BEVERLY — A solo basketball player practices his layup with a rim mounted between trash cans in a Beverly alley.
A group of kids turn a set of monkey bars into a makeshift basketball hoop and start a pick-up game in the middle of a playground, but it’s short-lived when they realize their game is making it difficult for younger kids to use the equipment.
At a residential intersection, a group of preteens give a much more literal meaning to the term “streetball,” as they grab their basketball and rush out of the way of a passing car, before returning to their game at the roll-away hoop they’ve set up in the street.
Scenes like these are common in Beverly, because there are no public outdoor basketball courts in the neighborhood.
There used to be.
In the ’70s, there were outdoor courts at several parks in the 19th Ward, which includes Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood. Now there is only one, at Blackwelder Park in Morgan Park, according to the Chicago Park District.
A July 2000 Tribune investigation revealed the courts in the 19th Ward were systematically removed, with politicians and neighbors citing safety concerns, lack of community interest in basketball, and at least one unnamed resident saying, “There was trouble with a lot of Black kids coming in.”
Decades of Chicago history unearth similar tensions about public basketball courts, all revolving around race, recreation and safety.
Nearly 25 years later, as Beverly is diversifying and some of the sentiments about basketball have changed — the number of public outdoor basketball courts has not. Some neighbors say this is a lost opportunity for the local youth to hone their basketball skills, spend more time outside, meet new people and invite in people from other communities.
Though there is still some opposition, neighbors are getting increasingly vocal about bringing courts back to Beverly. They believe basketball courts will actually make the neighborhood safer and stronger.
“The irony is that [basketball courts] really fit in with how Beverly/Morgan Park thinks about itself – close knit, family-friendly, get to know your neighbors, live local,” said Scott Kibler, a homeowner in the neighborhood who has a master’s degree in public health with a certificate in urban planning.
“When a hoop is in the driveway, it’s a private thing; you’re barricaded off from the world, and you’re doing it either by yourself or with your close circle. When there’s a hoop at the park, on the playground, it’s a space to rub shoulders, to meet your neighbors, for kids and families to be a part of something larger.”
‘A Different World’
Beverly looked very different when Aven Deese grew up in the area in the ’80s and ’90s.
Looking at a friend’s photo of the Sutherland Elementary School basketball team from two years ago, he noted that most of the players were Black. When Deese was on the team in the 90s, most of the players were white.
In 1990, Beverly was 73 percent white, 24 percent Black, and 1.7 percent Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The neighborhood was still majority white at the time of the Tribune story in 2000: 63 percent white, 32 percent Black and 3 percent Latino.
Today, Beverly is 55 percent white, 32 percent Black and 7 percent Latino, according to the 2017-2021 American Community Survey.
That demographic change might be part of the shifting sentiments about bringing courts back to Beverly, but is also likely why there is still some resistance, Deese said.
“I think the the adding of a basketball court would kind of almost be like an alarm bell to people who think this is ‘their neighborhood,’ and that the putting up of a basketball court would be one of the nails in the coffin to that idea of it being a stereotypically white Irish Catholic neighborhood,” Deese said.
“There’s this perception that the blacker Beverly gets, the worse it gets. And I think that directly ties into the lack of basketball courts.”
In the ‘70s, there were outdoor basketball courts at multiple area parks, including Graver Park, Kennedy Park and Munroe Park.
There is one indoor basketball court in Beverly at Ridge Park, but neighborhood basketball players say it’s not easy getting in to play. The gym is often booked by other groups and open gym hours are limited or at times non-existent due to staffing issues.
The Ridge Park field house is closed for renovations until January 2024.
“Ridge Park is interesting because it does have a nice court, but it’s so busy,” said Gary Jenkins who has lived in Beverly for 20 years and is now president of the Ridge Park Advisory Council. “If you just want to play [anytime], you probably need to get on your bike or in your car and drive.”
Chicago Park District officials did not specifically answer questions about why outdoor courts were removed from Beverly parks decades ago.
The 18 rims located throughout the ward “support Park District programs, community-based leagues and casual use, including pick-up games and play” and “help keep residents active and contribute to a greater quality of life,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“Park amenities reflect the recreational interests of the surrounding community and ongoing engagement between park district personnel and community stakeholders,” the spokesperson said. “As always, we welcome any input from park patrons and will continue to work with our stakeholders to meet the needs of the communities we serve.”
When 21st Ward resident Mary Skyles was interviewed for the 2000 Tribune story, she was a player on the Robert Morris College basketball team and spent four days a week playing in pick-up games at Ada Park to improve her game.
Back then, the 19th Ward was “a different world,” one where she as a Black woman felt she was not welcome and didn’t feel safe playing basketball because of racist attitudes.
She still plays basketball when she can (though her knees aren’t what they used to be). She no longer plays at Ada Park but instead goes to the Kroc Center in West Pullman.
She’d be more comfortable with crossing Vincennes to shoot hoops in the 19th Ward. That is, if there were places to do so.
“I don’t want to say it’s safer [for Black people in the 19th ward],” she said. “But the change has to come somehow. You can’t live in fear. You still have to live, to press on.”
‘It’s Very Veiled; It’s More Racial Than Anything Else’
When Kibler posted South Side Weekly’s July story “The Battle for Blacktops” in a 19th Ward Facebook group, it sparked a discussion about the reasons for the lack of courts in Beverly. Some members mentioned their opposition to bringing back basketball courts, citing their dislike of the noise of dribbling and the possibility that courts would attract gang activity, reasons similar to those raised in 2000.
There is no evidence that public outdoor basketball courts are correlated with increased gang activity. In fact, sociologist Steven Foy, pointed out in a 2020 Chicago Reader story that associations between facilities and racialized crime are often due to “bad statistics.” If the preponderance of alleyway rims and driveway hoops is any indication, there is clearly interest in basketball in Beverly.
“There is very strong interest in basketball in the area,” said Conte Stamas, the varsity basketball coach at Brother Rice High School in Mt. Greenwood. A large number of neighborhood students regularly come to the gym to play, Stamas said.
“We can’t obviously accommodate everybody,” he said. “Something needs to be done to create areas for the students and athletes to go to to play because they really enjoy it. They’re always looking for somewhere to go.”
Unlike the residents quoted in the 2000 Tribune story, who openly objected to basketball courts attracting Black people to the area, today the comments in those Facebook groups do not raise the issue of race directly.
But Beverly residents who have advocated for outdoor courts say that objections about gangs and safety are inherently about race.
Tim Noonan, a Beverly resident and recent aldermanic candidate, said no one raises safety concerns about Beverly’s public tennis and volleyball courts, sports that are predominately white.
“It’s very veiled; it’s more racial than anything else,” Noonan said. “When they removed the basketball courts, what they were trying to say is, ‘We don’t like to have young Black men playing basketball [here].’”
Though there seems to be more support for outdoor hoops, local leaders say neighbors have rarely raised the issue through official channels.
The Park District spokesperson said the agency hasn’t received any requests for “additional rims or expanded programming that would require additional rims.”
Ald. Matt O’Shea, now in his fourth City Council term representing the 19th Ward, said only one person – a recent high school graduate – has contacted him about support for more outdoor courts in recent years.
“I responded to this student the way I have responded to every resident who has sought a new park improvement,” he said. “To start with the neighbors that live closest to the park with a petition to present to the Park District.”
O’Shea suggested starting with a park advisory group to gain support.
“Any time we wish to see an improvement made to a park, the first step is to demonstrate community support, especially support from those who live closest to the park in question,” he said in a statement, noting that he helped invest in updating Blackwelder Park in Morgan Park during his first term.
Kibler of the Ridge Park group began looking into the official process in 2020, learning they’d also need support from the alderman and raise roughly $75,000 dollars for construction.
He polled neighbors in a 19th Ward Facebook group in 2021. Of 178 people who took the poll, only 2 percent objected to a basketball court.
Kibler’s efforts were sidelined when his new baby arrived, but he’s still interested and said others have reached out to share their interest in bringing outdoor courts to Beverly.
In the meantime, the Ridge Park group has talked about how to work with the Park District to make the existing indoor basketball courts more accessible to players outside of club teams and leagues, Jenkins said.
“I think there should be outdoor courts everywhere. I’m a basketball person, but I don’t think basketball has ever come up at a town hall,” Jenkins said.
Improving Their Game
Elias Gray and Donato Colitto, both 13, were shocked when they heard there used to be outdoor basketball courts in Beverly.
“I’m just speechless,” said Gray, who plays with Colitto on his 8th grade team at Kellogg Elementary School. “I can see their point [about too much noise], but they also have to think about kids today and how they enjoy playing basketball. I’m just surprised that they would take down basketball courts.”
“When was the last time [they] asked people if they wanted basketball courts?” Colitto added. “If they removed them a while ago, I want to know the last time there was any survey saying ‘what would you like to see? What do you want in the future?’”
On a Friday afternoon, Gray, Colitto and Kristopher Strong, who all play together on the Kellogg Elementary school basketball team, ran drills in the parking lot outside of the Ridge Park field house.
They ran up and down the parking lot passing to each other, sometimes pulling up to shoot through an imaginary hoop. After each drill they stop to discuss what they can do next, the options limited with cars passing through the lot and no rim to shoot at.
Gray and Colitto sometimes run drills and practice shooting at Colitto’s driveway hoop, or ask their parents to drive them to a court in a nearby neighborhood. During school at recess they use a climbing structure on the playground as a hoop. Sometimes they simply forego extra practice outside of their team practice.
Strong said he sometimes practices his dribbling and handling skills in his basement.
Gray was visibly frustrated as he spoke about the lost opportunity.
“Did they play basketball back in their childhood? If they played, why would they take down basketball courts? Basketball is such a fun sport and it’s really competitive,” said Gray. “Great players – Lebron, Kobe, Michael Jordan, Curry. Come on now, please, why take down basketball courts if nowadays kids can train and get into the league so they can become like those other basketball players?”
Gray’s instincts about the ways that streetball can strengthen a player’s game are dead on, according to Stamas, who grew up playing streetball before coaching for the last 40 years.
“Back in the day there were so many people at the courts that if you didn’t win, you sat for a long time. So it developed a real competitiveness in people, because nobody wants to sit around and wait another hour before they could play,” Stamas said.
“It’s not just just playing the game itself, you develop leadership skills. People weren’t out there, like they are nowadays where parents are organizing everything. We organized everything ourselves,” he said. “All those areas are not being developed as much as they were back in the day. As a coach over the years, I’ve had to do much more organizing for student athletes than back in the day.”
‘I Believe In Beverly’
When My Block, My Hood, My City founder Jahmal Cole moved to Beverly this summer he immediately noticed the lack of outdoor courts.
It became especially poignant when he heard a basketball being dribbled outside his home one day and spotted a teen he didn’t know shooting at the hoop in his driveway. Cole said he talked to the player and learned that neighborhood kids sometimes used the hoop in Cole’s driveway before he moved in.
Cole invited the 17-year-old, who wants to play college ball, to use the hoop anytime, but suggested he send him a text first.
Cole isn’t new to the issue of basketball courts disappearing in Chicago.
Over the summer, Cole launched the “Save Streetball” project to repair nets and rims at outdoor courts around the city after he tried stopping by a Near South Side high school for a game and found that the hoops had been removed outside school hours.
His Instagram post about the situation drew numerous comments, some saying the hoops were taken down because players left behind a mess on the courts, while others lamented still another lost opportunity for free, public recreation.
In Beverly, Cole said, longtime neighbors may have gotten used to not seeing public courts.
“It’s a tight knit community, and if Beverly residents want things to change, they will change,” he said. “I think it’s just about raising the consciousness of the people in the community.”
Cole said he’s ready to collaborate to help make that change happen.
In the meantime, he has ideas. A temporary solution, he said, could be inspired by the Beverly Area Planning Association (BAPA)’s summer porch concerts. Instead of concerts, residents could host “backyard basketball tournaments” inviting neighbors to play at their backyard or driveway hoops.
“I believe in Beverly, and I believe in the people who want to organize to improve the quality of life of our kids,” he said. “This is what we have to do.”
For Cole and some of the kids who grew up with, basketball was about a lot more than just fun. It kept them out of trouble and gave them something productive to do.
Mary Skyles feels the same way.
“Basketball saved my life,” she said. “I grew up very very very poor. So at that time in life it helped me not think about everything I was dealing with.”
She balked at the notion that basketball courts increase crime.
“No. Definitely not. I don’t believe that,” she said. “Anyone that plays basketball is not trying to do bad. They’re playing basketball because they love the sport.”
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