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Shooting Hoops with Basil?
His last shot was in Vietnam
When I was 12 my favorite after school activity was shooting hoops with my brothers and neighborhood kids at the park down the street. It was like a little United Nations of teenagers with a mix of nationalities, sizes, shapes and colors. There were a few really tall guys who were the first picked when we divided up to scrimmage, and then there was this short chunky guy named Basil who probably topped out around 5'. What Basil lacked in height, he made up for in finesse and brute power. Basil was always there every afternoon on the court with his mid-60s white Mustang Fastback parked at the curb beside the court. I admired him because he was always friendly to me — perhaps in part I assume because we were so close in height.
I never got picked for scrimmages because I was lousy at handling the ball and not good at getting the ball through the hoop; yet Basil was a great shot and would offer to play H.O.R.S.E. with me after scrimmages which made me feel like one of the big kids. Late afternoon when we were done playing ball we headed back home where in the den my Dad always had the TV tuned to CBS with Walter Cronkite presenting the news which typically started with stats about…
