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 42nd Street to
49th 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 46th Street to 42nd Street into four
sections. First, the east to west section 43rd Street to 42nd
Street Powelton Avenue to Haverford Avenue was sold to Drexel University for an
athletic field.
Second, the east to west section 43rd
Street to 45th 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 45th Street to 46th 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 52nd 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.
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