It is the longest running and also the oldest group at the exact location in the history of the school systems of New York City. The players range from ages twenty-six to sixty-eight, and the community doesn’t work like other regular clubs.

Basketball has been the game of the ages where two teams consisting of five players each take on each other to drop the ball through the net set high up above the ground. The Staten Island Basketball began as the Brooklyn athletic league in both New York and Brooklyn. Now it is the league as people know it. The community started by Craig Raucher crossed and Verrazano Bridge and settled down at a different location.

They are not the general basketball community as one may find in almost every corner of the United States. They have been playing basketball three times every week for the past eighty years in one of the oldest gyms of the country. What is unique about this league is that it is a haven for older players. Some can’t play adhering to the rough ways that youngsters of today employ in their gameplay.

As mentioned by Craig Raucher, “Our league is the one for players who find playing with selfish tricks unattractive and tiresome. Age affects a person’s body but not his tactics and methods. It is quite right for the whippersnappers of today to look for aggressive ways to bypass the age-old and actual tricks that veteran players use. However, such type of gameplay affects their gameplay and health in an overall manner.”

He further adds, “Aging is something no living being can outrun, and one has to accept the consequences. It isn’t favorable for the seasoned but older players to take the pounding of the concrete-made schoolyards anymore. This league of mine is no longer my own, as it now belongs to the family that I have been able to muster by the grace of God and for the love of this fantastic game.”

Craig is not only the founder of this league but is also the nurturer and manager. They don’t prefer calling themselves just a league anymore. The Staten Island Basketball Leagues are a group of enthusiasts gathering on the court every Wednesday night and on Saturday mornings. The players are more like religious zealots who come together to worship the sport in controlled pickup games.

About the community: Over the past thirty-nine years, almost four hundred players walked through the doors of the gym and played regularly. The group and its manager wish to continue developing this league while preserving its rich history.