Anthony Heyward has been around for an eternity by streetball standards. The one they call Half Man Half Amazing is now 40 years old and in his 26th season on the circuit – longer than many of his teammates and opponents have even been alive.
“I love the game, I love competition,” Heyward said Saturday night at the Tri-State Classic. “And my legs still let me play. As long as I can still contribute to a team, I’ll play.”
Heyward, an original And-1 star, does more than just contribute. The Brooklyn native is still one of the better players on the court on a given night. Last year, he helped the Silva All-Stars win the Tri-State title and he’s hoping to lead them to a repeat in 2011.
“What he brings to the team is intangibles,” Silva coach Alexis (Silva) Chapman said. “You can’t count it. He brings leadership. He brings direction. He brings insight. He brings courage.”
What he doesn’t bring anymore is the crazy leaping ability that defined him when he was younger playing with And-1, where he got this nickname. In its place, Heyward plays a very fundamental, efficient game – and he has to with the years piling up on him.
“I had to [so I could] elongate my career,” Heyward said. “The physical attributes, they’re only going to last you so long. The mental game will be there forever. Once my physicality started disappearing, I had to focus on my entire game, becoming a true ball player. That helps you go a long way. I don’t jump like I used to. I don’t block shots like I used to.”
The 6-foot-7 forward was a self-described late bloomer. Heyward said he wasn’t really that good in high school, playing at Telecommunications in Bay Ridge. He blossomed playing Division III ball at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, setting the ECAC record with eight Player of the Week honors.
Now he travels around the world with an organization called Serving Knowledge to Youth (SKY), playing basketball with kids and also imparting knowledge upon them in speaking engagements.
“I let them know that books go along with basketball,” said Heyward, who has also been a teacher with the NYC Department of Education for 14 years. “You can’t have one without the other.”
Half Man Half Amazing might still be an appropriate moniker, though not for his monster jams and shots swatted into the third row. Heyward has become something of a basketball renaissance man as middle age gets closer.
“His game has changed to the point where he understands how to make baskets and how to win,” Chapman said. “He knows that high-flying and dunking, those are just two points. He brings an elder skill set to the game.”
And off the court as well.