Jamie Walker settled into a front-row seat in the bleachers, her eyes locked onto her sons’ every dribble and jump shot. On this August afternoon, the West Side Leadership Academy gymnasium thrummed with the echoes of bouncing basketballs and youthful exuberance.
“I feel like if you have kids, whether it’s a boy or a girl, they need to be in something. The busier your kids are, the less you’ll see them getting into trouble,” Walker says.
After finding out USA Basketball would be hosting an eight-week program at West Side Leadership Academy, her former high school, she signed her kids up immediately.
Gary was one of 10 cities selected for USA Basketball’s Open Court Program, which offers children the chance to play ball under the supervision and training of USA Basketball-licensed coaches. In this Olympic year, as the United States men’s and women’s basketball teams chase gold in Paris, the program provides a timely and unique opportunity for the city’s youth.
The free program runs every Friday until Sept. 20 in the West Side gym for children ages 6-17, giving them a safe space to play and hone their basketball skills — something Walker appreciates as a parent.
“He really didn’t have anywhere to play. Anywhere that I felt safe,” Walker told Capital B Gary. “I believe the interest [in basketball] is still there. I believe the places to play and opportunities are not.”
Jenny Johnston, the assistant director for the USA Basketball Youth & Sport Development, hopes the Open Court Program can bridge that gap for Gary youth over the next eight weeks.
“We always feel great about the reach these Open Court programs have into communities. It’s really awesome to be able to work with facilities, coaches, and volunteers to give kids access to free fun play where they can even win prizes,” Johnston told Capital B Gary.
Gary’s Rich Hoop History
Gary’s relationship with basketball runs deep, creating countless stories and memories. In 1955, Roosevelt High School played Indianapolis Crispus Attucks in Indiana’s first all-Black state championship game. Roosevelt claimed state championships again in 1968 and 1991, with West Side winning in 2002. Even charter schools have excelled, with Thea Bowman Leadership Academy winning state titles in 2010 and 2013.
Gary’s presence in the NBA over the course of the league’s history is considerable. Father and son duos Winston and Darius Garland, along with Glenn Robinson and Glenn Robinson III, have all donned NBA jerseys. Darius Garland, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has already been named an All-Star, and Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson was the first pick in the NBA draft after being named college player of the year at Purdue University.
Women from Gary aren’t strangers to the big stage, either. WNBA champion Dana Evans currently stars for the Chicago Sky and was a star in college at Louisville, but not before dazzling Gary fans with multiple tapes worth of highlights as a West Side Lady Cougar.
Evans follows in the footsteps of Gary native and Lew Wallace graduate Angela Hamblin-Blakely, who starred at the University of Iowa before being drafted by the WNBA’s Detroit Shock in 1998.
Now the girl’s basketball coach at West Side, Hamblin-Blakely was thrilled to be one of the USA Basketball program coaches.
“There’s a lot of basketball knowledge in the room,” Hamblin-Blakely told Capital B Gary, standing in West Side’s gym during the first USA Basketball session last week. “I think it’s phenomenal. You’ve got some people that are really there just for the kids and not themselves. It’s an honor to be a part of.”
“It’s just an hour for the little kids, an hour and a half for the bigger kids, and it’s worth it. It’s worth it getting your kids out and exposed to coaches that know what they’re looking at and know how to teach and explain skill sets.”
City Plans for More Spaces to Play
Within its 52 square miles, Gary is home to more than 50 parks of various sizes. In 2020, the city created the Jewel Park program, designed to fully restore a main park in each of the city’s six districts.
Those efforts are still underway.
Lori Latham, Common Council vice president and chair of the Parks & Recreation Committee, held a meeting this week to discuss the status of the parks. At the meeting, Parks Director LaVetta Sparks-Wade detailed how the department has completed projects and their plans to address outdoor basketball spaces.
According to Sparks-Wade, each of the city’s Jewel Parks — Aetna in the 1st District, Brunswick in the 2nd, Tolleston in the 3rd, Ironwood in the 4th, and Roosevelt in the 5th — are set to have their basketball courts resurfaced, among other improvements, by next year. Howe Park in the 6th District will have a new court installed.
“I don’t want us to believe that a one-time investment or an isolated project is ever going to yield the results of a Jewel Park,” said Latham at Wednesday’s meeting. “We should probably look at more long-term capital improvement planning.”
With just $1.2 million remaining from the original Jewel Parks appropriation, Latham questioned whether the amount could cover court resurfacing along with security needs, lights among others, to which Sparks-Wade indicated the department may return to the council to request additional funding.
“There’s no short-sightedness here; we understand you have to count up the cost before you do the project,” said Sparks-Wade.
Parents interested in signing their kids up for USA Basketball’s Open Court can do so by visiting the USA Basketball website and completing the waiver.
