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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fantasy May Live Nba Expansion Team Shows Interest In Stars Of The Movie ‘Hoop Dreams’

Ray Richardson Knight-Ridder

Reality hasn’t wiped out the dreams just yet.

Arthur Agee and William Gates, the subjects of the critically acclaimed “Hoop Dreams” documentary, still have visions of National Basketball Association careers.

The visions are no longer obsessions, however. Agee and Gates have grown up. If they never make it to the NBA, other priorities would continue to fill the void.

“I’ve gotten a couple of offers to do movies,” Agee said.

Gates said, “Being in ‘Hoop Dreams’ has done more for me than basketball ever will.”

Agee and Gates, both 22, updated their personal stories at a “Hoop Dreams” panel discussion Sunday at the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency Hotel as part of the NAACP convention.

The Chicago natives have drawn worldwide attention from the documentary, which chronicled their pursuit of basketball careers and the lives of their families over a five-year period. KTCA-TV (channel 2) in St. Paul coproduced “Hoop Dreams.”

Family members of both players were on the panel. Gates’ wife, Catherine, had the couple’s 4-month-old son, William Jr., on her lap. Gates and Catherine had a daughter, Alicia, while he was a junior at St. Joseph’s High School. Alicia is 6.

Agee’s 3-year-old son, Anthony, sat with the group, further indication of how the lives of the two longtime friends have changed.

When production of the documentary began in 1986, Agee and Gates were eighth graders preparing to leave the inner city for St. Joseph’s, the suburban Catholic high school from which former Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas graduated.

Agee was forced to leave St. Joseph’s because his family no longer could afford to pay the tuition. Gates graduated from St. Joseph’s, but a knee injury slowed his career and ultimately dimmed his passion for the NBA.

“I probably would be recognized more as a player if not for the injury, but I still would have gone to school and tried to get my degree,” Gates said.

Gates plans to graduate from Marquette University in December with a degree in communications. He has made motivational speeches around the country and is considering a broadcasting career.

“I want to start asking the questions,” Gates said.

Agee, who played in the United States Basketball League, earned a degree in radio and television from Arkansas State. He has an agent working on movie projects in Chicago and Los Angeles.

But Gates and Agee have received invitations from Thomas, general manager of the Toronto Raptors, for tryouts with the expansion team after the NBA ends its lockout and reaches a labor agreement.

“Basketball is my girlfriend,” Agee said. “If I have to decide between an audition for a movie part or an NBA tryout, I’m going to the tryout. I’d still like to be there (in the NBA).”

Agee and Gates have met and spent time with Timberwolves draftee Kevin Garnett, who’s embarking on his hoop dream by skipping college and going straight to the NBA. Garnett, the No. 5 pick in the NBA draft, played at Farragut Academy on Chicago’s West Side, where Agee and Gates grew up.

Gates had words of caution and support for Garnett.

“I told him, ‘Once you get there (to the NBA), have good people on your side,”’ Gates said. “I told him he’ll experience things you never imagined.”