The Goat - Earl Manigault

THE GOAT (R.I.P)
Real Name: Earl Manigault
Hometown: NYC, New York,
Born: September 7th 1944 - May 15th 1998
Height: 6"1
Position: Guard
Affiliations: Rucker Legend

Filmography: Rebound

Short Bio
The Goat held court against countless NBA pros and Hall-of-Famers. This sleek 6-1 court-acrobat ran like a gazelle and seemed to defy gravity when he took flight. The only thing that could bring The Goat down to earth were his own personal vices on the street. Earl will always be remembered as a playground legend of his day. Earl "the Goat" Manigault is perhaps the best basketball player ever to have played the game. A shade over 6 feet tall, he could dunk effortlessly with both hands. With a vertical leap of 52 inches, he had the ability to jump up and grab quarters off of the top of a basketball backboard. He played during the renaissance of New York City basketball in the 1960s, at in the famous Rucker League where the best playground players played with the pros every summer.

Article
"One of the greatest players the Rucker has ever seen," said Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond. "The best basketball player his size in the history of New York City," said Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Called "the king of his own generation of ballplayers, and the idol for the generation that followed" by Pete Axthelm in The City Game, Earl Manigault never realized his incredible potential as a basketball player because he succumbed to the lure of drugs in the Harlem neighborhood of his youth. ..read more..

Related Article
Earl Manigault's `Rebound' fails to deliver the truth. I kept looking for Bob McCullough. Freddie Crawford was a no-show. Ernie Morris didn't get a call. We understand the HBO made-for-television movie "Rebound," was about the life of Earl Manigault and his heroic and winning battle against drugs. ..read more..

Related Article
Earl "The Goat" Manigault, the New York City playground basketball legend whose life was chronicled in an HBO movie two years ago, recently died of congestive heart failure at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. He was 53. ..read more..