Tourney Settles Back In Goffe Street Park

by Adzua Agyapon | August 28, 2009 8:30 AM | | Comments (2)

Jerome Parkins received the Most Valuable Player honor at Goffe Street Park Thursday after leading his undefeated team to victory in the final championship round of a statewide basketball tournament.

Parkins, who is from Bridgeport, sharpened his skills all summer on one of 12 teams as part of the Connecticut High School Summer Basketball League. He plans to apply his skills on the court and off. After he graduates from high school next year, he wants to study psychology, and eventually play for a professional basketball league. If so, he will be part of a long history of men who complete the program and attribute part of their success to lessons they learned on the court.

Click the video to hear more from Parkins.

Ben Hunter, who started the program nearly 40 years ago, remains at the center of the action. “Pros, doctors, lawyers and principals come from this league,” he said. “It teaches [the youth] discipline and follow-up,” he mumbled through an unlit long filler cigar.

DSC01126.JPG Byron Breland and Tony Gardner (from left to right in photo) watched the game attentively. They participated in the Summer Basketball League shortly after it started in 1972. Breland and Gardner share fond memories of winning six championships because of teamwork. “Everybody had skills so we worked together,” Breland said, “If everyone wanted to show off we wouldn’t win” he added. Today Breland is an administrative assistant at Hillhouse High School. Gardner teaches at Roberto Clemente.

“It was about the camaraderie and community,” Gardner reflected.

This aspect of the summer basketball tournament remains intact as nearly 300 locals gathered Thursday evening to root for the players in the final games.

(Click here for Tom Ficklin’s photo album from the event.)

DSC01121.JPGIt was community spirit that brought the summer tournament back into the neighborhood after seven years. The summer league organizers kept the tournament indoors and closed from the public after 2002, because of fights and a spike in the “crime rate,” Hunter said. This year, the tournament returned to Goffe Street Park, the place where it all started 37 years ago, because “the community wanted it back,” Hunter explained. The summer league and tournament “give people a dream and a goal…to play in front of people,” he added.

Since 1972 Hunter claims to have helped about 368 students from the summer league get college scholarships. Hunt takes the recruiting seriously as he does it himself for West Virginia State University, his alma mater.

The summer league is funded by private donations exclusively. The T-shirts tournament participants are required to wear bear the names of their donors: Attorney Hugh Keefe, Mike’s Cuts Barbershop, New Haven Terminal Inc. and Soco’s Restaurant.







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Comments

Posted by: Norton Street | August 28, 2009 12:11 PM

I remember goin to these games when I was younger to watch my brother play, along with other kids from all over the city and state. Some of my best memories, so I'm glad they brought it back to Goffe Street, these used to be the most heavily played courts in the city, but recently it has barely been getting used. So hopefully the tournament's return will make the Goffe Street courts home to the best players in the city once again.

Posted by: Milton Woodberry | September 22, 2009 7:12 PM

I'm glad the tournament came back to Goffe St. Park. This was the highlight of the summer for me; I played one year & had so much fun; a lot of my friends from around the neighborhood played also. I'll be making plans to come back there with my family so my kids can see where their Old Man spent many a Summer day. I'm in Sacramento, CA, but as you can see, I keep current with what goes on in my hometown. I'm just so glad to see this & to see Byron Breland & good ol' Hunt still runnin' the show!

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