S.I. Basketball League: 37 years of pick-up hoops, and counting

It's called the Staten Island Basketball League. But what it really might be is the longest running organized pick-up game in town .And a clue to the league demographic could be a local chiropractor'

Every Saturday morning and Wednesday evening for 37 years 15-20 players of a certain (and mostly advanced) age, meet at the P.S. 8 gym in Great Kills to jog and sweat and muscle each other around in a series of full-court games.There are no refs. "We call our own fouls," says league founder - and, at 65, still participant - Craig Raucher.

No clock."We play, eight points wins," explains the Eltingville resident.

And no trouble-makers."We get rid of the bad seeds," Raucher declared, adding emphatically, "Disruptive people are not allowed."What remains is a band of 15 to 20 more or less regulars, many of whom have been showing up at the tight, old-school P.S.8 gym for decades. There has been a steady stream of teachers, detectives, lawyers and businessmen - along with the odd ex-con or M.D. here and there. How did it all begin?Casually, is the answer. Raucher and his pals once played on the more locally famous outdoor courts at P.S. 8, when a chance encounter with the building custodian led to an eventual move indoors.

They rent the gym space from the city Department of Education, paying less than double what the fee was in its first year. What's the common thread for the players, who range in age from their 30s to one robust 67-year-old?

A genuine love of the sport going back decades .Beginning for some when the now-grandfathers were competing for high schools - and in the cracked-concrete version of the game in schoolyards all over the city.

And sitting in the smoky cheap seats of the old Madison Square Garden when they weren't playing, watching the Knicks of the Richie Guerin through the Clyde Frazier days."it's about the competition," says Raucher. "The guys who play still really want to win. And the games are at a pretty high level."

"But," the transportation consultant adds, "It's mostly about breaking a sweat, getting some run and having some fun."   That's not to say there haven't been a few medical emergencies.

"Broken ankles, knees, a heart attack or two," Raucher said. Fact is, 15 years ago one player died of heart attack on the gym floor during a game.

And in a familiar Island story, the group also lost one member to the 9/11 attacks. Raucher himself has a pair of new knees, no doubt the wear-and-tear of basketball a part of the reason. But the games continue."it's a passion," says David Bernstein, a Willowbrook resident and the game's senior man in terms of age, at 67, and also years of seniority as one of the original players. "It's not even about working out for me. I play because I love the game, mostly the mental aspect."

The crew will be there this Wednesday evening and Saturday morning, as they have been with the regularity of a good clock, for 52 weeks each year.

"The trick is to show up early so you can get on one of the first teams," says Bernstein, who should know.

Raucher and his friends are currently working on putting together a clinic for youngsters, a way to teach the old-school game they themselves grew up with. They'd also like to begin a league for preteens with autism.

That idea sprung from meeting a young woman whose child has autism.

But as for now, the Wednesday/Saturday games are the main focus.

How popular is the long-running event?

"No one leaves voluntarily," Raucher said.

(For more information contact commissioner Craig Raucher 718-605-2189 or go online to www.StatenIslandBasketballLeague.com)

Source: