Joev Hammond

Hammond, who is now 40 years old, was a product of the Harlem playgrounds who, as the story goes, became a basketball legend in his spare time.

In Harlem, and in many other neighborhoods in New York, the mention of Joe Hammond's name still brings a smile to the face of anyone who saw him play the game. Nicknamed the Destroyer, for his ability to crush an opposing defense, Hammond never played high school or college basketball, yet, at the age of 19, he had already achieved professional status, and was touted by National Basketball Association scouts as a future star in their league.

The son of a New York City transit worker, Hammond dropped out of Taft High School in the Bronx in the ninth grade. "He always hated school," recalled Don Adams, the only coach Hammond ever had at the amateur level. "I remember him being away from his classes for long periods of time."

But Hammond didn't use a school team to showcase his talents. He was a king who ruled another domain, the Harlem summer leagues. His primary stage was the Rucker Tournament, made up mostly of college all-Americans who were home from school and pro players who needed a competitive tune-up in their off season. Throughout the 1970's, according to those who saw him, Hammond electrified crowds with dunks, precision shooting, and whopping scoring totals.

"You're talking about a guy who showed up at these tournament games whenever he felt like it and scored 40 or 50 points per game against top professional players," said Adams. "In his day, he was on a par with guys like Dean Meminger and Tiny Archibald, and for his size, he was better than they were."

A 6-foot-3 1/2-inch guard, Hammond was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the N.B.A.'s hardship draft of 1971 (a class that included Phil Chenier and Cyril Baptiste), but a contract dispute prevented him from signing with the team. Also, Hammond by then had another source of income: a lucrative drug trade on the Harlem streets.