In ‘02, I was on an audition set for a New Balance basketball commercial. A young Latino brother came up to me and said, “You’re Bobbito, right? I started doing tricks in a Basketball City League game, and the ref told me afterwards that I should meet you . . .”
As simple as it was, Ken “The Blenda” Rodriguez and I had so much in common we became peoples immediately. He joined me, Ramon Rodriguez, and park legend Jack Ryan as a premier traveling member of our Project Playground Basketball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga71aHEh2iI) halftime show. Together we wound up killing audiences for the Dallas Mavs, N.Y. Knicks, N.O. Hornets, U Conn, U. of Tennessee, and countless others. We also rocked for the One Love DVD series, and competed in the StreetGodz Freestyle Competition which he won in ‘06.
Wasn’t long before I, and many others in the showball industry, realized how good Kenny was becoming at his craft, so much so that i would only put Luis “Triks” DaSilva in the same breath with him for #1 reamer in the world. Well, the Harlem Globetrotters caught wind, and both of them are now representing the legendary squad in arenas around the country!
“The Blenda,” a Washington Heights product, has the high esteem of also being the second Dominican to ever sign with the ‘Trotters (and one of only three Latinos in the 82 year history of the franchise). Straight up, I’m mad proud of my brother, and although we already miss his presence with Project Playground, I only wish him the best. That’s my mellow my man. Word up.
peep his Globetrotter page:
http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/team/players/index.html?player_id=30
December 27th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Shadow says:
Yo Well put K.B.L. It’s good to see all that hard work start to pay off for him. This has been his dream for so long! No disrespect to “Triks” but hands down Kenny’s got that #1 ranking on lock!!! He’s in a league all by himself when it comes to basketball tricks. Mad love Ken show the world what your all about!!! Much love- Shadow
December 28th, 2007 at 8:43 am
jack ryan says:
Good luck to my man Kenny. So proud of him. Kenny never stops practicing and for that he’s going down in the history books. Keep up the good work!
Love,
BlackJack
December 28th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Bakar says:
Big up Blenda. Good to see him going places. Hope he will inspire more Latinos to pick up the pumpkin and make magic.
December 28th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
ILYD says:
Inspirational article. –I.L.Y.D
January 1st, 2008 at 11:26 am
miguel rodriguez says:
To everyone Happy New Year,
I have to say I’m glad to see that the globetrotters have the 2nd Hispanic player ever to play for them. However the First Hispanic who happens to be Dominican and my cousin was Orlando Antigua. Gauchos, St.Rays 91, Pitt (95) Trotters for 8 seasons and now in his 3rd year as an assistant coach with Pitt.
If you google him you will see that he’s been through a lot and he overcame. For all of you out there if you want to talk about old school ballers with a big heart, character and a drive to be a great person, this is the guy. He was tabbed as one of the most influential Hispanics in 2000 or 2001 I believe and he’s one of those role models that don’t come around very often.
Blenda, good luck mi hermano.
Any of you who are avid hoops fans come on down to the Nike Super 6. St.Rays will be in the building as well as 5 other great hoops teams as well.
Orlando’s younger brother Oliver is the head coach at St.Rays and has them off to an 11-0 start and they are fresh off their Gatorade Tourney in Puerto Rico where they won the whole thing…..Watch out NY….
January 1st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love says:
Miguel-
I absolutely was aware that tu primo played for the Globetrotters, I think I even saw his ‘trotters jersey on the wall in the St. Ray’s gym. Someone way back told me Orlando was Boricua, though; my bad for not researching that to doublecheck.
I also recently learned that there was another Dominicano with the Trotters’, but now I can’t remember his name. He was born in the States and does not have a Latino surname. I’ll have to look into that, too.
Thanks for writing in a comment, bro, and best of luck to the Antigua brothers in their coaching endeavors. Word up.
bless,
bob