Ronnie Fields, Mr. Chicago Basketball

«Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.» Martin Luther King, Jr.

They say he could’ve skipped college, coming straight to the NBA. In the state with the name write with final “S”, but unpronounced. Ronnie Fields was born in Maywood, just next to playgrounds where Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Steve Space played. His home is twenty minutes far from Chicago’s United Center, where there’s Michael Jordan’s statue. Yes, that very Michael who was forced to refuse the challenge with Ronnie in 1996 for a commercial, he was substituted with Tim “Bug” Hardaway, which came out quite battered. 

When he was 12 he signed his first autograph after a Mason Junior HS game, when he dunked on people way bigger and taller than him. The first day in high school he met a thing guy, blacker than coal but with an unreal passion for the things he loved. The only problem is that he screams every time, especially on the field. At Farragut Academy, after an almost brawl between the two, his best friend becomes Kevin Maurice Garnett, future NBA champion and superstar. As personalty, the two doesn't get along that much, also because Ronnie was a predestined and for the things he did on the field he was Nike and adidas’s golden boy, even before Leonard Myles, Quentin Richardson, Jimmy Sanders and many others future champions.

Everyone used to say to him that he would’ve had everything, cars, money and fame. At the second year in college, they used to call him “Mr. Chicago Basketball” and during a Slam Dunk Contest at the Nike Camp even Vince Carter refused to challenge him. For those who doesn’t know it, Vince once jumped over French player Weis (who’s still recovering from the trauma) during an Olympic game in order to dunk over him, entering in the history of the game’s show and becoming a future Hall of Famer. 

His life, though, was always a climb, as a child he was almost killed after being hit three times by a car. Of course when you become “Mr. Chicago Basketball” your life is great. After that Kevin Garnett changed high school in mid-year, on Ronnie’s 19th birthday he smashed his rented car. The car, though, was Ron Eskridge’s, volunteer coach and “Nike’s man” on head coach William Nelson’s side. He was the man who decided who should go “further” in Chi-Town. Ronnie defeated even Allen Iverson at Nike’s Best of the Best tournament. 

When he comes back on his feet he became the toughest guy on the rim, he scores everything he possibly can. He ends the last high school year with 32 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks, 4 steals and 4 dunks per game. He fails the American College Test for four times to go to DePaul University ad he emulates his mate KG which fakes to go to Michigan University to actually jump into NBA. But on September 16th, the Wheaton Count Illinois Court sentenced him to two years on probation for abusing with a teammate of his ex-girlfriend. The tragedy were the details that emerged next, 24 hours later that DePaul retired his scholarship for Ronnie. The house where the crime happened, was Eskridge’s. 

He came to Italy, at Virtus Bologna first and Scaligera Verona next. He wandered around Turkey and then comes back to USA stepping by Venezuela. Coach Calipari loves him, but he couldn't pass the audition for the New Jersey Nets. He ends all his adventures in the CBA, still being a spectacular player for many people, but without finding peace inside him. Unfortunately,

Unfortunately, he's never become the “Next MJ” or the “King of Hoops”, maybe he didn’t love the game that much.