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Celebrating basketball's past and future

REVIEWS BY BUDD BAILEY

One of the subplots of the history of basketball could be described as "old school vs. new school." Coaches are usually on one side, demanding that the game be played "right" with attention to fundamentals. Players are on the other side, wanting to run and shoot all day long and score "style points" for their passes and dunks. Two new basketball books, both interesting in different ways, illustrate that the two schools have been around for some time, and the battle continues to this day.

The life of a legend

Providence, Rhode Island, sports columnist Bill Reynolds has written a biography of the man who essentially started "new school" basketball. Cousy gives us a look back at one of the most creative players ever. Bob Cousy was a college all-star with Holy Cross in the late 1940s, turned pro with the Boston Celtics, and was a part of the first half of the Celtics' NBA dynasty from 1957 to 1963. He was the flashiest player of his time, and the list of tricks he could perform with a basketball was amazing. It was as if a whole new way of playing basketball had been created. Not only did his style impress crowds, his startling passes were effective—they got the ball to teammates in shooting position. If you want a treat, find some video of Cousy playing in the 1950s.

Reynolds reviews Cousy's life, starting with his youth as a shy child of poor immigrants in New York, then concentrates on the Celtics' championship run. It was a special time in sports history, as Boston went on to win a still-unprecedented 11 championships in 13 years. Reynolds makes a particularly great point when he says that while Cousy, center Bill Russell and coach Red Auerbach couldn't have come from more diverse backgrounds, they all had something very much in common: an overwhelming desire to win. Cousy cooperated with Reynolds on the book, and his reflections on his own life are especially interesting. The ex-player still feels guilty about not doing more to help black players in their struggles in the NBA during the 1950s, although he was ahead of most in that area.

Real old school

Cousy's style of play arguably led to a string of great players, including Julius Erving, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, as "new school values" flourished. But there are a few places where fundamentals, conditioning and—above all else— winning are still stressed. Such a place is St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. There you'll find one of the legends of high school basketball, Bob Hurley, no doubt modestly sweeping the floor of the gym. New Jersey sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski spent the 2003-2004 season following the St. Anthony Friars; his resulting book is The Miracle of St. Anthony.

Hurley has won about 90 percent of his games and several championships over his years at St. Anthony's. Hurley (the father of '90s Duke guard Bobby Hurley) has always done it his way: yelling, screaming and pushing. His St. Anthony team is well prepared and always ready to accept a challenge—in short, a reflection of the coach—and it has worked. What makes the story a miracle is what Hurley has to work with. His players come with large quantities of inner-city baggage, such as broken homes, poverty and crime. Plus, the school itself is barely surviving from year to year. This really is an old school; at St. Anthony's, the science labs don't have much equipment and the furnace has seen better days. Hurley is one of the main reasons the school can even stay open. He is in demand at clinics and puts on an annual golf tournament, with the proceeds going to the school.

Wojnarowski obviously put in plenty of time around the program, and he gives thorough profiles of everyone involved. But Hurley is the person you'll remember, a Bobby Knight-like figure who is one of the greatest teachers of his time. The "miracle" of St. Anthony might help push Hurley into the Basketball Hall of Fame in the near future.


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