Hoop Dreams Page #5

Watch that boy.

He'll steal your drawers.

Junior year, Arthur makes varsity

for the Marshall Commandos.

This is the year, right?

This is it.

All righty.

Not too bad.

Fine.

Back home,

the family's troubles have worsened.

Now I'm on welfare...

that I wasn't on then.

And trying to live month-to-month

on something like that is very hard.

You have three growing kids

that need this...

and you have bills to pay...

and it's just not enough

to make ends meet.

Man.! Sweetie, is Man in there?

I was never raised on welfare.

My mother and father both worked.

We was cut off for three months.

We was cut off aid complete

with no income.

So, therefore,

do you know what happened?

Our lights were cut off.

Our gas was cut off.

And we were sittin' in the dark.

They had cut me off because

I failed to meet an appointment.

It hurt everybody.

It changed everybody's attitude.

That you can have something today

and it's gone tomorrow.

So you know what the system

is saying to me?

Do you know what it's saying

to a lot of women in my predicament?

They don't care.

The good news is

that your ligament looks fine.

- Good.

- Okay? Your ligament looks fine.

We can actually

sew the cartilage back.

So you're looking at a minimum

of 12 weeks, maybe 16 weeks...

before I'll let you play ball again.

Possibly being able to play

by tournament time.

Okay?

I'm gonna slip you a little something

into the I.V...

to kind of take the edge

off of things, okay?

All right?

- I can tell.

- Yeah.

No doubt.

- Let's turn him.

- Yeah, this way.

If it stays there.

Probably go with the right post here

and little stuff.

The doctor told me he wasn't gonna even

try to get him ready to play this year.

So what do you think

that goin' do to his career?

I really thought Curtis

was gonna make it.

But he didn't make it,

so I just wanted to try-

I just wanted this one to make it.

We were able to repair the cartilage.

Okay?

When basketball is over,

William may not have a friend in the world.

Curtis lost his job as a security guard...

and has been unemployed

for over four months.

Sometimes I sit around

and my eyes just kinda get watery...

'cause I be, like,

I ain't amounted to nothing.

You know, I ain't got nothing.

I can't even go out there and get a job

making seven dollars an hour.

I'll be sitting there telling myself,

"You ain't gonna get no better. '"

What did y'all tell me about

after y'all go to college and everything...

y'all get your own place?

We can all go to Arby's, baby.!

- And get fresh Matt's Cookies.

- And going to Jewels for our meat.

- That's a lot of food stamps.

- We ain't gonna need no food stamps.

Each day is a struggle.

Trying to deal with the kids' attitudes

as well as my own...

and trying to be strong enough

for them and myself.

- That is so neat.

- I forgot to turn in my work.

That is what you call a neat paper.

Yeah, that's neat.

Don't you say that about my son.

My son got a brain.

Now, you cut that out.

- But he don't use it.

- See that brain there?

Now there are two

new members of the Agee household.

Arthur's sister Tomika

has a baby girl named Jazz.

And Arthur's best friend Shannon moved in

to escape his own troubled home.

Shannon is like me.

He understood me,

and I understood him.

He could sit back and talk to me

'cause I was his best friend.

He trusted me, and I trust him.

It's been crazy, as far as his father

and his mother's breakup.

He'll come home,

and Bo stealing and buying drugs...

and beat on his mother and stuff.

You have to call the police

or get an order of protection...

for him to leave me alone.

My father was the same way.

I think about it all the time,

when you come home, and they fightin'.

You know, that gets to a child's head.

They can't - Especially when you're

living with your mother...

and you young,

and that's all you see all the time.

He had to do something

to keep his spirit up.

Ahh!

Why you -

Starting at guard,

number 11, a junior, Arthur Agee.!

When I played basketball,

I knew what I wanted to do.

This is what I want, you know.

This is what I wanna do

for the rest of my life.

Come on, win it, boy!

Get that ball.!

He's way behind

where I think he should be at this point.

I've had a few guys come

to me from college -

"Ooh, I like that kid.

He's quick, he's fast."

But something's missing with Art.

Shannon was on the basketball team too.

He was a little more raw

than Arthur is.

I couldn't handle two guys like that...

so I tried the lesser of the evils.

That was Arthur.

Marshall's won six and lost 14...

their worst record in 20 years.

You just in a hurry to do nothing...

'cause that's exactly

what you're doing - nothing.

After spending

most of the game on the bench...

Arthur gets another chance.

Get that ball.! Work that ball, boy.!

Yes.! That's the way you do it.!

In the final minutes of a close game...

Arthur takes it strong to the hoop.

He's called for charging

and fouls out of the game.

- There's been some bad calls all day.

- Amen!

I'm telling you. Oh!

The daily regimen of rehabilitation...

is not the only change

in William's life.

Say "hey!"

- hey!

- Say "hey!"

I was just basically scared to tell people.

I was feelin' sick, you know...

holding all this stuff

inside of me.

I couldn't let it out.

When I did finally tell Coach,

he was like, "When did this come about?'"

And I said...

"Oh... three, four months ago."

he was like,

"Three or four months ago?"

I was in the delivery room.

The nurses gave her to her...

and she handed the baby to me,

you know.

And I'll never forget

how hard she was squeezing my hand.

Once we got her home

William offered his help and stuff...

but it was almost like I didn't want it

'cause she was mine.

You know?

Instead of the two of us.

So then, after a while we -

I finally let him keep her.

And he earned his title.

You smell good.

Your numbers look real good.

I think you're two to three weeks away

from being able to practice full.

- You know what I mean?

- Two or three weeks?

I know you wanted to waltz in here today

and I'd tell you to go back

to practice right now...

but I don't want it

to have to tear again.

I felt that this was the year for me.

I know we can make it downstate.

That's just a big dream I done had.

I look up on the scoreboard-

My name is not even on there anymore.

Where do I fit in with this team?

William takes a makeup exam in math...

because he skipped the final.

Here's the cutoff point for passing.

And you ended up right there.

So you passed the final - barely.

When I stopped playing ball,

all my grades just sunk.

I understand we, uh -

we got the A.C.T. results.

Yeah.

Not as good as we, uh -

we wanted, huh?

William scores a 15 on his first A.C. T.

He needs to score an 18 to qualify

for an athletic scholarship...

to any four-year university.

I think what we have to do is get you

set up with the Britannica course.

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