They used to say that he was better than Jordan and it wasn't close. What was his story? Why didn't he make it?

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

He wasn't a guy who really busted out or anything. He wasn't a drug guy in an era when many were. He was a great player. I mean, he beat Indiana with George McGinnis when he was at Northern Illinois. I'm pretty sure he was drafted by the Bulls but he went the ABA route. That wasn't unusual in that time. Remember, the NBA wasn't what it would become a few years later after Magic and Bird came in. He may have rubbed people the wrong way with his attitude.

The only time I ever saw him play was in that Chicago State summer league when I was in high school. I don't know about comparisons to Jordan, but he did have that type of game and he was certainly a better shooter.

My favorite story about a playground legend is when they made that Reebok commercial about Lamar Mundane. Danny Ainge thought it was a fictional guy and nicknamed himself Lamar Mundane. One of my friends actually played at Northeastern Illinois with Mundane. And it was one of his friends who started yelling "LAYUP!" whenever Mundane lined up to shoot from the perimeter.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I met Billy Harris when i was a teenager but at that point he was older and strung out on drugs. He was still down on the end and we was the dude who screams "shorty let me get a shot" guy by that point. It was sad to see him in that state to be honest.
My very best friend's dad came up with him and that old crew of his from the 70's and could tell you stories.

He was there when Billy Harris pulled a gun on Bob Love at the old Boys club on the West Side.

There was a guy (My other guy's dad) by the name of Arthur Sivels that everyone swears Billy Harris didn't ever want to see on the basketball court. He was also in their crew and i heard he was the only guy that Billy would never talk shit to.

Had a tryout with the Globetrotters when he was 16 and i think was selected to play with them. He was also a playground legend but like Billy struggled with drugs and died about 10 years or so ago.

He was listed in Vitale's old hoop book as one of the street legends from Chicago. I met him when i was in high school too as he was one of my childhood friend's dad. Played with him and you could see the skill level even for a guy that was about 40 at the time.

Leach blew up playing in summer leagues back in the late 80's early 90's and made his name off coming at Tim Hardaway in a few of them.

He was too small for the league though. Highly skilled though and a terror in the Pro Ams

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Yeah, I don't know what happened to him later but I'm pretty sure it wasn't drugs that ended his pro career. He had to be about 30 when I saw him at Chicago State and he could still really play.

There are a lot of guys who were legends on the playground who didn't make it in the NBA. Obviously, the game is a lot different. It's not like there was real defense being played at Chicago State. I saw this white guy named Ice Heiden who I think went to Augustana drop about 30 there against NBA and major (and mid-major) college players.

Here's a forgotten Chicago legend: Art Hicks. He played at St. Elizabeth in the 50s, went to Seton Hall and got caught up in point-shaving. He was another Jordan before there was Jordan.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

From what i know and read about Billy Harris he was good but never really NBA caliber good. His best attribute was as a shit talker on the court. He could score and play but a lot of people knew him as a shit talker and showman.

He was also a pimp. There is a really good book about him and a bunch of his childhood friends titled "Brothers". Book was written by one his childhood friends that later wrote for Newsweek. I knew the story of one of the guys in the book very well as he and his family resided in the same building that i used to live in.

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Read about Art Hicks in the same Vitale magazine that had Arthur Sivels and Billy Harris in it. I believe he was from down the way in the Ida B. Wells. Everyone always talks about him

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It seems like basketball is the sport most ripe for this topic. Playgrounds are littered with guys who were good but couldn't get out of their own way.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Yeah, that was his reputation. But Nas's question is a good one. What happened to him? How could he not have been NBA caliber when you look at his college exploits? I think all of us except maybe WWN are too young to really have seen him play in college. He was the right size, maybe a little skinny. I know he played at NIU, but it still seems like he should have been better than a seventh rounder. One thing for sure, his type of game wasn't revered in the NBA the way it would become post-Jordan. Even guys like Dr. J and David Thompson were considered more fun to watch than guys you were really going to win with. It was a big man's game in that time.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I think it had to do with being an undersized 2 guard with shitty to porous defense. There were other red flags (hell he pulled a gun on Bob Love at a summer league game) about him and he definitely was in the streets. I think the Sleuth was with the Bulls even back then and knew about some of the stuff. Think he was a scout for the Bulls at the time and you know he had his sources.


The old coach of Dunbar coach Foreman who coached both Billy Harris and Ronnie Lester (at different times) once said that Billy Harris couldn't hold Ronnie Lester's jock.

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I never heard of Billy Harris, but I did see Lamar Mundane play with a serious group of older ballers at 63rd street beach. I honestly had always believed he was just a city legend, but he played at another speed and pulling strings no one else could see. I didn't even want to try to get on the court with them. By then, late 80s, Tim and his little brother Donald had already gotten my ankles enough. Not to mention that I couldn't match up with the old man strength those guys had.

I thought his Reebok commercial was a nice touch though.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I was a junior or senior at Phillips when the old "Money" Mundane commercial came out. Don't even want to say that I know his son too but I do. Looks just like him. After that commercial came out his son transformed his game and attempted to become a 3 point marksman. Still plays that way too this day. I just hooped with his son this past Saturday.

We didn't believe him at first because we'd never heard him talk much about his father in high school. Then that commercial came out and he started claiming that the guy was his father. Saw a photo of Lamar Mundane around that time and they were the spitting image of one another.

Lamar Mundane is pretty short. About 5'9 and was more a shooting guard. Another guy I think was too small for his position.

From what I heard about him anyway. I met him before but never actually saw him play. He is about 5'9

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Went to high with a guy named Anthony Brewer. He was a 5 tool player. He got drafted by the Marlins in the 3rd round out of high school but he couldn't hit the curve ball and that ended his career.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

but he made it as a pro

also, baseball has a plethora of jobs for guys who want to work, even after very modest careers

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

And built sort of like Juan Uribe, right?

Another guy who never made it as a pro from right around the time of Billy Harris is Lee Arthur Scott. I'm not even sure he ever made it to college. He played for Dick Versace at Gordon. Versace became his guardian and he lived in the coach's house.

That Gordon team was a powerhouse. That was before the Catholic League participated in the IHSA playoffs. Some people think Gordon could have beaten Thornridge.

On another note, I've heard whispers and rumors that DePaul Prep has a kid who is a freshman now who is supposed to be the greatest player ever to play in the Catholic League. I don't know his name or even if it's close to true. I think maybe the kid came from California. I guess we'll find out in a couple months.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

tommy and peeps went to Carmel? What year did you guys graduate?

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@audioidkid

1957 and 2002

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Yeah back then he was.

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Played high school basketball against Shannon King from Waukegan. His real sport was track and field. Was ranked #2 in the country for high jumping. He was clearing 7’0 regularly. Long jumping 24 feet or so. Thought he was going to Arkansas on a full ride but see he was only there 1995-1996

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

You need to get out more if T-Bone is the guy you are nominating as the guy in your life who should've gone pro.

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'83!















plus 12 years.

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I’d have to agree.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Failure to hit the curve, and crippling knee injuries are the curse of Simeon.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Failure to hit the curve is really what stops a lot of guys. And it's hard being in the Midwest as a baseball player. You're eventually competing with guys in CA, FL, AZ, and TX who play all year. Sure, there are now all these indoor facilities but it isn't the same.

An ex-girlfriend of mine has a cousin who grew up in Park Ridge. He was a real top player. His dad moved with him to San Diego for his last year of high school. Most people really can't do that. This kid played at SDSU and eventually made the big leagues. He has one big league homer, but that's more than most people accomplish.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Failure to hit a big league breaking ball also stops a lot of "can't miss" prospects like Albert Almora, Brian Anderson, and Joe Borchard.

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I know a guy who seemingly has sent his son to a baseball hot bed down south so he can play outdoors 1st months out of the year. Apparently he's gone from being on of the top prospects in Illinois to one of the top prospects in Georgia. Which I guess means that they're planning on him passing on his college scholarship in two years.

And I hope that my guy Corey Ray can snap that part of the Simeon curse for the Brewers.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Yep. That curve ball is a bitch. Has killed thousands of stud prospects over the last 100 years.

You gotta hit the hangers. That's the key. Nobody hits the sharp breaking good ones. Also, you have to recognize the ones that are out of the zone and take them. That's the other key.

I've had 2 friends over the years that were Left-handed pitchers at the college level. Both had the same reason for the plateau...."there's a point where you can no longer coach / teach velocity".

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It's kind of like the coaches who claim that kids can't/don't get faster after they get their driver's license.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Wasn't "they" it was he that used to say he was better than Jordan. Every now and then a local newspaper would catch up with him and he'd spout off about he was better or Jordan before there was Jordan.

I never heard anyone else say it however

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I actually thought Michael Hermon was a pro too. Kind of lost his way for awhile and then turned up at a small college in Atlanta.

Actually called Bernstein and asked about his pre draft workouts at Moody Bible back in the day. Bernstein stated that he was in attendance at some of them and saw him play. Wasn't overly impressed as i remember.

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