Basketball legend coming to The Riverdale Y

It’s been almost two decades since Felipe Lopez ruled the New York City basketball scene. First at fabled — and since shuttered — Rice High School, where he led the Raiders to a city and state championship. Then at St. John’s University, where he finished his career as the school’s third all-time leading scorer with 1,927 points and helped restore the Red Storm to basketball prominence in the BIG EAST Conference.

When Lopez played, it was not just a game. It was an event. Fans by the thousands would regularly pack Draddy Gym at Manhattan College, Fordham University’s Rose Hill Gym or Alumni Hall on the campus of St. John’s University to witness the most hyped New York City high school basketball talent since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was playing at Manhattan’s Power Memorial High School as Lew Alcindor in the 1960s.

He was “must-see” basketball. He was LeBron James before LeBron James. The “Dominican Michael Jordan.” He even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated before ever playing a single college game when he appeared on the November 28, 1994 issue with a headline screaming, “The BIG EAST Is Back.”  He was, without question, basketball royalty.

“Even though it’s been 20 years people still talk to me about it like it was yesterday,” Lopez said.

And many of those people who speak of his glory days weren’t even born when Lopez worked his basketball magic. They range in age from 8 to 18 years old and are members of Lopez’s various basketball camps and clinics.

“Now that we all have access to the Internet, kids can Google who I am,” Lopez said with a laugh. “The cover of Sports Illustrated always comes up, so they know what I was able to do in New York City. They say, ‘Oh, he’s an NBA guy.’ They get very excited and emotional when they realize I played in the NBA. It all helps them interact with me a lot more.”