Who could have imagined? Well, Tom LaGarde did.
Tom LaGarde had a vision: basketball on in-line skates. LaGarde wasn’t just a 6-foot-10 athletic body. First and foremost, Tom was intelligent and had ideas, lots of ideas. Tom also happened to play basketball extremely well. After a career at the University of North Carolina and winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, Tom played in the NBA for several seasons and was a member of the 1979 championship Seattle SuperSonics.
Tom LaGarde back in the day (photo courtesy Olympedia)
After retiring from the NBA, Tom didn’t play much basketball because of his bad knees, but he did a lot of rollerblading. His knees felt little to no pain on wheels. One day, Tom happened to roll by a basketball game and had a eureka moment. Soon after, Tom started shooting around—on blades, a lot. It was fun but a little lonely, and he began searching for teammates for his new sport.
Tom placed an ad in an in-line skating publication, asking for volunteers to join “the world’s first-ever roller basketball team.” Just one person answered. But it wasn’t just any person.
Altitude Lou, a seasoned stunt skater who grew up playing street ball on the Lower East Side with ex-NBAer Jayson Williams, wasn’t just any skater. He leaped over taxi cabs on skates, and he was an ideal sparring partner for LaGarde.
In Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, Altitude and Tom waged fierce, full-court, one-on-one battles. Eventually, an eclectic mix joined with them–the well-employed, the unemployable, the athletic, the unusual, and the just plain weird.
There was Al, the Ghanaian subway conductor. TK was one of the few people on the planet who had played pick-up and more than held his own with Lawrence Taylor and Michael Jordan during his UNC days. Little Country had been an ice hockey goal-scoring machine at Colorado. An almost playground legend from the East Village, “Jordan,” also signed on. One of Jordan’s former teammates, Bison Dele (formerly Brian Williams), participated in a few games. Spinner, an industrial artist with a handlebar mustache, arguably the most diehard rollerballer, kept the action from ever hitting a lull.
“We’re burning daylight!” Spinner blared at every opportunity.
Tom called this nascent community the National In-line Basketball League (NIBBL) even though it only existed in New York City. Gradually, Tom came up with roller basketball-specific rules.
Four-person teams
no inbounding after a conversion, and
only one free-throw attempt for two points.
As for traveling, players can roll for five seconds without dribbling. But, to nobody’s surprise, traveling became difficult to regulate.
Just as NIBBL is starting to roll, I called Tom for an interview, and we met for a casual breakfast. During our discussion, we somehow rotated positions: Tom asked the questions, and I told him about practically growing up on skates and unfufilled roller derby aspirations.
At the end of breakfast, Tom picked up the tab, and I agreed to show up at the next roller basketball scrimmage.
It was a heck of a breakfast.
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Jon Hart is the author of Unfortunately, I was available, illustrated by Coverkitchen
