By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — Crowds of neighborhood residents throng the Inwood courts every night of the summer to watch the organized games of street ball in the annual Dyckman Basketball tournament.
The event, now in its 20th year, has grown from a small, neighborhood tradition to a Nike-sponsored, 60-team tournament that draws players from all over the country.
Inwood residents Tyrone Noriega and Hector Gonzalez, 55 and 65, said they come to the games every night.
“We’re fanatics,” Noriega said. “We love the games.”
The games these days are a far cry from the street ball founders Michael Jenkins, Ken Stevens and Ralph Peña began playing on the same court during the mid-1980s.
Then the backboards were made of tin and covered in graffiti — now, they're made of fiberglass to withstand the powerful dunks of world-class players.
Envisioning a small-scale tournament when they started out, the crew painted the backboards, cleaned up the court and began hosting “shirts and skins” tournaments between rival teams from the neighboring Dyckman Houses.
The tournament then expanded to include rival housing projects and neighborhoods and, ultimately, grew to include 60 teams made up of four divisions: professional, college, high school and midget (14 years old and younger).
“It’s brought together races and nationalities together in the community, giving opportunities for all kinds of players,” Stevens said.
The tournament runs every night throughout the summer, with playoffs taking place in August. The event employs 25 to 30 summer youth employees from the city each year.
“The best thing is keeping people off the streets and in one environment,” founder Jenkins said.
After the first game Wednesday night, people filled the bleachers and court that sits beside the looming 1 train at Monsignor Kett Playground on 204th Street and Nagle Avenue, and the crowd was still growing after the Harlem Ballers beat the Kingdome Ballers, 71 to 59.
Booming music and the smell of barbecued chicken and cheeseburgers filled the area at the festive event, where announcer Joe Pope called the game, giving the players nicknames like “Igor,” “Ashton Kutcher” and “Smurf.”
Event organizer and Inwood resident Isaiah Brown, 29, said that he feels proud to be part of the tournament and is excited to see how it will grow over the next 20 years.
“This isn’t just about five guys playing against five guys on the court,” he said. “We’re trying to represent and give back to the community so that they can be proud to say they’re from Dyckman.”
