Rahim Thompson, a longtime Philly basketball contributor, wants to honor the city’s summer scene
Thompson, who founded The Chosen League and the Team Thompson Family Foundation, proposed to name August “Philly Legendary Summer Hoops Month.”
Rahim Thompson has an encyclopedic knowledge of Philadelphia summer basketball history.
In an instant, he can chronicle countless stories of the people and places who have made summer hoops a safe haven.
For instance, when he helped bring LeBron James to the Palestra for the “Battle for I-95″ in 2011. Or when James Harden cut the Nike logo off his Danny Rumph Classic jersey days after switching his affiliation to Adidas. Perhaps his favorite story was sitting in a barber shop with Kobe Bryant the night he was nearly traded away from the Lakers.
“My life has just been like one story after another on this trail to where we’re at today,” said Thompson, who founded The Chosen League and the Team Thompson Family Foundation. “There’s so much going on in the basketball community in Philadelphia that needs to be highlighted.”
Thompson, 45, proposed to Councilmember At-Large Isaiah Thomas that they make August “Philly Legendary Summer Hoops Month.” He wanted to find a way to commemorate the past while celebrating how it has influenced the present.
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Thomas fell in love with the idea.
“From a Council perspective, whenever people are convening like that, dollars are being spent. Then we’re occupying people’s time in a safe space, too,” said Thomas, who also coaches the boys’ basketball team at Sankofa Academy Charter School. “We’re bringing in folks from outside the city, which helps with some of our issues around perception and tourism. When you’re talking about the DNA of our city, Philadelphia is a basketball city.”
Thomas will present a citation to Thompson sometime in early August, making the month-long commemoration official. There will then be a celebratory reception on Aug. 16 at Live! Casino in South Philly.
The citation will only apply to August 2022. It will have to be reintroduced next year to recognize Philly summer hoops again. Thomas said he’ll continue to propose the citation each summer as long as he’s a member of City Council.
Beyond introducing the citation, Thomas’ office can help individual leagues and camps as a point person for fundraising and with logistics of organizing community events.
“It’s not about the playing of the game during the month of August,” Thompson said. “It’s about highlighting why the games are being played and the story of how these leagues are happening right now because it took a lot to get here.”
Leagues have long been at the forefront of Philly summer hoops. The Chosen League is in its 21st iteration, tipping off on Aug. 1. The 17th annual Rumph Classic will run from Aug. 4-8. There’s also the 2-year-old Brotherly Love Pro-Am (played in June-July).
Before that was the renowned Sonny Hill League at Temple’s McGonigle Hall. Then came the 16th and Philly League at 16th and Susquehanna Streets, which ruled the ‘90s. Thompson gets an extra serotonin boost talking about the old Cory Erving League at Parkside Courts and the Paul King Untouchables League at 27th and Clearfield.
Camps are another major part of the recognition Thompson is hoping to cultivate this August.
The 10th annual Isaiah Thomas and Chris Woods basketball camp runs for three weeks in August for kids ages 5-16. Tyrese Maxey, the 76ers’ third-year guard, is holding his first of three camps on Aug. 6 in Philadelphia before heading to Dallas, Texas, and Lexington, Ky. Lewis Leonard, who has trained some of the area’s best players, will be holding his camp in the back half of August.
Thompson wants to use the dedicated month as a time to draw the line between generations of basketball.
“We have to show these guys coming up that got their influence from us,” Thompson said. “You got [Chuck] Ellis who does all the summer workouts now. Which was started by John Hardnett. Which was started originally by Bob Johnson. It’s this legacy that continues to grow.”
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Thompson was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and was homeless for periods of his childhood. Basketball was an inspiring avenue for him. He and his mother moved to North Philadelphia when he was 14 years old before later landing in Olney.
From 1998-2001, he was a student at Drexel. Thompson never finished his degree because he started working for Philadelphia mayoral candidate John Street, where he learned how to fund-raise and arrange corporate sponsorships.
The business-side experiences coupled with his vast knowledge of local history, makes Thompson the obvious candidate to spearhead “Philly Legendary Summer Hoops Month.”
“Basketball was always a way to create lifelong friendships,” Thompson said. “The best way to say it is basketball was a fellowship that balanced everything out for me no matter what was going on in the world.”