My mother raised me on Celtics basketball in the 80’s which meant that I was a Larry Bird fan. No way around it. He was the guy. For Christmas one year she gave me Bird’s book “Drive”. All these years later I can’t tell you a lot of what was said, but the image inside of his childhood hoop is forever burned into my memory. It was nothing more than a rusty rim and wood backboard hanging on a dilapidated barn in their dirt driveway. I didn’t understand how his greatness came from such humble beginnings. The best players in the world all came from the city and were afforded the greatest facilities, I thought! Now, with all we know about Larry Bird, that image still tells his story the best.

During my travels across the country while working on other projects I would see hoops like Bird’s and was forced to stop and photograph them. Always wondering what stories those hoops could tell, but not giving the images much thought afterwards. 8+ years later, after traveling hundreds of thousands of miles (with my dog Mojo), I had some what unknowingly amassed a large body of images that became “American Backcourts”.

Call it my love letter to the sport. Call it whatever you want. Either way, it’s a series I’m very proud of and excited to share with everyone else who loves the game in any sort of capacity.