By Lee Uehara

“When I lost the full use of my right arm and hand at the age of 17 from a blood clot during a medical procedure, I thought I would never play basketball again,” Ken McGrory recalled in a recent interview. “I was lying in the hospital thinking, ‘Am I ever going to play again?’ And my coach walked in and said, ‘When are you getting out of here? I need you back on my team!’” McGrory, who grew up in the 1970’s in an Upper East Side housing project, said, “Coach put the thought in my head that my life wasn’t over.” 

McGrory, now 71, said he learned to play basketball with his left arm and hand, continuing on his coach’s team at the local Boys and Girls Club, going on to become what his friends called a “more intense and smarter player,” earning the moniker “One-Armed Bandit” and, in 2013, “New Yorker of the Week” on NY1. He coached for 25 years for Safe Haven, another neighborhood basketball league.

Nate McGrory, 30, has coached alongside his dad since he was seven years old and been a full-time basketball coach for most of his adult life, working at various places, including the 92nd Street Y. Not surprisingly, Nate said he and his father have similar coaching styles. “Most people…do a double-take…because I’m not my dad. We have similar voices and similar styles in the way we talk to players.” A former player himself at Booker T. Washington Middle School and a point guard for HSMSE – High School for Math, Science, and Engineering — at City College, Nate’s basketball career ended with a torn ACL (ligament) at Ohio State University.

Starting on Saturday, November 4th, at P.S. 163 on West 97th Street, the McGrorys will offer programming for six divisions with 40-minute games on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. An additional session for typical players – those without special needs – will be offered Friday nights at The Computer School on West 77th Street.

Players come to the court with various disabilities, including brain injuries and physical limitations; ADHD; Down’s Syndrome; autism; epilepsy; even blindness. Ken said when parents reach out, he tells them his only concern is safety, not what’s “wrong” with their kids. “We see only what they can do, not what they can’t do,” Ken said. “I’ve never considered myself handicapped. I don’t see them as handicapped, just differently abled.” The McGrory System includes not keeping score; assessing players based on a scale from “less assertive” to “more assertive”; dressing volunteers in shirts that say “Buddy”; and, as long as there are open slots, turning no one away, regardless of their ability to pay.

Mateo Rivera, 18, said that at age five he was “that kid,” the one “Coach Ken had to chase down and blow the whistle on to get my attention.” Despite having learning disabilities and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Rivera is now enrolled at Fairleigh Dickinson University, giving some of the credit to Coach Ken. “He taught me to be a team player, to get out of my comfort zone, which I’m still doing to this day….Now, I’m a successful college boy!”

George Patsalos, father of a 30-year-old player, said he has entrusted Ken with his son for 20 years. “My son looks forward to it every year, and is [always] asking me, ‘When are we playing basketball?’ The goal of the program is for everyone to have a good time — and that has absolutely been the case.” 

“It’s nice to see how much growth and joy can happen on a Saturday,” Nate McGrory said. 

“There are so many things happening [on the court] far beyond basketball,” Ken McGrory added.

While Uptown Hoops NYC is a state-registered nonprofit organization, all donations will be tax-deductible retroactively once it receives its federal 501(c)3 status later this year. For registration and more information, check www.UptownHoopsNYC.com.

To receive WSR’s free email newsletter, please click here.