Hoop Dreams Page #3

this year's tuition increase.

I was called on

by Brother Edwin Duprais.

He was trying to raise money

to help kids...

that couldn't otherwise go

to those kind of schools.

It really touched a soft

spot in my heart...

and so I decided that my husband and I

would participate on a personal basis.

William was selected as the kid...

that was able to go to school,

based on our contribution.

- Nice to see you.

- Nice to see you.

You played a great game. I want you to

meet our friends Liz Duncan, Tom Paris.

- Nice game.

- William Gates.

With continuing support

from Patricia Wier...

William is assured

that his entire education at St. Joe's...

will be free.

Arthur's family is paying

for half of his tuition...

and the increase comes

at an especially bad time.

Worked for Sara Lee, got laid off.

Uh, worked for Scala's Meat Packing.

Got laid off there. You know.

You look around your house,

you see your food getting low. Okay?

And you got your bills due here,

your bills due there.

I got called down to the office.

Brother Leo wanted to talk to me.

He was telling me about how much,

certain money my mama had to pay...

for me to stay in school.

They say if she don't have it by this time,

you gotta stay out till she pay it.

I was staying out, like,

two and three weeks and stuff.

By the end of the freshman year...

whatever balance there was for

tuition was never taken care of.

Consequently,

going into the sophomore year...

we had the balance

plus the new tuition...

so that it was going to continue

to become a problem.

Whatever scout that they have come out

to these different neighborhoods...

and scout out

these little basketball players...

and get 'em to come to their school

and offer them these scholarships.

Then once they get out there,

the story is totally different.

I was under the impression

that Arthur would

have help as far as

getting to school.

Arthur would have help

in getting his books.

But, see, none of that occur.

Finally, with the Agees

owing $ 1,500 in back payments...

St. Joseph's forced Arthur

to leave the school.

I thought Pingatore and them

would help me out, but -

You have to draw the line

because, as I said...

tuition is something that,

as a school, we depend on...

for 90%% of our revenue.

I guess he thought I wasn't gonna be

that big of a ballplayer.

So why would he just waste

some money on me staying there?

Or, you know, he thought

I wasn't gonna grow.

He kept on saying,

"When are you gonna grow?"

Well, I don't know.

If I had known that all of this

was gonna lead to this...

Arthur would have never went

to St. Joseph's.

I mean, if I had known that he was gonna

have to go through this type of pain...

and myself-the anguish of it...

and then to put him out

in the middle of a school year-

I.D.'s, ladies and gentlemen.

All right. Okay, okay. All right.

Can't take no beepers in here.

Give me my beeper, man.

Mr. Wade, I need to see you

at the front door.

Now where you gonna go?

Your friend go to jail. No beepers in here.

Don't make no scene.

Arthur is accepted

at the public high school near his home.

He's been out of school for two months

and lost a whole semester's credit.

Here you have a youngster caught

in the middle of two

separate school systems.

Had he stayed at St. Joseph's...

he would have been able to receive

credit for that first semester.

Doesn't seem fair,

but then that's the system.

If he was going out there

and he was playing

like they had predicted

him to play...

he wouldn't be at Marshall.

Economics wouldn't have had anything

to do with him not being at St. Joe's.

Somebody would have made some kind of

arrangement, and the kid

would've still been there.

He's not making it like they thought he was

gonna make it on the basketball court...

so he's not there, simple as that.

It doesn't take no brilliant person

to figure that out.

It's mid-season

when Arthur joins the sophomore team.

He was so depressed and devastated,

he just closed himself off in the room.

I would go in there and tell him

every day, "hey, things will look up. '"

Coming off the bench,

Arthur wears number 11...

Isiah Thomas's number.

What kind of techniques were being used...

to take away the freedoms

that had been earned?

- Jeannetta.

- Poll tax.

Poll tax. Okay, Arthur,

what other techniques were used...

to keep black Americans from voting?

Um-

You could almost forget

about his being there.

That's how quiet he really was.

I think the transition

had something to do with it.

In comparing

Marshall high School to St. Joseph...

I don't think

that there is any comparison.

People can afford

to send their children there.

They can afford to put money

into the school.

Once they walk in those doors...

they walk in there to get that diploma

and to go on to college.

Whereas our students,

if they get out of high school...

a lot of them,

it's an accomplishment.

Trinomial. What's this gonna be?

Both of these are what?

If he wanna go back next year...

he gonna go back, if I have to beg.

Because, uh, I wanna help him

with his little dream.

Arthur's mother, Sheila,

has lost her minimum-wage job...

as a nurse's assistant...

because of chronic back pain.

It's just a real hard area

to live in, period.

And as far as raising kids -

kids don't even have a playground

or play area...

anything constructive to do

in the neighborhood.

But you see why half of them

become gangbangers, you know.

Because it's nothing constructive

in the neighborhood for 'em.

So now it's, like, you more or less

got to keep your kids close to you...

and watch 'em at all times.

In June, after 20 years of marriage...

Arthur's dad leaves the family.

Big logjam into the lane.

Jordan's 15-footer good from out front.

Make sure you look at

how many shots have been taken.

Jordan might shoot, uh, 15 out of 40.

Fifteen out of 40?

I'm just saying, for instance.

He's done it.

But see, if you do that,

you're gonna know about it.

Ooh.

Curtis tells William,

"The most important thing...

is getting the ball in the basket. '"

Curtis said the boy's good.

He say he's real good, but he don't listen.

He said if he listen to him,

he'd be better.

He's always telling me,

you should do this and you should do that.

Seems like everybody I know

is my coach.

I know a whole lot about basketball.

Now it's Isiah Thomas.

I guess, in so many words,

I'm a pro at that in my mind.

The Trojans were led on the

court all season by 6'2'"sophomore guard...

Curtis Gates.

When he went to college,

and Michael Jordan first came to the NBA...

they would, you know, sit around and argue

over him-who could play the best.

Curtis was named Player

of the Decade at Colby Junior College...

but he also developed a reputation

for being uncoachable.

Curtis's idea of being real good is...

you don't follow the rules,

you do what you wanna do.

Curtis finally signed

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