In Search of Playground Legends: James “Wimb” Wimberly Developing Basketball, Tennis, And History At Lee Cultural Center and Playground As Well As West Park Projects History by Van Stone frontpagenews1@yahoo.com (267) 293-9201

In Search of Playground Legends:  James “Wimb” Wimberly Developing Basketball, Tennis, And History At Lee Cultural Center and Playground As Well As West Park Projects History by Van Stone frontpagenews1@yahoo.com (267) 293-9201

Above: James "Wimb" Wimberly, Lee Cultural
Center and Playground Legend (In Basketball)

The search is on for the most popular and star local playground legends that came out of the Lee Cultural Center and Playground 4328 Haverford Ave, in West Philadelphia between the years 1954 – 2004.   And Van Stone, researcher, journalist and radio station pioneer is on an impossible mission to find men and women who made a difference becoming Philadelphia’s playground legends in action.

Hoop for hoop, net for net, James “Wimb” Wimberly is one of the most skillful and talented basketball playerS to ever come out of Lee Cultural Center and Playground.  There is a major difference between basketball and tennis schoolyard players. “Playground players had a chance to make it and did,” says Wimb,who was determined to make it from the playground through school, and then gain a great leadership reputation in both the city and even the church community.

Wimb, in his 40’s, is a product of Lee playground who, as the story goes, became a basketball legend.

 “Spending a lot of time on the playground is one thing. Anybody else growing up like me stayed on that playground early mornings, noon, and late nights.”

    

Under the lamplights of the Lee Cultural Center and Playground, at night Wimberly played basketball, his game interrupted on occasion many nights by slow-walking men with a team of 5 or 6 that would walk on the court challenging anyone in a game of street ball.  Many of Wimberly challengers would become future celebrated professional basketball players

At Lee Playground you would always get tournament ball vs. street ball good sportsmanship competition. Street ball players had to be in top form like Wimb, because the players would player-coach, keep score, and at the same time be their own fair-referees. Many times fans would appear to watch.

          

Before and during Wimb’s time on the Lee Playground court, throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s college all-Americans who were home from school and pro players who needed a competitive tune-up in their off season played organized street ball there.  Throughout the 1980's and beyond, according to those who saw him, Wimb electrified crowds with precision shooting, whopping scoring totals, and defenses.

Lee Cultural Center and Playground, formally a woodlands and farming ground, originally purchased and occupied by Paul Busti, was then purchased by the Pennsylvania Hospital under the direction of and afterward occupied by Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride, Superintendent, is a Philadelphia County Parks and Recreation District’s landmark in the council district of Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell. The center was renamed after Joseph Lee, a PA postmaster.   

The Lee Cultural Center and Playground is located on the original land boundary purchased by Paul Busti, an Italian who came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1799 as an agent of the Holland Land Company. The original grounds ran from 42^nd Street to 49^th Street and from Market Street to Haverford Avenue.

  

There had been a mansion on the grounds since 1794. As time goes by the mansion would later be renamed the Lee Cultural Center.  But at first, Busti improved it in 1801 and lived there for 23 years on what he called his Blockley Retreat Farm.

  

In 1836 the Pennsylvania Hospital purchased the eastern half of the grounds from the Busti Estate.  Those grounds soon became the old Pennsylvania Hospital for Insane, commonly known as Kirkbrides.  As for the mansion it was next occupied by Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride, Superintendent until his passing.

  

In 1913 City Council passed an ordinance to cut 44th Street continuing through the hospital grounds South to North from Market Street to Haverford Avenue.  Having established its right to do so, the City never cut the street through.

  

In 1954 the Hospital management sold its land east of 46^th Street to 42^nd Street into four sections.  First, the east to west section 43^rd Street to 42^nd Street Powelton Avenue to Haverford Avenue was sold to Drexel University for an athletic field. 

Second, the east to west section 43^rd Street to 45^th Street Powelton Avenue and Market Street to streets that were never named yet running parallel with Haverford Avenue was sold to the Philadelphia Housing Authority for erecting three high rise buildings (the Projects) named 4445 Holden, 300 Busti and 400 Busti, commonly known as West Park.  The inner boundary of West Park ends at the north side of the Busti mansion.  

  

Thirdly, but not necessarily in this order, the east to west section 45^th Street to 46^th Street Market Street to streets that were never named yet running parallel with Haverford Avenue was sold to The Board of Education for a complex of elementary school (Alain Locke), a junior high school, and a huge athletic field which was the other section of field right next to the Drexel athletic field but boundary ending at  east side of the Busti mansion.

  

And finally, fourth, the Department of Recreation, today known as Parks and Recreation, retained the Busti Mansion, added to it, and established the Lee Cultural Center devoted to community interests, culture and recreation for a music center, basketball court, tennis court, playground equipment area, outdoor swimming pool, waterspout play area, and picnic area. And interestingly, for fifty solid years now, Lee Playground and West Park are considered a combined location in the view of most politicians, residents and friends of the playground.    

Purchased in 1954 as part of a combined West Philadelphia city council and Philadelphia Housing Authority effort to develop a residential neighborhood called West Park, the mansion and playground-woods was rededicated as the Lee Cultural Center after Joseph Lee, a local postmaster and activist, following infrastructure improvements, facility upgrades and wet play enhancements. Growing up at the center and playground  as well as at West Park residential grounds it featured amenities which through many years Blackwell supports, such as walking path, basketball courts, tennis courts, picnic areas, restrooms, playground, paved parking, and cook out grills-(at one time there were free roaming wild animals such as deer, horses, and others on site).

  

As for the Lee Cultural Center and Playground legends, today Wimb is helping to give back to what makes one a playground legend – lots of neighbors and visitors still remember or know your name, support spending hundreds of volunteer hours each year at the playground, being recognized by political leaders, support strong ongoing education and recreation, community development, organizing street basketball and street tennis programming and leagues, music and gardening activity, and/or organizing spiritual awareness.  

"I had to go through both systems of street ball and school ball and that helped my attitude and personality. If a Lee Playground and council leader like Jannie Blackwell wasn’t there for me it would be very difficult to understand how good someone is based on their performance in the playgrounds and in spirituality." says Wimberly.

“Having the stuff that legends are made of,” James “Wimb” Wimberly enjoys fellowship and being motivated at Embracing Truth Ministries 544-48 North 52^nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19131.

Anyone who wants to help locate Lee Cultural Center and Playground legends or any person who they believe should be considered a playground legend during 1954-2004 can contact Van Stone at (267) 293-9201.