Hoop Dream

In the touching documentary, "Hoop Dreams" it follows two technically-gifted basketball players from Chicago, Illinois named William Gates and Arthur Agee. They both share the dream of making it into the NBA. The documentary is able to make you feel all of the emotions that these kid's go through during their high school career. Both Arthur and William start out their freshmen year at St. Josephs high school where NBA star Isiah Thomas attended. Gates is fortunate enough to get a full blown scholarship and start as a freshman on the varsity basketball team.On the other hand, Agee is not as fortunate because he is only able to get some financial aid for his tuition, and he only makes junior varsity that year. Soon enough the film is focusing on sophomore year where a lot of drama occurs. St. Joseph stops helping pay for Authors struggling family tuition, so he is forced to drop out and has to enroll in a public school called Marshall. He makes their basketball and is able to once again prove how good of a player he is. William is able to continue playing for St. Josephs where people are already saying that he was the next Isiah Thomas.Sadly, he suffers a knee injury that will haunt him for the rest of his basketball career. He is able to make a comeback, but he keeps on suffering from knee injuries every once in a while. When senior year hits, Agee and Gates are both having a really good season and just keep on getting better by the start of playoffs. St. Marks is out quickly which is a big surprise, and Arthur leads his team to be 2nd in the state. By this point in the film, both boys are suffering with their grades, and need to bring up them up in order to attend college. William mustt score an 18 on his ACT test while Arthur has to go to summer school in order to graduate and attend college. Gates decides to join  Marquette University while Agee takes the path of joining a junior college which leads to him joining Arkansas State, a division one school.

Unfortunately, Arthur and William never made it to the NBA or European leagues,but they were still able to accomplish something far greater then being the next superstar. Through the film, Agee was able to use the money he made to buy a new house and help out his struggling family. He was also able to create a foundation that helps unprivileged children realize who their real role models are. Agee is able to explain how your parents are better role models then professional athletes, He also talks to kid's about how education is important because your never know if your dreams of making it to the NBA will work out. William Gates is now a father of four and is currently making a living off of being a pastor at his local church. Although neither boy made it to the NBA, they were still able too do remarkable things on and off the court!