Taking it to the street

Streetball is big business, and playground legends such as Hot Sauce, The Professor and Escalade might just be the next big names among hoops collectors.

By Ken Turetzky

Many of the half-remembered legends of street basketball, among them guys named Joe Hammond, Helicopter, Pee Wee Kirkland, Swea' Pea Daniels and The Goat, lived, dunked and died at New York City's Rucker Park and on lesser-known courts in the nation's urban centers. Most never got rich, or even traveled far beyond their home blacktop. But those tales are Old School, better left to the schoolyard.

The outlook has improved for the new playground stars, now reaping the rewards of a streetball marketing bonanza led by AND1, the suburban Philadelphia shoe and apparel company that has successfully tied its fortunes to the city game. AND1 built its own legend around a video featuring the sensational street handles of Rafer "Skip 2 My Lou" Alston, then a playground genius and now headed for the Toronto Raptors of the NBA.

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