Hoop Dreams

***Spoilers***
Hoop Dreams is a documentary, in the 1980s, about two boys, their families, and their dreams of becoming pro basketball players. They get recruited to go to St. Joseph’s High School. The two boys are William and Arthur. They both have long rides to get to school and get up at 5:30 am to ride to school. They are impressed with the rugs and the clean hallways, things that they say are not in ordinary schools. Arthur starts as starting point guard for the freshman team and William starts on the varsity team. Both have entered high school with on a 4th or 5th grade level and have to work extra hard to catch up. The school is full of mostly white people and Arthur says that it was a little hard at first to deal with. Their sophomore year the tuition increases and William has to get extra help to pay for the schooling, which he gets. William can now go to school until he graduates without having to pay. Arthur is not so lucky and is paying half of his tuition; his family cannot pay it and is forced out of school. Half way through the school year he transfers to a public high school and stays there until he graduates. Mid-season Arthur gets onto the basketball team. At the public high school is a goal just to graduate from high school and some do not; at St. Josephs the goal is usually to graduate from college. Arthur’s mom ends up losing her job because of back pain and his dad leaves. Arthur’s mom says that the children have nothing constructive to do in the neighborhood and it is no wonder that they join gangs. William had a good year at St. Joseph’s and gets a job with the person who is helping pay for his education. Arthur is playing basketball and his dad shows up. He says hello to Arthur and then walks straight to the other side of the area and buy drugs, right in front of Arthur and the cameras. I cannot imagine what that would be like. By junior year William is getting offers from almost every college, but then he injures his knee. Arthur makes the varsity team at his high school, but his family is now on welfare and do not have enough money to make ends meet. The family’s lights and gas have been cut off because she could not pay the bills. William has to have surgery on his knee, but he might be able to play in the tournament. Arthur’s family now has two new additions, his sister had a baby and his friend Shannon has come to live with them. Arthur’s dad starts beating his mom and continues to abuse drugs. Arthur’s dad has to leave the family alone. William has been in rehabilitation and is now a father. While William was not playing basketball he grades sunk. Arthur is doing just enough to pass, but he can do better. One year after leaving their family Arthur’s dad comes back after 7 months in jail and is no longer doing drugs. Arthur and Shannon have to go to summer school to keep passing, but Shannon does not always show up. Arthur says that drug dealers give them money and tell them to buy stuff with it and this is what keeps them in style. The drug dealers realize that they play basketball and give them money to try to keep their basketball careers going. Arthur and Shannon also work at Pizza Hut to make some money. William goes to a basketball camp to show recruiters that he can still play even though he had an injury. Senior year Arthur is dropped from the aid he was getting with his family and his parents separate. William, after trying for forever, finally gets the grades to get into Marquette. Shannon, Arthur’s friends, starts selling drugs and gets caught so Arthur has to go to summer school by himself. It was hard to watch things that I heard and read about were going on actually happen. One week before graduating Arthur is robbed at gunpoint and Arthur’s sister had a gun pointed at her close to the house. He says, “After this I’m ready to leave cuz everybody up here is goin to jail, or in drugs...or dead.” Each boy gets through college, but neither of them has gotten into the NBA. In 2001, William’s brother who we see in the film was murdered and in 2005, Arthur’s dad is murdered. However, the documentary does not include this because it was made in 1994 and ends on a hopeful not as the boys each go off to college.