It’s what fellow Bostonian Bill Simmons (AKA “Sports Guy” on ESPN.com’s Page 2) calls a “brush with greatness”… those totally random, unexpected encounters with somebody famous. I’ve had my share of basketball BWGs: I played ’21’ with Vinny Johnson when he was holding out for a better contract from the Pistons; ran in a pickup game with Dayton Roth HS All-American Dwight Anderson at Fairmont West and played 2 on 2 with Negele Knight at the PAC. This past summer I had a BWG that any Flyer fan would kill for.

I live in suburban Detroit (Beverly Hills to be exact) and play hoops several times a week at lunchtime at the Birmingham YMCA. This particular game has been going on for 20+ years and has an interesting assortment of guys, most “of a certain age” who show up on a regular basis. It’s the kind of group where everybody not only knows your name, but your game — your strengths, weaknesses, whether you’ll pass the ball, if you can play D and whether you’ll foul them on a lay-up or let them go. In short, a good bunch of guys who have some clue as to how to play the game.

Early this summer I showed up to play and they were just getting ready to pick teams for 5 on 5. At the other end of the court was a big fella, about 6’6″ shooting nothing but 3 pointers as he warmed up, with a friend in civvies doing his rebounding for him. Two of the regulars were picking the squads and it got to the point where they had to decide between the 6’6″ guy launching the bombs or Don, a 6’7″, 260 pound, 50-something lawyer who sets a serious pick and makes a point of passing the ball. Tough choice, but my buddy who was picking the teams went for the known quantity and took Don.

As we started to play the game, it became readily apparent that this was no ordinary 6’6″ dude. I hadn’t really looked at him, but when I did I thought to myself “this guy looks like Chris Webber” which made sense, as Chris is a native Detroiter and played down the road at Detroit Country Day. He was a few inches too short and a couple pounds too thin to be C-Webb, though.

Then it came to me “Holy crap…it’s Ryan Perryman!”

RP had a reason to be shooting 3’s as he warmed up — that’s what he had come to the Y to do: get in a run and work on his outside shot. Unfortunately for me, Ryan was on the other team, so I didn’t get to play with him, only against him. He ran 2 or 3 games and his team never lost, as he stroked long jumpers from all over the floor and made most of them. Only once did he whip out the patented Perryman rebound/putback move that we all know and love.

In between games, we had a chance to chat. P-Man had just gotten home from Argentina, where he had played the last 2 years. Ryan was hoping to get invited to an NBA camp, but he didn’t think he’d be hearing from Jim O’Brien of the Celtics anytime soon. The guy with him was his brother — he was wearing a warm-up suit and didn’t play — he was content just to watch RP go through his paces. I told Ryan I was a UD grad and that I had seen him play in HS as well as in Pittsburgh against Duquesne in that glorified HS gym known as the Palumbo Center. He agreed, saying that it was one dinky gym. I told him my recollection was of him and Chris Daniels getting the crap beat out of them and never getting a single call.

It was funny the way the buzz about RP went through the guys in the gym. A couple of the fellas had played with him before and knew who he was. One guy had a son who played at Ferndale HS against RP. Those who didn’t know him were impressed when they heard that Ryan had lead the nation in rebounding, because RP obviously will never be mistaken for Shaquille O’Neal — Chris Webber, maybe, but not Shaq.
As Ryan left he told me he would be back again soon to play with us at lunchtime, but I never saw him again for the rest of the summer. Later, Bucky Albers wrote in the DDN that RP and Tony Stanley and some of the other UD alums were playing in the pickup games on campus. According to the website TeleBasket.comUSA, RP supposedly returned to Club de Regatas San Nicolas in Argentina this year to continue his quest to make it in “The League.” But when you click on this year’s roster, his name isn’t listed (and neither is Coby Turner, who played for the same club last year). What’s up with that?

So, the moral to the story is:

If you’re choosing teams in a pickup game and there’s a 6’6″ guy launching 3 pointers, take him!

That’s it “From the Swamp.”