Catherine is a hula-hooping performance artist, a talented and independent individual. Columbine is a feisty female clown in a 16th century Italian commedia dell'arte commissioned to perform before the King of France. As Catherine and Columbine struggle to make sense of a nonsensical world, their lives, as if by magic, seem to interact.

In an age where teenage hoop stars sign multimillion-dollar endorsement deals before their first professional tip-offs, it's hard to imagine a time when basketball was among the least publicized of all professional sports. After the game's creation in 1891, establishing a viable professional league was an intense struggle, requiring decades of hard work and dedication from players, owners, coaches and fans. While the game evolved from two-handed set shots, fruit baskets, short-shorts and tiny gyms to slam dunks, shoe endorsements, global popularity and massive urban arenas, the NBA established itself as one of the world's dominant professional leagues. This work, the first comprehensive history of the National Basketball Association, offers a detailed look at how and why the NBA was able to overcome the obstacles that had crushed its predecessors and competitors to become the most successfully marketed league in professional sports. Covered here are Naismith's invention of the game; the rise and fall of the NBL, BAA, ABL and ABA; early teams like the Buffalo Germans and the Harlem Rens; basketball's Olympic debut in 1936; the first professional superstars; dominant franchises; and the current state of the league. Appendices offer lists of early professional basketball leagues and commissioners of the NBA, NBL and ABA.

The city of Waterbury boasts a rich history in high school boys basketball - ranging from Crosby High's achievements in national tournaments in the early 1920s, through a storied period centered at the City Armory, and a growth into more modern times culminating with Sacred Heart's recent dominance before the school closed in 2021. The 1970s marked a period of transition in the city's hoops history, with Holy Cross beginning its basketball program and the public high schools moving into new buildings and new gymnasiums. The developments helped to spark a half-century of achievement highlighted by 13 state championships for Waterbury schools, with various coaches and players adding their accomplishments to a well-established legacy in the city. In this first of two volumes, author Michael Griffin begins an in-depth look at 50 years of Waterbury high school basketball by presenting a recap of each season from 1970-71 through 1994-95 and integrating stories and experiences shared by former players and coaches. Also including year-by-year listings of team and individual honors as well as looks back even further in time - to the opening of Kennedy's gym in 1965, to the first radio broadcast of a game by WATR, and to the first CIAC title won by a Waterbury school nearly a century ago - this book will inform and delight even the most avid followers of scholastic sports in the city.

For nearly five years Arthur Agee's and William Gates' remarkable lives were chronicled by a team of filmmakers. Roughly 250 hours of film were devoted to their journeys from the playgrounds to high school competition to college recruitment and -- whittled down to three hours -- it became the award-winning film Hoop Dreams. Now journalist Ben Joravsky vividly brings to light all the richness and subtlety of their stories, and the impact their aspirations had on themselves, their families and their relationships. It is an intimate look, complete with an up-to-date epilogue on the latest developments in their lives.

Washington DC isn't celebrated for basketball. But the Washington area stands second to none in its contributions to the game. Countless figures who have had a significant impact on the sport over the years have roots in the region, including E.B. Henderson, the first African-American certified to teach physical education in public schools in the United States and Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to take the court in an actual NBA game. The District of Columbia's Spingarn High School produced two players - Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing - that are recognized among the NBA's 50 greatest at the League's 50th anniversary celebration. No other high school in the country can make that claim. These figures and many others who have been a part of Washington's basketball past are chronicled in this book, the first-ever comprehensive look at the great high school players, teams and accomplishments in the DC metropolitan area. Based on more than 150 interviews, The Capital of Basketball is first and foremost a book about basketball. But in discussing the trends and evolution of the game, the books also uncovers the turmoil in the lives of the players and area residents as they dealt with issues such as prejudice, education, politics, and the ways the area has changed through the years.

In his latest graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches. Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins. But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.

Taking over a rowdy gym class right before winter vacation is not something James Naismith wants to do at all. The last two teachers of this class quit in frustration. The students—a bunch of energetic young men—are bored with all the regular games and activities. Naismith needs something new, exciting, and fast to keep the class happy—or someone's going to get hurt. Saving this class is going to take a genius. Discover the true story of how Naismith invented basketball in 1891 at a school in Springfield, Massachusetts.