The Waterbury courts that were first home to the famed Pearl Street basketball league are receiving a facelift this week, thanks to a collaborative effort by AI3 Leadership Academy and Full Court Peace to refurbish the basketball courts at Martin Luther King Park.
The project, set for Saturday, June 25th, was unanimously approved by the city’s Board of Park Commissioners and will include members of local AAU basketball teams contributing to the day’s work.
It is the first of a number of developments at MLK Park, including a mural painting, enhanced surveillance and the naming of the courts in honor of Hubie Williamson, former Pearl Street director and community activist who died in 2020.
The proposal to name the courts at Martin Luther King Park after Hubie Williamson was initiated by the Lettermen Club, and is also endorsed and supported by the AI3 Leadership Academy, Full Court Peace, the Greater Waterbury YMCA, the Police Activity League, and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Waterbury.
The Lettermen club, originally founded by Hubie Williamson, was an organization of former black athletes that was involved in various community projects and activities. It has recently been revived under the leadership of long-time Hubie friend, James Monroe (father of Kelly Monroe) and former Wilby star Lou Canady.
The date of dedication of the courts has yet to be finalized, and will be announced at a later date.
“Martin Luther King Park is not only inexorably linked to Hubie and the Pearl Street League, but it is also hugely significant to both the city’s basketball culture and our racial history,” says Joe Summa, a former hoop star (and state champion while at Sacred Heart) and current board member with AI3 leadership Academy. “While the Pearl Street league was founded to provide recreational opportunities for inner city youth, it was also specifically designed to address, through basketball, the racial divisions and tensions that existed at that time. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, the Waterbury summer basketball league, like much of society, was riddled with racial tension and violence.
“In 1974, with that goal of racial healing in mind, Hubie deliberately, symbolically, and appropriately started the Pearl Street League on the courts at the new Martin Luther King Park which was built near the North Square on properties that were razed following race riots in the late 1960s. It is this history that makes these two projects so important and worthy of universal support from our basketball community,” adds Summa.
“These are significant developments, but they are only the first steps if we want to enhance and preserve a park so central to our racial and basketball heritage and truly honor the legacies of Hubie Williamson and Martin Luther King,” says Summa.
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AI3 leadership Academy (ai3leadershipacademy.com) is a foundation started by Anthony Ireland, the former Crosby high school and LMU university basketball star who currently plays professionally in Europe. AI3 Leadership Academy over the last several summers, besides providing clinics and camps for Waterbury area youth, has also been involved in a number of civic and community projects.
Full Court Peace (fullcourtpeace.org) is a nonprofit organization founded by Mike Evans which started in Belfast, Ireland refurbishing basketball courts and providing the opportunity for Catholic and Protestant kids to play basketball together. Full Court Peace has continued to provide these programs both internationally and in the United States. Last summer Full Court Peace refurbished the courts at another summer basketball Mecca, Rucker Park in Harlem.
In addition to AI3 Leadership Academy and Full Court Peace this project is also endorsed and fully supported by the Greater Waterbury YMCA, the Police Activity League, the Lettermen Club, and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Waterbury.