Comments on: The Playground Gave Us Tiny – The Holiday Archives Edition

By: pierreTHE MOON lucas

pierreTHE MOON lucas — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:28:44 +0000

i also seen tiny when i was 12 years old at rucker park against guys like dr.j. joe hammen, charlie scott, dean,goat,shake&bake tiny was the man

By: littel vaughn

littel vaughn — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:39:50 +0000

ive seen tiny when i was 11 years old playing against the sixers my hometown team in the 1981 playoffs.he was a little magician with big heart even at that old age you wright he set the tone for the little man who can score but still be a point guard.

By: ali

ali — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:51:18 +0000

funk,
i was wondering where you’d been for this discourse. i actually spoke to pearl washington the night before last. he’s now coaching the ladies at thomas jefferson high school in bk, sid green’s alma mater and one of the stops in lloyd daniel’s odyssey. they just smacked some team around and won by 50!

anyway, pearl told me a few months ago that he was in awe playing for tiny with the gauchos and taking that trip to boston. you could still hear the reverence in his voice. “Tiny was the best, THE best, THE best…” he kept saying over and over.

i asked him if he ever challenged him to a one-on-one and he just chuckled. “Nah, man. That was Tiny Archibald. The best! I just a kid, like 15. I didn’t have the heart to challenge him back then. he was THE best….”

i’ll never forget that conversation and the awe that’s still in pearl’s voice when he talks about tiny.

By: funkalot

funkalot — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:38:09 +0000

Ali,

Where to begin? We were blessed in the Bean -Boston to watch Tiny’s greatness up close, even if he was in his twilight. He was straight gangster and played with a “napoleon’s complex”. Tiny was a very vengeful dude. Zeke’s first ever trip to the Boston Garden, Tiny tore him a new one. He puposely went at Zeke, to orient him to the league and to reaffirm his positioning as one of the best PGs in the “L”, at the time and that he was not conceding ground to any media hyped new jack. The look on Isaiah’s face, post game was telling. He was truly humbled.

But more impressive than Tiny the ball player is Nate the man. Nate has a passion for the sport and uses it to help transform lives. He was responsible for bringing The Animal, Easy Ed, Pearl, Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson,
Ice,Beatle,Waltah Berry and later he brought his closest facsimile and protege Kenny Anderson to display their wares at the Boston Shootout tourneys. What resonated with me was his cool demeanor, he never appeared too emotional, similar to how he managed stressful game situations and he could be found throughout Boston’s Hoods offering advice to shorty’s on the playgrounds.

The Playgrounds gave us its best, when it created Nate the skate aka Tiny Archibald. It is a travesty, similar, to Abdul Jabbar, that he is not a coach in the “L” on some level. He would be the perfect PG mentor.

By: Russ M.

Russ M. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:12:52 +0000

Years back a read a quote from a sports photographer in which he identified Tiny as one of the two athletes which he felt it was virtually impossible to take a bad picture of. I think these pics prove his point. The other was Joe Namath.

By: Elliot Rosado

Elliot Rosado — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:12:15 +0000

Tiny was a great player and he is also a great teacher. It’s hard to believe he is not an assistant in the N.B.A. Like Sean said he is a great teacher. I learned a lot from him when i played with Johnny Mathis. Those two guys are are one of the reasons i’m coaching today.

By: ali

ali — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:11:58 +0000

you can also check out vincent mallozi’s great book, “Asphalt Gods” for more info about Billy Rieser.

By: ali

ali — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:10:24 +0000

for those who are unaware, the above comment is from my man billy reiser, a.k.a. white jesus. he is a certified legend, simply the highest jumping, hardest dunking caucasion in the history of the new york city high school and playground scene.

if you haven’t copped bounce magazine’s classic – “The White Issue” with Jack Ryan on the cover – you need to do that asap to peep the story of “White Jesus.”

he has a book coming out soon called “They Called Me White Jesus: I was a legend … now I’m something more.”

we’ll hit you with more info about it soon.

By: Billy Rieser

Billy Rieser — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:05:57 +0000

Tiny was the best. I saw him in those projects when I ran with the Gauchos. He was a great guy.

By: ali

ali — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:01:43 +0000

thanks jeremy. we’re not comparing him to curry at all. i just offered a what if: as in what if curry shows an ability to thrive in the nba assist game. couple that scenario with his scoring ability and you’d have that scoring/passing double threat. but stylistically, there is no comparison. and tiny’s footwear is definitely butter.

glad you’re feeling “the playground gave us…” coming bigger, better and stronger, like lebron in 2009!