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The Goat began his awesome career in Harlem. He lived with his mother, who worked long days, so Goat took up a habit of going to Rucker Park and putting in hours on end working on his game. He attended Benjamin Franklin High in Harlem and had two excellent years there until he got caught with marijauna. A friend at the park had connections and sent Goat to North Carolina's Laurinburg Institute to finish his high school career. He went to college at Johnson C. Smith College, also in North Carolina. After a year, Goat had had enough. The coach played too conservative for Goat's uptempo play and he quit.
Goat went back to Harlem and again got addicted to heroin. He served out a jail term in 1969-70 but was back in prison a year later for a burglary plot that went haywire. The ABA's Utah Stars gave him a tryout but he only lasted a week before being cut. Still addicted to heroin, Manigault founded the "Goat Walk Away From Drugs", a basketball tournament for children as an alternative to drugs. It was held at a park at 99th and Amsterdam in New York's Upper West Side that Goat used to light up during pickup games. Earl couldn't heed his own advice, and in 1977 he served a two year term for drug abuse. After his release, the tournament resumed and Goat led the charge until recently when his heart, ravaged by years of drug abuse, gave out on him. But friends have kep the tournament alive and well since his departure. The park has been renamed Goat Park.
Earl was destined for the big show. During his two years at Benjamin Franklin High School, Goat was the team. In his Junior year, Earl led his team to the State Finals where he was to play head-to-head against New York's second best, Lew Alcindor in a nationally televised game. But days before the game, Earl got busted and ruined his chance at stardom. Kareem later understated that Goat was "The best player his size in the history of New York City." That wasn't the half of it.
Goat never backed down from any challenge. He once performed 36 reverse dunks in one game to win a $60 bet. He patented the Double Dunk, where Goat would dunk the ball with one hand, catch it with his other hand, and dunk it again before returning to the ground. Using his 52+ vertical, Earl was said to have the impossible when he did a 720. In the NBA, a 360 can win a dunk contest, and a 540 is almost unheard of, but Earl made yet another half of a revolution and still managed to slam the rock.
In the midst of Dr. J, Connie Hawkins, Herman "The Helicopter" Knowings, James "Fly" Williams, Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond, and Lew Alcindor, there emerges only one, the single greatest player that New York and the rest of the basketball world had ever known- Earl "Goat" Manigault.
His legacy has been retold on a number of levels, the most famous being the HBO Original Movie "REBOUND: The Legend Of Earl "Goat" Manigault". You can also order Barry Beckham's Book "Double Dunk", or look at some other Goatwebs.
A Good Site for some info on the "Goat" Order Barry Beckham's book on Earl A Look at this page's creator HBO's movie on the Legend
