I cried during Rebound. Remember when Earls homie had an over-dose right in front of him? Man... that struck so many emotions in me as a kid. Right in the feels. His story inspired me in more ways than Basketball
Dude, I don't know how anyone DIDN'T cry watching that movie. The scene where he got ready to return to Laurinburg Institute but didn't realize he'd been high all summer and missed the school year tore me up. So did the one where his friend, played by Eriq LaSalle, died.
I used to go to that camp in the summer.... the work outs were around 6 am... we used to train our way to get picked on a team... & then play in the tournament before the championship! That shit was crazy hard but I learned a lot! Nothing but love and respect! I'm glad I got my jersey signed when we won!!!
All those Rapper's hailing from New York boasting "New York", and NOT ONE, could donate 10k a year to keep the kids off the street? Amazing! saddening :(
He played in a game while still in high school, which featured NBA players, one of them being Wilt Chamberlain. He played against Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Kareem called him the best player he has ever seen. That's impressive.
@@ronbonora7872 Bill Russell’s the goat. Wilt has the records, but they didn’t matter because russell beat wilt like a drum. 7 out of 8 times in the playoffs. And bill scored when it mattered. Like averaging 23 PPG in both the 1962 and 1966 nba finals. Wilt in his 2 finals victories in 1967 and 1972 never got to 20 PPG. Wilt chamberlain in 1961-1962 had an amazing feat of 50 PPG in the regular season, but yet again, the genius bill russell shut him down in the playoffs. In game 7, wilt only scored 22 points. 28 below his regular season average. 1968 game 7 against was even worse. Wilt only scored 14 points. And before you say russell has a better supporting cast. Russell’s teammates made 26 all star appearances, while wilt’s made 24, pretty evenly matched. And when the NBA named the top 50 players in 1997. Russell had 4 teammates named with him, and wilt had 6. Wilt played with more top 50 players. Thus, the supporting cast argument doesn’t hold water. The truth is that russell was much more clutch and understood the team aspect of basketball much better. Hence the 11 rings. Which of course eclipse 72 records. Since the purpose of basketball is to get your team a championship.
@@roundtable3501 Bill is the GOAT of leading a team. Wilt is the GOAT of the individual player stats! LOL....they are both at the greatest level you can be! One on one Wilt would have demolished Russell! LOL
@@ronbonora7872 And basketball is a 5 on 5 game. So whether one player can beat another in a 1 on 1 is completely irrelevant to who the better overall player is. And where were these great individual stats in the playoffs when wilt’s team needed him most? Instead he choked year after year.
@@roundtable3501 first you say it’s a 5 on 5 game but then you put all of the blame on Wilt? Which is it? Wilt was literally better than bill at everything and you know it. Better scorer, passer, rebounder, jumper, blocker, etc. Some of those game 7’s were down to like 1-4 point differences and Bill did have a better team and even Bill would tell you that.
When I was in high school in the late 70s, I read a book called "The City Game" by Pete Axthelm. In it were stories of the Rucker Tournament and NYC playground legends, including Earl Manigault. I've been a fan of The Goat ever since, and love hearing stories from NBA greats of the day who knew how great he was.
My great friend Alex just died about 2 weeks ago, drank himself to death. He used to work with the White house and met 4 presidents. His parent's estate is worth over $700 million. He just kept drinking, ended up on the streets, died. Parents disowned him I guess. I hope to write his eulogy, he was a great friend and a great guy. The saddest part of my friendship was to allow him to make decisions with his own free will which had him fail at times and later killed him. Hope to see you again some day Alex.
I found out years ago that we're related he and my grandmother were first cousins he truly is the greatest of all time and I am honored to share his bloodline
Kareem was in the very beginning as himself... he was being interviewed and was asked who was the best player that he had ever seen? he saidit had to be the goat...
Wow, basketball and drugs both helped him escape his reality, I remember seeing the late Jim Huber do this when it originally aired, I would figure sometime in the mid to late 90's, as Earl Manigualt passed away in 1998. I read he once turned down an opportunity to travel with the Harlem Globetrotters, and even in his dying days, he still had the look of a ballplayer, lol. Look at that walk at the end of this clip, all ballplayers recognize the walk of another ballplayer, an if you ever get the chance to see it, I highly recommend seeing a movie called "Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigualt", starring Don Cheadle, it's excellent, R.I.P. "Goat"...
My uncle lived up there and he told me Michael used to come up there and play while Earl was there watching him (they schooled him a few times but not often). Earl inspired him in a way once everybody told him the stories about Earl which lead to Michael being even hungrier to elevate his game.
@@DjMustang24 Your uncle is wrong. Michael lived in North Carolina certainly didn't come up to NY to watch basketball. He was so young he doesn't even remember living in NY
I think people don't understand the double dunk, he didn't dunk with two balls, he dunked with one and the way he did it was he dunked with his right hand, grabbed it with his left hand and switched back to his right hand and dunked it again.
No one thinks he dunked with two balls, which is not only possible, but relatively easy to do. Legitimately dunking one ball twice is impossible, at least on Earth. It could be done on a planet or moon with much lower gravity. As mentioned in this video, Earl himself refuted the claim that he ever did such an obviously impossible thing. Anyone who thinks it's possible has a poor understanding of how things actually work in the world around them. By the way, hanging off the rim, not to mention letting the ball bounce, like Steph Curry did - ballislife.com/steph-curry-does-earl-the-goat-manigaults-double-dunk-sort-of/ - doesn't count.
I lived on 116th St in Harlem saw Earl Manigault like everyday with his Each One Teach one Tee Shirt & Ankle weights. Then we would play on his Goat Tourney courts in 118th & Morningside park. Butch Lee would be there too
I propose put Goat in the NBA HOF under the category Black Top Legends he was truly the greatest that never played but i believe sports annoucers would have been comparing MJ to him Kobe to him LeBron to him.
question772000 The difference is he’s waiting on a free heart transplant. David Rockefeller bought and paid for his. Like it or not right or wrong it’s true
***** I'll offer two quotes from Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and I'll leave it alone: 1. "Manigault, at 6'-1", was "the best player his size in the history of New York City,'' according to Abdul-Jabbar, who often played against "The Goat'' in city parks during the 1960s." (and remember that Nate Archibald, at 6' 1" was in the same error.) 2. "``He had a lot of skills similar to Michael Jordan,`` Abdul-Jabbar said of Manigault." Now you can take that for what it's worth, or nothing at all, but Jabbar would be the one to debate about this, and not me.
+Dog Nobody will deny MJ's greatness, but he was also a well-known asshole to basically anyone he ever came in contact with. Give me Magic over him any day.
If I would have had a better up bringing I may have made it to the NBA...I've played against college players and schooled them...and I've never been coached...so imagine if I was coached
May he rest in peace, I hear a lot of people feeling like others should have helped out, Helping people out is a choice. It doesn't make someone mean or uncaring. It's just that now a days being poor is richer than the riches. And even when your rich you can't save everybody!
The great ones always seem to fall to drugs as a way out its sad to see that happen, he was such a talent player and i pray that this teachers others not to turn to drugs, with God's help u can do anything, u can make it.
I used to ball hard!!! Made cats wonder how my skin tone was so fine. Rebound is one of my favorite movies of all time. Thanks to youtube I can finally put a real face to this legend. I still can't believe how many people do not know about this man. I truly hope goat park is still in NY and that it still means something to the people who live there, R.I.P The "G.O.A.T" The Greatest. Of. All. Time.
The goatwas one of the best players ever. Sane age as kareem-The new each other.He could jump and dunk while catchung the ball still in the air and dunk it again. He head a hard life got addicted to drugs and never made college or nba in karrems eyes-Best player ever.There is a grate movie abot him called rebound-The legend of earl the goat manigault.He said for every jordan there is agoat-Many really tallanted players just dont make it
knicks9899 Sam Worthen took twenty bucks from me in a game of H-O-R-S-E and I had him down two letters and still lost. Those courts demoralized me, when otherwise I thought I had game.
So many brothas could have made it like him, but the streets and drugs and the lure of lifes riches brought them back down to earth. The Goat had gotten props from Kareem.
he stilll entertained people day to day on the streets and competed against nba players.. just didnt want to go to the nba he didn't believe in it. not a waste he was happy where he was and so was everybody who came to watch him and play with him for free
Earl is the real deal, make no mistake about it. I read an article around 20 years ago and it blew my mind. They called Earl the Goat because he used to pick quarters off the TOP of the backboard. Goat was a reference to his jumping ability. Then there was the legendary Rucker battle between Earl and Dr. J. By all accounts Earl lit up Dr. J, though the Dr. scored plenty himself. But, Earl was that good to where even Dr. J couldn't stop him. The only reason he never went to the NBA was because he said teams would only offer the league minimum to an unproven player. He was making more money hustlin' on the streets than teams could offer, so he turned down the offers...
Total BS myth. Even Manigault himself later admitted it. Nobody can take anything off the top of the backboard, especially not a 6'1" person. That would require somewhere over a 60" vertical leap, which even Olympic athletes aren't close to.
Every city has it's own playground basketball legends.. In Los Angeles California we had Raymond Lewis who in the 10th grade while still in high school played in the old Pro Am league at Cal State Los Angeles against the NBA pro athletes and held his own.. I saw him play there as a kid.. Also got drafted by 76ers and was killing number1 draft pick Doug Collins and other players, but got blackballed out of NBA cause of attitude problem they claimed.. Saw him score 50 points in summer pro league games before half time and not even Michael Cooper could stop him when he played for LAKERS, Freman Williams could score too and became #2 All time NCAA behind Pistol Pete Marivich, but he couldn't touch RayLew..
That's why I don't totally subscribe to the GOAT theory. Too many unsung icons and legends, that weren't covered. Prime example barely ANY footage of a whole league; Basketball's ABA Baseball's Negro League along with others that weren't included or recognized. Thanks for the post.
