A new basketball court in Garfield Park honors the 30th anniversary of the landmark documentary “Hoop Dreams” while hoping to inspire a new generation of young athletes.
The stars of the 1994 documentary — Arthur Agee Jr. and William Gates — joined city officials Saturday to unveil the “Hoop Dreams” basketball court at Garfield Park, 3705 W. Jackson Blvd.
The court includes six new baskets and a bright blue and orange paint job, with “Hoop Dreams” logos as well. It is a fitting way for Gates and Agee Jr. to give back to the community, as access to basketball facilities played a large role in their well-known stories, they said.
“Seeing these kids play today takes me back to that very first day, when I was five years old, when I first picked up a basketball,” Gates said. “And ever since then, it’s been non-stop, even to this very day. I get to pass it onto the next generation. Basketball creates a family.”
William Gates and Arthur Agee Jr. at the unveiling of the “Hoop Dreams” courts in Garfield Park Sept. 28, 2024. Credit: Alice Tolkin/Block Club Chicago
“Hoop Dreams” follows Chicago natives Agee Jr. and Gates through their respective high school basketball careers and efforts to make the pro levels. Both initially attended St. Joseph High School in west suburban Westchester under legendary coach Gene Pingatore.
The film was lined up to be a 30-minute television segment about basketball culture in Black communities, but it grew into a 5-year-long project documenting Agee Jr. and Gates’ journeys through adversity as underprivileged students with NBA aspirations. The documentary reached a global audience and became lauded as one of the greatest documentaries ever made.
“When I was 14 [when filming began], I had no idea what was going on,” Gates said in an interview with Block Club. “I was like, you’re gonna put a camera on me? But I was just excited to be a part of it, because at that point I had to build my reputation and somebody was interested in my life.”
Today, Agee Jr. and Gates, who have their own podcast together, have channeled their passions for basketball into community work, partnering with a slew of organizations to make Saturday’s unveiling possible.
The basketball court that honors the legacy of “Hoop Dreams” was brought to Garfield Park thanks to basketball magazine SLAM, Project Backboard, Communities Partnering 4 Peace, and Kartemquin films, the production company that made “Hoop Dreams.”
My Block, My Hood, My City, a non-profit that engages youth in inner-city Chicago by taking kids on explorations across the city for their “Youth Explorers” program, ran a basketball clinic at the event.
“We partner with 15 schools, and we average between 15 and 20 students per exploration,” said Stephen Gilbert, director of youth and community development for My Block My Hood My City. “This new court is going to bring the community together and bring kids back onto the court. We want to see our kids having fun.”
Around 100 members of the community turned out for the celebration, including Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) and Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Agee Jr. and Gates dedicated the court to Agee Jr.’s father, Arthur “Bo” Agee, and Gates’ older brother, Curtis Gates, who each passed away in the early 2000s and played integral roles in Agee Jr. and Gates’ stories respectively.
Agee Jr.’s father struggled with addiction and spent time in prison during the filming of the documentary, leading to Agee Jr. having to transfer out of St. Joseph. He went on to play at John Marshall High School on the West Side, where he led his team to finish third in the 1991 statewide championship.
“When I left St. Joe’s,” Agee Jr. said in an interview with Block Club, “I knew it wasn’t going to be my last thing with basketball. There was a strength that developed in me to keep wanting to go forward and pursue anything. A lot of people would’ve gotten depressed and given up, but I wanted to do the reverse of that and press forward to see what’s happening at Marshall.”
Also present at the celebration Saturday afternoon was Shawn Harrington, who played alongside Agee Jr. at Marshall as a sophomore. Harrington was an assistant coach at Marshall, but in 2014, was paralyzed from the waist-down after someone shot at him and his daughter while he was in his vehicle. Today, Harrington coaches young students at Children of Peace Catholic School, 1900 W. Taylor St.
“Basketball was everything to me,” Harrington said in an interview. “It taught me discipline, respect, sportsmanship, and all of my friends out here today are lifelong friends through sports. That’s why I continue to use sports to mentor kids and give back to the community in that way.”