The SUMMER THAT WASN'T

Playground entry fences chain locked. Rims removed. Leagues canceled. Summer basketball just stopped in 2020. And as its effects extended beyond the blacktop, we were reminded why it's so important.

- FRANKLYN CALLE

KEN STEVENS remembers the moment it became official like it was yesterday. He was at home watching the local news in May 2020. Like the rest of the world, he was looking for any sense of hope or even just some clarity as a global pandemic raged on after bringing life in America (and the world at large) to a halt just two months earlier. But there was no looming light at the end of the tunnel on any news broadcasts those days. Just cold doses of reality, one after another, day after day. And for Stevens, what had already seemed like inevitable bad news for weeks was about to become reality.

“I was at home, and I think I saw it go under the ticker on one of the news broadcasts: All park permits are cancelled for the summer of 2020. I was like, Wait a minute, let me go check my email! And there it was in black and white. The Parks Department sent the email out,” recalls Stevens, founder and commissioner of the prestigious Dyckman Basketball summer leagues in New York City. “There was no point of fighting it. There was no one to email back, like, Nah, you can’t do that!”

It was a reality that every other summer league commissioner would also have to come to grips with. Beyond league directors, players (from pro-am to school level), entire communities of fans and everyone in between also felt the effects of it. Park fences were locked with chains. Rims were taken down. Images that will go down in history. The unthinkable happened: summer basketball was stopped.