Hoopla Hits Northridge : Street Basketball Tournament Comes to CSUN Next Weekend

Phone calls come into Chuck Price’s office at a dizzying pace, yet the young businessman handles each one with clear-minded aplomb.

“I’m a little person, a dwarf,” says a male caller, inquiring about participating in the Hoop-It-Up street basketball tournament to be held next weekend at Cal State Northridge.

Price, manager of the NBA-sanctioned event, tells him that four teams of dwarfs played in last year’s tournament but so far he’s the first to show interest in forming a special division this year.

“Can you get other players?” Price asks.

The caller says he’ll try. Price tells him he’ll need to get at least eight other dwarfs, enough to form three three-man teams.

After hanging up, Price says he hopes that they’ll have a dwarf division again.

Seconds later, a young man calls to ask how much it would cost to participate only in the dunk contest.

“Two dollars,” Price tells him, as another call lights up on the phone.

Before his workday is over, Price will answer many more questions about Hoop-It-Up, a popular event that drew 607 teams to Northridge’s North Campus last year for a festive weekend of March Madness.

Started in 1986 in Dallas as a charity event for the Texas Special Olympics, Hoop-It-Up (called Hoop-De-Doo until 1989) has blossomed into the largest three-on-three street basketball competition in the world.

Erin Nance, a spokeswoman for Streetball Partners International, said the Dallas-based company will stage 78 Hoop-It-Up tournaments this year--54 in the United States and 24 in Europe.

The last four Los Angeles events have been held in the San Fernando Valley and have been run by Price, 31, a former backup quarterback for the Cal State Northridge football team and a 1987 graduate of the school.

This is the second year Hoop-It-Up will be held at Northridge, after two years at the Warner Center Business Park in Woodland

Hills. Proceeds from the tournament benefit sports programs at Northridge and at several area high schools, which help staff the event with volunteers. By Friday, the Northridge parking lots will be transformed into a basketball fantasyland.

“An event like this can put Northridge on the map,” Price said. “I feel real close to the school, and I feel they need all the help they can get in their transition from Division II to Division I [competition].

“Maybe one day a kid who plays in this will remember Cal State Northridge and say, ‘Hey, that was a pretty good place, maybe I’ll play there.’ ”

Paul Bubb, interim athletic director at Northridge, said Hoop-It-Up raised between $3,000 and $5,000 for the school’s athletic budget last year, and he expects the figure to increase this year.

In an effort to make the weekend more attractive for visitors, Northridge has scheduled its annual Spring Fest, a carnival sponsored by the university’s Student Union, to run concurrently with the Hoop-It-Up tournament.

“I think it’s a very positive situation,” Bubb said. “It’s a chance to bring the community on campus.”

Nothing wrong with a little school promotion, but the reason most people sign up for Hoop-It-Up is to show their skills on the outdoor courts. The competition is divided into approximately 60 divisions, ranging from Older Than Dirt (for those over 40) and Couch Potato to the highest level, Top Gun. There is also competition for coed and women’s teams.

Price said those who have competed in the Top Gun division in the past include former UCLA players Darrick Martin and Gary Maloncon and former NBA player Jim Petersen. The Top Gun games have referees, but players in all other divisions must call their own fouls.

“The bottom line is you should have three guys with college experience who are at least 6-3 to really fare well,” Price said of the Top Gun division. “It’s an ultra-physical game and very grueling. Last year to win it all, you had to win eight games in two days.”

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The first team to 16 points or ahead after 30 minutes is declared the winner. Baskets made from outside a 20-foot arc are worth two points. Other field goals are a point.

The Top Gun champion at Northridge advances to a regional tournament Sept. 14-15 at Huntington Beach, where the winner will qualify for an expenses-paid trip to Honolulu for the World finals Oct. 26-27. The champion will play a team of NBA legends in a televised special on NBC.

Last year, the Hoop-It-Up champion from Atlanta upset the legends team of James Worthy, Danny Ainge, George Gervin and Reggie Theus.

In addition to half-court games, Hoop-It-Up offers dunk contests on both regulation 10-foot and nine-foot baskets, a three-point shooting contest and a new feature called the Jordan Experience, where players can measure themselves against Michael Jordan in an interactive game.

The event does little in the way of advertising, relying on word-of-mouth and flyers to reach most participants. Local sponsors include the Clippers, who usually send a few players to take part in the festivities. Price said he’s hoping to get rookie Brent Barry, the NBA dunk champion, to come out.

“One thing about this tournament, it’s got some character,” Price said.

As an example, Price cited the unusual circumstances of the 1994 tournament at the Warner Center. After Saturday’s competition was rained out, organizers managed to cram a weekend of basketball into a memorable Sunday that included a sizable aftershock to the Northridge earthquake.

“To be outside and see the ground roll in front of you was quite an experience,” Price said. “Some of the Dallas people were there and it was their first experience in an earthquake. It was unreal, the baskets were swaying.”

Price, who runs the local Hoop-It-Up as an independent contractor, hopes to surpass last year’s figure of 607 teams, an all-time high in Los Angeles. As of Thursday, 270 teams had signed up, but Price expects a late push before Tuesday’s extended deadline.

“People get used to us extending the deadline,” said Price, pointing out that signups were supposed to end Friday. “I think we’re on pace to get 600 teams.”

Price and his business partner, Dan Anderson, formed their company, Fast Action Sports, in 1993. In addition to putting on two Hoop-It-Up tournaments in the Southland every year, Fast Action Sports runs nationwide four-on-four non-contact flag football leagues and stages two Air-It-Out flag football tournaments each year in conjunction with the NFL. Locally, the last Air-It-Out tournament was held in February at Balboa Park in Encino.

Price wrote the rules for the flag football game under the name Draw Play in 1992 at the request of Streetball Partners International and NFL Properties. The NFL wanted an activity to reach the average football fan, the same way Hoop-It-Up reaches NBA fans.

If it seems as though life is a game for Price, well, it is.

As a senior majoring in journalism at Northridge, he wrote letters to all major professional sports teams in the country looking for work. He found a part-time job in the public relations department of the Lakers, running statistics and quotes for the media.

Price was paid only $25 a game, but he made valuable contacts during the 1987 and 1988 seasons, when the Lakers won back-to-back NBA titles. In 1989, he was hired as a full-time employee of First Team Marketing, a company formed by Lon Rosen, former Laker promotion man and agent for Magic Johnson.

Price’s duties included managing Johnson’s summer basketball camps and coordinating several games benefiting the United Negro College Fund, a longtime charity of Johnson’s.

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In 1991, Price went to work for himself, running a series of baseball camps for former Dodger Steve Garvey and getting to know Hoop-It-Up organizers, who entrusted him with their 1992 tournament in Huntington Beach.

“I went out on my own because I wanted to become more of a leader and less of an administrative assistant,” he said. “I met people who gave me the benefit of the doubt.”

After the 1992 Hoop-It-Up was a success--the number of teams participating increased by 175 from the year before--Price found himself with an annual job as Los Angeles event manager.

Price reasons that if he didn’t get his job with the Lakers, his life would have turned out differently.

“I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t be married with a 3-year-old daughter,” he said. “I’d be bartending and coaching with my dad.”

Price’s father, Ron, has been a football coach for 30 years, mostly at Los Angeles City Section high schools. Price was an assistant for his dad in 1984-85 at Crenshaw and in 1988-91 at Fairfax. An assistant the past few years at Santa Monica College, Ron Price will take over as coach at Palisades High next season.

Chuck Price’s mother, Nettie, also has played a role in his career by working in his Santa Monica office answering phones. Price needs all the help he can get these days, what with the Hoop-It-Up tournament a week away and his flag football league having started Friday, with Cal State Northridge serving as one of several Southern California game sites.

“The past three months have been crazier that any period of time in my life,” Price said. “I made it rough on myself.”

As the phone rings and the faxes roll in, it’s tough to argue with that.

Information regarding next weekend’s Hoop-It-Up at Cal State Northridge can be obtained by calling 310-314-1777.