The Wonderful Wizard of Hoops

Morgan Ryan’s birthday is going to be great this year. Not only is she turning 6, but the spectacular Hoop Wizard will be performing his basketball tricks for the big day. In fact, the Hoop Wizard might be just as excited for the party as she is: He’s Morgan’s dad, Jack Ryan.

As the Hoop Wizard, Ryan performs at NBA half-time shows, corporate events, and other high-profile gigs. But it’s when he’s entertaining kids—at occasions like birthday parties, camps, and bar and bat mitzvahs, and even at school assemblies, where he ties in motivational messages about working hard and staying healthy—that Ryan truly shines.

“The kids are my fuel,” he beams. “When I go out and I do the NBA halftime shows I spin my 10 balls and I have 10,000-13,000 people cheering for me. But it’s even more gratifying being up close and personal with the kids, goofing with them, spinning the basketball on them, watching them enjoy the show while they’re in it.” Indeed, watching Ryan juggling, dribbling and balancing basketballs during his interactive comedy basketball show, you see not only a group of mesmerized children, but a man totally in his element.

Of course, Ryan doesn’t just spin balls, mind you. He spins a ball, and then places it on a pen he’s holding in his mouth. Then he drops to the floor, slides along his side, and maybe down some stairs if they present themselves. Then he adds five more balls. The kids go so wild that when he asks for volunteers he often gets trampled.

Ryan, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, says that he’s actually been doing these tricks his whole life, now he’s just getting paid for it. “When I was 8 or 9 years old I saw Fred ‘Curly’ Neal, who was one of the main guys with the Harlem Globetrotters, spin a ball on his finger [on TV], and everybody around him had their mouths wide open and were clapping for him. And I said to myself, ‘Wow that’s so cool. I want to be like that guy.’ I went around the park and practiced until I got it.”

The practicing paid off: Ryan currently holds three Guinness World Records—“longest spin on the toe,” “longest spin on the nose,” and “most foul shots in a minute while blindfolded.” He didn’t just practice his tricks; he played basketball every single day no matter the weather. “If it rained I played, if it snowed I shoveled the court and played,” he says.

He became an NYC street-ball legend, playing at the cages in the Village and the 14th Street Y where you can still find him playing pick-up. He won the 2005 national shooting championship on ESPN, and was named one of the greatest playground legends of all time by Slam Magazine that same year. A documentary film was released about him, and now the Fox Network has bought the rights to his life story for a feature film.

Still, at 47 years old, Ryan’s success has come late in life. Playing college or professional ball never happened for him. To hear about his career from other people, the loss is great. In a 2003 New York Times article, Pete Coakley, Ryan’s coach at John Jay High School, said: “In my 35 years in basketball Jack was the best high school player I ever had—one of the best I ever saw—and the biggest disappointment. He was totally talented and totally wild.” When it came time for college, Ryan turned down a fouryear basketball scholarship with Ohio University because of his academic record, going on to play for three different junior colleges. In his 20s, Ryan was more focused on partying than his career. Nothing seemed to be going right. The only thing that felt right was basketball.

Finally, at age 37 Ryan tried out for the Harlem Wizards—and made the team. It was a job that changed his life and gave him purpose. “Once I became a Harlem Wizard I had confidence in life and basketball,” he says.

And he explains that if it hadn’t been for this change there would have been no Morgan, his little girl. His girlfriend (now wife) Jennifer DiMaggio, a two-time All-American at Pace University, had broken up with him when he showed no signs of pulling his life together. He was heartbroken and for the first time had motivation to turn things around. “I knew I hit the nail right on the head,” he says about his subsequent decision to try out for the Harlem Wizards. “I was always the clown and I was already a good basketball player and I could always do basketball tricks.”

When he was performing his first half-time show at Madison Square Garden, DiMaggio happened to be in the audience. When he saw her he ran to his backpack and showed her his credit card, license, and car keys. “I became a person,” he told her. Eventually he won her back. And his experience as a Wizard gave him the confidence to create his own show specifically geared toward kids. At school assemblies and camps, Ryan’s performances often incorporate his personal story as an inspirational message to the kids about the importance of working hard, not experimenting with drugs, and ultimately having confidence in themselves.

Altogether, Ryan is positive about where his life has taken him. “If I did play in the NBA maybe it would have lasted two or three years or four years,” he says. “This, what I’m doing now, it will last for the rest of my life. I’ll always be able to entertain kids and try to help them not make the mistakes I made.”

Now Morgan is following in his basketball tricks footsteps. At 18 months she could hold a pen and keep up a spinning basketball. Now, at 5, she can spin three balls, dribble two balls at the same time, and dribble while sliding and running on her knees. Ryan sometimes even incorporates her into his show. “She loves it,” the proud father gleams. “She is like her dad.”