I was not the most gifted athlete but I was able to get a tryout with the New Jersey Nets I did not make the NBA but I make a living with the basketball support my family and live a comfortable life I'm a three-time Guinness record holder an ESPN's national 3-point shooting champion slam magazine and complex.com named me one of the greatest playground legends of all time complex.com also says I am one of 30 of the greatest basketball players in the world never to make it to the NBA my life story is on Netflix and airing
in 191 countries the name of Series is losers I know that's harsh I am episode number seven blackjack that all sounds great but it wasn't always that easy I would love to share with you my story I was born and raised in Brooklyn New York I was one of five children I was second oldest I started playing basketball when I was about eight or nine years old my older brother was one of the better guys in the park and I saw all the oohs and ahhs and love and respect that he received I said hey
can you teach me how to play and he did I fell in love with basketball so much that's all I did morning noon and night when I was better than all my friends he said you're not playing with your friends anymore you're playing with my friends I said no way I'm gonna get killed I was 12 they were 16 when I was killing all his friends he said we're not playing at this park anymore we're going to the more competitive parks you see he opened my eyes and got me out of my comfort zones to
go seek the bigger guys the older guys the better talent so I would get better about eight or nine years old I was home on a Saturday morning watching a Harlem Globetrotters cartoon I saw one of the most famous guys curly Neal spin the ball like that all the kids around him they went I said oh man I gotta learn how to do that maybe kids will clap for me one day it took forever but I was determined to do it there was no way I was gonna give up I went to John Jay high
school in Brooklyn I transferred from Bishop Ford I tried out for the varsity as a sophomore like I said I wasn't a gifted athlete I was only six feet tall I'm not fast but I had a very quick first step my junior year I averaged 15 points a game my senior year I averaged 26 points a game I was getting better and better nobody practiced more than me I had 17 Division one basketball schools interested in me I signed a letter of intent to go play basketball at Ohio University they called me back a week
and a half later Jack you have a 1.9 great average you can't come here I was devastated and I was so mad I did not have a great relationship with my father and I had anger issues my father told me I would never amount to anything my father's dream was for me to be a football player when I was 8 years old I was on a team I was the quarterback when I was 12 years old I told my father I don't want to play football anymore he punched me right in my face our relationship
really went downhill after that he did not come to one high school basketball game not one in my late teenage years I turned to drinking the more I drank the more crazier I acted and the more angry I became I would drink til I blacked out so I can forget the pain I was in for a little while you see when you keep being told that you're a screw-up you believe you're a screw-up you start acting like a screw-up and you become a screw-up I went to a few junior colleges and then I walked on
at Brooklyn College I was thrown off the team by Christmas life was not going too well for me at the time I went from job to job I had no self-esteem I had no bank account I didn't even have a driver's license I was broke and my mom was helping me pay the rent I was in my mid-30s and I was drinking my nights away I never felt that kind of Darkness before there was no light at the end of the tunnel I was lost I hit rock bottom what am I gonna do now what
am I really made of in May of 1997 I was invited to go play at a basketball tournament down in Florida before one of the games I was spinning a ball on my finger like this watching the game the coach that brought me down there came over and said what's that that's crazy I said oh that's nothing watch this he said I can get you tryout with the Harlem Wizards for those of you that don't know the Harlem Wizards is an entertainment basketball team similar to the Harlem Globetrotters that has been around since 1962 one
thing led to another I got a tryout and in June of 1997 I became a member of the world-famous Harlem Wizards that changed my life I was 37 years old and for the first time I had self-esteem I was so happy that dark cloud that was over me was finally gone the anger left me in an instant I have not blacked out since in my first year with the Harlem Wizards I was not the best trickster not even close but like when I was a little boy and I wanted to be a basketball player and
I wanted to spin that basketball I went back at it morning noon and night in the gyms in the parks even in my apartment I went from spinning one basketball to two basketballs three juggling six all the way up to nine spinning basketballs on my body I got so good in one year that one of my friends came up to me and said Jack you can make a lot of money doing halftime shows so I put together a VHS tape you kids know what that is of all my wizard stuff and I sent it out
to the NBA WNBA and colleges my first halftime show Madison Square Garden I went out there and I nailed it I was on top of the world and in one year with the Harlem Wizards I was wearing the microphone and running the show I made it as a showman at this point in my life I couldn't have been any more happier I was so proud of who I became and I was so determined to be the best that I can be that summer a friend came up to me who had a summer camp and he
said hey can you come entertaining the kids I said sure so I went and I did my 45 minute interactive comedy basketball show it was a hit he told some friends that had camps next thing you know I'm getting calls I said to myself if I could do these basketball camps these summer camps I could do birthday parties so I started advertising in parent magazines and calling myself the hoop wizard next thing you know I'm getting calls for summer camps with birthday parties for school assemblies for bar mitzvahs for block parties do you name it
I took what I learned as a Harlem wizard and I turned it into a nice little niche for myself basketball saved my life so I didn't make it to the NBA if I did it would have been short-lived I'm 57 years old and I get to perform at school assemblies almost every single day and feed kids positive messages I get to see I get to hear the laughter of children and see them smile and inspire them basketball has made me a better person a harder worker ambitious more reliable and most important a better dad if
I could leave you all with something find your passion it's never too late and you're never too old thank you [Applause]
