Playground Hoops In Bridgeport

Playground hoops more structured, but still alive and well DAVID AGOSTINO dagostino@ctpost.com

BRIDGEPORT When Barry McLeod was a teenager, it was nearly impossible to keep a good pick-up game a secret. "It was amazing," recalls McLeod, a former star at then Notre Dame of Bridgeport. "We'd be somewhere one night, and maybe there would be 10 guys. But word would travel, and there would be 50 or 55 guys waiting to play the next night. We'd just play until it got dark." Back in the early 1970s, playground basketball was at its peak in Bridgeport. McLeod, now the boys coach at Bridgeport Central, was one of the city's diehard blacktop players along with his cousin and former Notre Dame star Frank Oleynick. Back then, McLeod and Oleynick practically lived in the Bridgeport parks, often playing from dawn till dusk. And most of these games were unorganized affairs. The first 10 kids to arrive picked teams, and the winners stayed on the court until fatigue, darkness or, in some cases, both set in.  Some of the more legendary affairs took place at Trumbull Gardens, at the courts off Trumbull Avenue. Current Harding coach Charlie Bentley and Bassick coach Harrison Taylor used to organize games between Bridgeport teams and squads from New Haven, New York City or even Providence. Future NBA players like "Super" John Williamson of New Haven and Marvin Barnes of Providence would pack fans around the court. "Those games were phenomenal," said Oleynick, who played at Seattle University and had a brief NBA career. "People would be standing on cars to watch." Back then, you could also find quality competition at Washington Park and Winfield Park, as well as the courts at P.T. Barnum, Newfield Avenue and North Avenue.  Oleynick estimates that in the summer of 1973, there were as many as nine college players Kolbe Cathedral's and Ohio University's Walter Luckett included who were back home from college after their freshman seasons. Rims still stand at all of these parks to this day, and games are still played by Bridgeport's basketball nation. But the era of impromptu pick-up games has been replaced by more organized youth leagues and summer tournaments. Blacktops take back seat "It's not 24-hour basketball like it used to be," said Marques Brown, a recent graduate of Kolbe Cathedral and first-team Connecticut Post selection. "AAU has taken away from that. But there are certain spots and days when you know there will be good runs (games)." Both Washington Park and recently renovated Winfield Park, at the corner of Railroad and Wordin avenues, host special tournaments, mostly for kids in or just out of high school to keep them involved with the game in the offseason. "When I was in high school, the playgrounds went down a little, it was just pick-up games," said Marcus Lofton, a former star at Bassick in the mid-1990s and now an assistant coach at the school. "Now, there are more leagues and just much more for them to do." Still, the rise of AAU basketball and summer leagues, such as the one offered at the Shehan Center downtown, have cut into the lure of the playground for some youngsters. "Things being a little more organized and inside is probably beneficial to the kids, especially health-wise," McLeod said. "But it also spoils them a little bit and leads to them being pampered. They don't know what it was like to play outside in those old Converse canvas sneakers with no arches."  Playground stars The romance of the playground also comes from recalling the guys, who, because of grades or other circumstances, didn't necessarily make it during the scholastic season. "There were a lot of guys who, for whatever reason, didn't play high school ball," said Charles Clemons, a former star at St. Joseph who grew up on the East Side of Bridgeport and now coaches at Central. "But you knew who they were." One of those guys in the 1970s was Ray Andrade, or "Pudgy," as he was known on the playground circuit. He played at Central one year 1970 and was an all-state selection. He scored 17 points in Central's 80-78 Class LL state final loss to Hillhouse. "I didn't even know about the bad stuff," said Oleynick, who was a few years younger than Andrade. "He was just terrific with the ball. He was a great ball-handler and very charismatic on the court." But troubles with the law kept Andrade from high school stardom, and he eventually served a 16-year prison sentence for an armed bank robbery. Not long after he was released from jail and trying to get his life back together in January of 1991, he was fatally gunned down while trying to rob a Madison Avenue convenience store. He was 39. "He was a terrific player," Oleynick said. "One of those guys that capture your imagination. But he had a dark side to him." Kids reclaim outdoor courts Bernie Lofton, a Bassick assistant with his son, Marcus, who helps organize youth leagues at Winfield Park, strives to get kids on the court and playing as early as possible. Bernie Lofton runs outdoor tourneys for teams featuring kids ranging from ages 8-18.  The summer might be Little League season in Fairfield, Westport and Trumbull, but in Bridgeport, it's just another chance to play some hoops. The future stars of Kolbe Cathedral, Harding, Bridgeport Central, Bullard-Havens and Bassick are typically on display most weeknights in July and August at Winfield Park. "They might not be learning the basic skills, but they're getting used to playing against competition," Bernie Lofton said. "We start them at (age) 8, and they learn the rules and so forth." Back in the late 1980s and early '90s, the playground wasn't always the best place for the city's youth, as criminal activity was often carried out within close proximity of these baskets. But the city's general growth over the last several years has included a new focus on taking the playgrounds back over for the kids. " At first, there was a take back stage," Bernie Lofton said. "But the people we had to take it back from were people who could relate to the kids. They weren't going to stand in the way." "So when they saw there was something constructive going on, they backed away and kept those elements away," Lofton added. The playgrounds are clean again, and youngsters still get time on the scorching pavement during the summer. But the glory days of lacing up those old Converse high-tops and splitting up the first ten guys to reach the park on a lazy Wednesday morning are long gone. "I think (those days) are dead," Oleynick said. "Things have changed. Now they have video games and this and that. Back then, that's all we had."