Hoop Dreams is a story about two young men who want to become basketball players in the NBA. The author Ben Joravsky wrote the book. The idea for the book came from the documentary movie, Hoop Dreams, which is a true story. Arthur Agee and William Gates are the names of the two boys who were followed from eighth grade to twelve grade to do the movie.
Arthur Agee was a 5’6 125-pound guard from the playgrounds of Chicago when St Joseph recruiters saw him. Arthur was playing against guys three years older than he was and he was still the best in the neighborhood. Arthur’s parents Bo and Sheila Agee were very poor people who were on cocaine and could not support their family.
Big Earl, the guy who recruited Arthur told his family that St. Joe’s would be able to pay Arthur’s tuition if he played basketball for them. Arthur went to St. Joe’s and met William Gates. They had become friends in grade school but had never really done anything together. Eventually, William turned out to be the better player, and all the attention and money were focused on him.
Therefore, Arthur was booted out of St. Joe’s in the middle of the school year. He was forced to enroll at Marshall, the area public school. As a result, Arthur could see his dreams of the NBA were slipping away. Along with that, he couldn’t keep his grades up enough to attend a Division I school. He and the Marshall Commandos ended up going downstate Arthur’s senior year.
They finished third in the state overall. Arthur ended up going to a junior college named Mineral Area in Flat River Mississippi. After his two years in Mississippi, Arthur received a scholarship to Arkansas State. He finished his degree in communications and he graduated. Arthur never did reach his dream of going to the NBA, at least yet. As you can see, it takes a lot for an inner-city boy to try and reach his dream, but most of the time it never happens.
William Gates was also 14 when he was recruited to go to St. Joseph. He and Arthur both had to wake up around 5:30 every morning so they could get on the subway to make it to school in time. It took William about two hours every day. William impressed the coaches and he was moved up to varsity when he was a freshman. This disappointed Arthur because he wasn’t used to seeing people better than he was.
After a while, William began to start and all of Arthur’s scholarship was being used for William. William felt very bad about this but he knew that he couldn’t let this stop him if he was going to make it in the pros. Eventually, Arthur left the team and is one of the few blacks in a Christian school made William feel even more out in space. William kept improving and he was getting letters from major colleges all over the country.
However, he wasn’t able to get an SAT score of 18 so he wasn’t going to be eligible to play his freshman year. Additionally, he ripped cartilage in his knee and some schools were wondering if he could ever play again. This narrowed down William’s choices and he picked Marquette University.
He ended up graduating and he hired an agent and they tried to get him into the NBA but they failed. William ended up marrying Catherine, which he already had two kids with and they moved back to Chicago. In conclusion, the dream was just as hard for William as it was for Arthur, William just made it a little closer.
Arthur and William still play pick-up games down at the playgrounds they became great. It’s hard to believe that William was once the better player. They both said they still have the dream but they aren’t going to chase it.
They will wait for the NBA to come calling for them. This story is a great story for young kids who have the dream of becoming stars. It gives them the reality of the dream.
