{"id":816179,"date":"2024-09-23T16:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T20:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=816179"},"modified":"2024-09-23T19:32:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T23:32:27","slug":"hbcu-spotlight-the-annual-dream-classic-hbcu-all-star-game-is-a-nexus-of-black-excellence-slam-252","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/hbcu-spotlight\/hbcu-spotlight-the-annual-dream-classic-hbcu-all-star-game-is-a-nexus-of-black-excellence-slam-252\/","title":{"rendered":"HBCU Spotlight: The Annual Dream Classic HBCU All-Star Game is a Nexus of Black Excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A week and a half before the SLAM Summer Classic Vol. 6 shut down Rucker Park, the legendary Harlem playground hosted another special event that\u2019s become a New York basketball summer staple: the HBCU All-Star Dream Classic. After a successful inaugural event in 2023, it returned this year bigger and better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harlem native Darryl Roberts is the founder of Bridging Structural Holes, a nonprofit that spearheads the HBCU All-Star Dream Classic. Like many young hoopers, he dreamed of playing at a high major. Instead, his opportunity came at Lincoln University, the nation\u2019s first degree-granting HBCU. \u201cI fell in love with HBCU culture. My HBCU foundation is pure and authentic,\u201d Darryl says. \u201cAnd so are my Harlem roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnybody who hasn\u2019t lived underneath a manhole cover understands that Harlem is the epicenter of Black excellence, Black culture and Black creativity,\u201d he adds. \u201cSo when we were looking for a location [for the HBCU All-Star Dream Classic], there was no second choice because we wanted to do things outside of sports to inspire kids as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This year\u2019s Classic had it all: an HBCU resource center; food from Charles Pan-Fried Chicken on the adjacent handball courts; AKAs strolling by, and a youth marching band playing during game breaks. There were boosters chanting from the baseline; classic Marvin Gaye blasting from the speakers. And even Harlem\u2019s own Pee Wee Kirkland. If you didn\u2019t know any better, you\u2019d think you were at the Greatest Homecoming on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the main reason that hundreds of people gathered on this day was to watch 40 of the best HBCU hoopers in the country put on a show. After a tightly contested and action-packed girls\u2019 game that set the tone, the boys\u2019 game that followed was just as exciting. Both games were filled with highlights galore, prime examples of the overshadowed yet high-level talent that floods the HBCU basketball community and how they can compete with the best of \u2019em.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HBCU basketball has historically lacked marketing and promotion compared to its PWI counterparts, but that tide is turning slowly but surely. They may never be able to contend with high-majors when it comes to resources, but the HBCU hoops experience is second to none, and the HBCU All-Star Dream Classic shows it on full display, creating a loud and robust narrative about HBCUs, HBCU conferences and the HBCU lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor us, the scoreboard is not important,\u201d says Darryl. \u201cOur mission statement is to provide opportunity, access and resources to help people make better life choices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, that \u201cbetter life choice\u201d means sticking to your roots and etching your name in the beautiful fabric of HBCU culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photos by Curtis Rowser III. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week and a half before the SLAM Summer Classic Vol. 6 shut down Rucker Park, the legendary Harlem playground hosted another special event that\u2019s become a New York basketball summer staple: the HBCU All-Star Dream Classic. After a successful inaugural event in 2023, it returned this year bigger and better. Harlem native Darryl Roberts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":816246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65278,65059],"tags":[1133,63389,63390,65131,65134,8441,4678,2012],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-816179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-252-the-magazine","category-hbcu-spotlight","tag-harlem","tag-hbcu","tag-hbcu-basketball","tag-hbcu-spotlight","tag-meac","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-new-york-city","tag-rucker-park"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816179"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":816293,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816179\/revisions\/816293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816179"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=816179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}