THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 15, 1995 TAG: 9511150081
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
HIS COACHES have told him that he is just an average player with no chance to make it in the National Basketball Association - the game's pinnacle. No chance.
His agent has suggested that he ``grab a briefcase'' and seek a career away from basketball.
Arthur Agee - that very famous Arthur Agee of the much-praised film ``Hoop Dreams'' - will not put down the basketball until he hears from a higher power. ``I'll give up when God tells me to give up,'' Agee says in ``A Hoop Dreams Reunion'' tonight on PBS.
The reunion of Agee and William Gates with the men who intruded in their lives and the lives of their families for almost seven years to film ``Hoop Dreams'' takes place immediately after WHRO airs the film at 8 p.m. Like Agee, Gates dreamed the dream of leaving the Chicago projects for the NBA.
Both are nearly 23 today. Both have fathered two children. Gates, a senior at Marquette University, says he is no longer consumed by basketball. ``I've kicked it out of the way,'' he says. ``It comes after my family and my schooling.''
In contrast, Agee still lives and breathes the game he has been playing since he was old enough to pick up a basketball. Not long after taping ``A Hoop Dreams Reunion'' hosted by James Brown, Agee was off to Canada to continue playing basketball in the bushes.
He is with the Winnipeg Cyclones of the International Basketball Association. Before departing, Agee said, ``I don't want to hear that I can't make it in the NBA. I'm still knocking on the door, saying, `Let me in.' Some people like basketball, others love it. I love-love it. I want to play every day.''
Eight years ago, Agee was the 14-year-old - captured on film by Frederick Marx, Steve James and Peter Gilbert - who was saying that he sees himself as the next Isiah Thomas. Thomas is a kid from the Agee's 'hood who became an NBA all-star and a member of Detroit's NBA championship team.
In pursuit of that dream, Agee played college basketball at Mineral Area Junior College, Arkansas State University and with teams in the United States Basketball League and Continental Basketball Association. The call to join an NBA team has never come.
The quest to be an NBA player isn't what ``Hoop Dreams'' is all about, say the three filmmakers. Not really. They started out with that goal in mind, but after meeting the Agee and Gates families, they realized a larger objective. ``To document the every day drama of family life,'' James said.
And that is what ``Hoop Dreams'' became. It is about Agee's father, Bo, and how he defeated drug abuse. It is about his mother, Sheila, who works as a $7.50-an-hour nurse's assistant with hopes of becoming a physical therapist. It is about the hard, cold business of recruiting young men to play basketball - a hustle that begins before the boys start high school.
By the time Agee and Gates are high school juniors, they have attracted the attention of college coaches coast to coast. There is a brief scene in ``Hoop Dreams'' when one of the boys is seen thumbing through a brochure from Norfolk State U.
After choosing Marquette, Gates is seen tossing out enough letters and other mailings from colleges and university to fill a dumpster. I wonder if he ever gave any thought to playing at Norfolk State?
He says the unfulfilled dream of playing in the NBA no longer haunts him.
And yet, as the ``A Hoop Dreams Reunion'' winds down, Gates is heard to say, ``If I never had the knee injury, I'd be in the NBA right now.''
In a typical year, only one in 30 seniors playing high school basketball goes on to compete in college. In a typical year, 2,600 college players go after 64 positions in the NBA. To play in the NBA is a big dream, and the big dreams of Agee and Gates die hard.
Watch ``Hoop Dreams'' with your kids. The whole family will get something out of it. The three filmmakers promise that. by CNB