Basketball players still bound by 'Hoop Dreams'

CHICAGO

It's a chilly morning and two old friends are supposed to meet for a game of hoops. The shy, steadier of the pair arrives early. The other, a fun-loving extrovert, arrives almost two hours late.

The tardy one, Arthur Agee, strolls into his buddy's office with a playful smile and talk of car trouble. William Gates immediately forgives him.

For more than a decade, the pair have been bound by unexpected fame. The two Chicago high school basketball players were featured in "Hoop Dreams," the 1994 hit co-produced by Twin Cities Public Television that many movie lovers view as the best documentary ever made. Now in their mid-30s, their contrasting fates may surprise the many people who saw the movie.

Gates, the reserved one, has become an authoritative force who leads a church in Chicago. He is married with four kids. Agee, a spirited charmer, doesn't have a regular job but is launching a line of "Hoop Dreams" apparel. He has five kids by five women.

"You ain't even Mr. Gates, now it's Pastor Gates," Agee said as the two men embraced.

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Gates, a more promising player than Agee, blew out his right knee his junior year. A year earlier, his girlfriend, Catherine Mines, gave birth to a baby girl, Alicia. Gates was still able to accept a scholarship from Marquette University in Milwaukee, but the injury continued to dog him.

Agee left St. Joseph during the beginning of his sophomore year when his parents couldn't afford their share of his tuition. Devastated, he transferred to Chicago's Marshall High School, where his team made it to the state finals his senior year.

After graduation, Agee enrolled in a junior college in Flat River, Mo., then transferred to Arkansas State University. He didn't graduate from college, but played semiprofessional basketball. In 1996, he was offered a spot on the Continental Basketball Association's Connecticut Pride but passed it up because it conflicted with a part in a cable film by Steve James, director of "Hoop Dreams." Agee also had an uncredited spot in Spike Lee's 1998 film "He Got Game."

The teenagers knew each other casually before "Hoop Dreams," but they grew extremely close over the five years of filming. They even had secret sleepovers at each other's homes, unbeknownst to the film crew.

"We were teenagers -- we didn't want them knowing everything that we were doing," Gates said.

"At the end of the day, he's my guy," Gates said. "And I know he feels the same way."

Agee credits Gates for being honest with him, even when it's about something he doesn't want to hear. Still, they sometimes fall out of touch. In recent months, Gates couldn't reach Agee because his cell phone number had changed.

• • •

"Hey, stranger, where you been?" Gates said after they hugged last month, the day they met to play basketball.

Agee fed him a sly grin and gave him an extra-large T-shirt, part of his "Hoop Dreams" clothing line. The filmmakers granted Agee the rights to use the "Hoop Dreams" name. On the T-shirts, Agee added the slogan: "Control Your Destiny."

Gates held up the T-shirt and joked that his three boys -- ages 13, 10 and 5 -- could fit inside it.

Agee led his old friend outside to his rusty white 1991 Buick LeSabre. In the back seat, Agee's pit bull, Cole, was anxiously pacing. Agee opened up his trunk, which had a stack of T-shirts neatly folded in a laundry basket, and handed Gates a handful of T-shirts in smaller sizes.

Agee lives in Bartlett, a northwest suburb of Chicago, with his girlfriend, Jennifer Genovesi, and their 8-month-old son, Devin. His four other children -- Anthony, 16; Ashley, 16; Deja, 12, and Aiysha, 2 -- live with their respective mothers. Agee said he pays more than $900 a month in child support and is often broke.

Things were looking more promising after "Hoop Dreams" made its debut. Because of the film, Agee was able to move his family out of their Section 8 duplex into a bungalow. Both men said they earned roughly $150,000.

But neither grew rich.

Agee gave up on basketball in 1997.

In recent years, he has focused on his Arthur Agee Jr. Role Model Foundation, a nonprofit that works with underprivileged kids. He also starred in a documentary called "Hoop Realities." The film looks at Agee's attempts to launch the clothing line, follows a recent senior guard from Marshall and examines the difficulties of reaching the NBA. The film premiered a year ago at the Virginia Film Festival. Agee said the producers are working on getting a distribution deal.

A "Hoop Dreams" sequel is not in the works, said Peter Gilbert, a producer of the original film. But, he added, "Never say never."

Gates never banked on another film. Now living on the far west side of Chicago, he became the first person in his family to graduate from college, earning a communications degree from Marquette in 1999. He worked for three years as a program director of Community Economic Development Association of Cook County and considered law school.

He hit a low point after his brother Curtis' murder on Sept. 10, 2001, and spent much of 2002 unemployed, with the exception of a few handyman jobs.

The grandson of a pastor, he decided to pursue a more spiritual path. In early 2003, the Moody Church offered him the job leading an evangelical church, Living Faith Community Church in Cabrini-Green. Gates remains there today.

Meanwhile, both men still play hoops for fun. Gates said his eldest son, William Jr., is a better player than he was at his age.