In the Center for Media Production at Johnson & Wales University, there are hundreds of pieces of history in the form of photographs, newspaper clippings, record books and yearbooks. Each piece brings to light a story of the North Providence Summer Basketball League, or NPSBL, an NCAA-sanctioned league that ran from 1962 until 1995.
“It’s 1962, and the country is very divided, and people have very strong opinions about who can do what. Here's this little tiny court in this little tiny town in this little tiny state that’s saying, ‘Come in – if you can play, you can stay,’” said Evan Villari, a JWU professor and director of a documentary film on the league.
The film – made possible by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts – is being developed by Villari and a renowned storyteller and former player, Len Cabral. Cabral is not only a character in the film as a former player but he will also provide the voiceover for the film.
With Providence Inner City Arts as the executive producer, Ali Cabral, Glen DeValerio and Lou Viola are also founders and executive producers of the film and are all collaborating on its development.
The film, “Meet Me at the Court,” will share the history of this summer league.
“What’s exciting about the film is the fact that here’s something seemingly small that actually had a very long legacy well beyond the wildest imaginations of the teenagers in 1962,” Villari said.
When NPSBL started in 1962, it was run entirely by teenagers in the neighborhood, namely David Turbridy and his older brother, Bob, who wanted to play summer ball. They worked to get sponsors for team names and T-shirts, and players “all chipped in a quarter or a dime” for referees, Cabral said.
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Turbridy, who played on Providence College’s undefeated freshman team in the 1963-64 season, brought his PC teammates – including Jimmy Walker, Dexter Westbrook and Mike Riordan – to North Providence to play on the courts named after Herbie Swenson and Chuckie Ruggerio.
“The impetus for the league really came out of a desire to honor a friend,” Villari said. “The legacy, the connection that these guys have to their friends and the associations they make with playing and that drive, that desire to honor is really important.”
Swenson and Ruggerio were teenagers who tragically died just three years apart. After Swenson’s death, the first court was named in his honor, in addition to the inaugural trophy.
“Those deaths really touched us because it was the first time someone our age at 15 and 16 died,” Cabral said. “It just shook us.”
NPSBL was started at a time when PC basketball was on the rise, and the Boston Celtics were winning during the Bill Russell era. Additionally, the rise of television broadcasts in homes nationwide led to increased interest and participation.
“It was coming of age for them," Villari said. "Really, it was kind of like a coming of age for the town. It's very much an American story that could only happen here. It's the confluence of drive and ambition, the desire to play – right place, right time.
"As the league changes, the country’s change was really at the forefront of those evolutions, especially when it comes to integration of people of color playing and feeling welcome.”
The league gained traction when the teenagers petitioned for lights to be put on the Smith Street courts. As one of the only courts to have lights, league interest grew and play improved as kids from outside the North Providence area began competing. Players came from as far as North Haven, Connecticut, and Roxbury, Massachusetts.
“It’s the first time when different groups came together to play a sport and left it all on the court," Cabral said. "There weren’t any problems with people coming in from different parts of the city, and it grew so much. People came in from different states. If you could play, it didn’t matter where you came from or what ethnic group you came from.
“If you could play, you played.”
Not only did players travel to play ball in North Providence, but the league also had a widespread audience.
“We’re talking about generations of ballplayers coming, if not to play then to watch because it then became a spectacle," Villari said. "Cars are parked up and down the street. I’ve seen reports of 300, 400, 500 people and that number just keeps growing and growing and growing for just a little tiny playground."
NPSBL was a top-three-ranked summer basketball league in which teenagers played in an NCAA-sanctioned organization featuring the best of the best.
These were courts in North Providence where the “cream of the crop” played, and where players interested in high school and college ball went to be seen. Coaches scouted on Tuesday nights when the games were played and the league helped many to go to college to play basketball.
Players didn’t just attend nearby schools such as Providence College or the Community College of Rhode Island but also schools like Stonehill College and Boston College.
“It was an avenue to uplift a community of ballplayers because you could get a scholarship possibly,” Cabral said.
More than 30 NBA players, including Jimmy Walker, the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft in 1967, and many more who played overseas in European leagues, competed on these courts in North Providence.
In addition to NBA players such as Walker, prominent Rhode Island figures in coaching or politics played on these courts, including Dan Mazzulla, the father of current Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.
JWU men’s basketball head coach Jamie Benton was highly successful in the league and won NPSBL's MVP award four times. Future Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch played in the late 1980s and early '90s. A partial list of notable players can be found below.
The film will not only include how the league came to be and its massive success during the late 20th century but also explain why it ended so abruptly in 1994 despite its success.
Villari said they are in Phase 1.5 for the film's completion, and the filmmakers are currently gathering archival footage from the league’s days to include in the film and securing more funds.
Under Villari’s supervision and guidance, JWU students have worked on some of the film's developmental aspects, acting as designers, photographers, producers, advertisers and grant writers.
The Rhode Island International Film Festival will host a storytelling event featuring Cabral on Aug. 9, where he will also promote the film and share a five-minute proof-of-concept scene from the film that students filmed and was put together by an editor in Portland, Maine.
Villari, who grew up a quarter-mile from the courts, is excited to share the story of the NPSBL and its impact.
“What I’m drawn to is, you don’t have to go far to find a story,” Villari said. “I knew it was big, but I didn’t know it was that big.”
Here's a list of NBA draftees from NPSBL:
- Jimmy Walker (played on the court in the early days of the league)
- Marvin Barnes (N.P. Liquors team – 1970; Paulie’s Pizza team – 1989)
- Joe Hassett (HKB Market team – 1972; N.P. Liquors team – 1973)
- Kevin Stacom (Celtics, Pacers, Bucks – head coach of Rhode Island Gulls – played pickup games at court)
- Tom Garrick (L.S. Building team – 1987 to the end of league) West Warwick native; URI
Other notable players who competed in the NPSBL:
- David Turbridy – original league founder; walk-on guard at Providence College; undefeated PC freshman team 1963-1964; brought Jimmy Walker, Dexter Westbrook, Mike Riordan and other future NBA players to the court.
- Tom Cannon – player (as early as 1968), coach (1975 Ruffstone championship time) and longtime commissioner of the NPSBL (1975-1994).
- Erie Ferange – longtime player, 1970-1980s; (NP Liquors, Fruit Hill Café, Ruffstone Tavern and Poochie’s team)
- Patrick Lynch – Former Rhode Island attorney general; HKB Market team (1980s-'90s)
- Jamie Benton – Johnson & Wales men's basketball head coach; four-time NPSBL MVP; L.S. Building championship dynasty team.
- Roscoe Patterson – Euro basketball player; longtime league player from Boston (Shelburne, Giant Glass, Slamma Jamma’s teams – 1988-1994)
- Ed Cooley – Now the head coach of the Georgetown basketball team; former head coach of the Providence College Friars; Langella & Vinco teams – 1988-1994.
- Steve Silas – Houston Rockets head coach, now a Detroit Pistons Assistant; Packy’s team in 1994.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Remember the North Providence Summer Basketball League? These filmmakers do
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