead, William.

- 7.3...

- 7.3...

- times 10 to the third.

- Times 10 to the third times-

- 10 to the negative second.

- Is that good!

Very good.

When I went out there,

I was very intimidated...

'cause I just knew that everybody out there

was just smarter than me.

As the year went on...

and I was making

an "A'"and "B'"honor roll...

I just felt like,

"hey, I'm just as good as them. '"

Now what you have to identify-

Both William and Arthur

have partial scholarships from St. Joe's.

The rest of William's tuition

is paid for by Cycle...

a Cabrini Green organization.

But Cycle can't cover

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