James "Pookie" Wilson was a

streetballer Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

from Far Rockaway, Queens in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

College basketball

He played at

John Jay College The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts co ...

. At John Jay he played under Coach Bob Fox. He was a 5'9" guard who is said to be the best person in the conference. While there he led them to the

CUNY , mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind , budget = $3.6 billion , established = , type = Public university system , chancellor = Fél ...

finals.

Streetball

James Wilson is compared to NBA Hall of Famer, Oscar Robertson, who is mentioned amongst the best because of his stats. He is also mentioned as a comparison with Robertson because both are under-appreciated. He became famous playing at the

Rucker Park Tournament Entertainer's Basketball Classic is a basketball tournament held at Rucker Park in New York City. It was founded by Greg Marius in 1982. In 1986, the original Rucker Park Tournament became the Entertainers Basketball Classic. Participants of the t ...

. In one of the pro league tournaments he averaged 35 points per game, while also having a 62 points in a game. In 1986, he scored 63 points in an Entertainers Basketball Classic game, a record which stood for 21 years. He played in the pro league team called Chic All Stars with Steve Burtt Sr and NBA player Kevin Williams. Wilson also once scored 100 points in a game in the Police Athletic League. According to the book, Vertical Leap, he is considered one of the asphalt legends, along with Joe Hammond and Herman Knowings. He was a Rucker park legend. In the book ''Rogue Financier: The Adventures of an Estranged Capitalist'', he was an NBA-caliber guard.

Personal life

His nephew

Jamar Wilson Jamar J. Wilson (born February 22, 1984) is an American-Finnish professional basketball player for Boulazac Basket Dordogne of the LNB Pro B. Standing at , he plays at the point guard position. High school career Wilson attended Our Savior New Am ...

is a professional basketball player.

References

American men's basketball players American motivational speakers Shooting guards Basketball players from Brooklyn Street basketball players {{US-basketball-bio-stub