Essay About Arthur Agee And Big Earl

Hoop Dreams
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Hoop Dreams
Hoop Dreams is a story about two young men who want to become basketball players in the NBA. The author Ben Joravsky wrote the book. The idea for the book came from the documentary movie, Hoop Dreams, which is a true story. Arthur Agee and William Gates are the names of the two boys who were followed from eighth grade to twelve grade to do the movie. Arthur Agee was a 56 125 pound guard from the playgrounds of Chicago when St Joseph recruiters saw him. Arthur was playing against guys three years older than he was and he was still the best in the neighborhood. Arthurs parents Bo and Sheila Agee were very poor people who were on cocaine and could not support their family. Big Earl, the guy who recruited Arthur told his family that St. Joes would be able to pay Arthurs tuition if he played basketball for them. Arthur went to St. Joes and met William Gates. They had become friends in grade school but had never really done anything together. Eventually William turned out to be the better player and all the attention and money was focused on him. Therefore, Arthur was booted out of St. Joes in the middle of the school year. He was forced to enroll at Marshall, the area public school. As a result, Arthur could see his dreams of the NBA were slipping away. Along with that, he couldnt keep his grades up enough to attend a Division I school. He and the Marshall Commandos ended up going downstate Arthurs senior year. They finished third in the state overall. Arthur ended up going to a junior college named Mineral Area in Flat River Mississippi. After his two years in Mississippi, Arthur received a scholarship to Arkansas State. He finished his degree in communications and he graduated. Arthur never did reach his dream of going to the NBA, at least yet. As you can see, it takes a lot for an inner city boy to try and reach his dream, but most of the time it never happens.