AND1 Celebrates Its History with the Return of the Open Run at Coney Island

It is June 23, we are in Coney Island, New York, and according to Samuel L. Jackson, “I have a forecast for today. It's hot!” But in the sweltering heat of this Sunday afternoon, shaded by trees and buildings overlooking the streets of Brooklyn from a hundred feet above, people lined up around the court for a chance to compete in AND1's Open Run Tour.

Hosted by AND1 as they continue to push the streetball envelope, the Open Run Tour was packed with high-flying dunks and whiplash-inducing crossovers. Besides the classic five-on-five matchups, the event included a dunk contest, one-on-one power matchups, shootarounds and a women's three-on-three game. By bringing back some OG mixtape legends as judges, Open Run created a distinctly different atmosphere and energy for League; it is physical, expressive, and most importantly, it requires a completely different mindset.

“It's a physical thing, but I think it's also a mental thing. I think with streetball, and the NBA, you have to have a lot of mental toughness, you know?” said AND1 Product Director Dexter Gordon. “It's not blood, it's not dirty. It makes you tough, and that's what it's all about. … You're going to get knocked down. , you will let the fans talk trash. [but] you know, you learn a lot.”

Since the days of Julius Erving and Wilt Chamberlain playing at Rucker Park, New York City has been the Mecca of streetball. Parks are where hip-hop meets basketball, where people come together through the power of sports. And while many will immediately think of Rucker Park when they hear the word “streetball,” Coney Island holds a special place in the hearts of many, including AND1. “It's good to be back in the community. First of all [NBA Ambassador] “Our first signing, Stephon Marbury, was born and raised in Coney Island,” Gordon said. While Marbury and the history of his first AND1 signature sneaker felt distant, another Coney Island native and longtime member of the AND1 family, Lance Stephenson, hit the ground running.

And in the decades since its humble origins in the parks of New York, streetball has become forever embedded in basketball culture. And not just what followed on the court—Shane “The Dribbling Machine” Woney, Leaky Roof, Whit3 Iverson, The Pharmacist, Skip 2 My Lou, Aaron “AO” Owens, Duke Tango and Hot Sauce selling tens of thousands of mixtapes, raking in millions of views on YouTube and left their mark at every streetball event they attended, including this year's Open Run in Coney Island—but off the court. Whether it's double headbands, high socks or big baggy shorts, those fashion trends had '00s hip-hop and NBA circles that often rocked the infamous AND1 aesthetic.

Still, a lot can change in a decade, and it's no understatement to say that the basketball landscape has changed dramatically in the post-Mixtape Tour world. Dexter Gordon sums up the sentiment, saying, “We really started the mixtape, but now look, every kid has a mixtape.” And when everyone is playing catch-up, you have to stay one step ahead.

But Gordon isn't too worried about adapting to the social media age; quite the opposite. “When AND1 was big in the '90s and early 2000s, think about this: there was no social media. “But we still reach other countries with the Mixtape Tour and the VHS mixtapes, then they went to DVDs, but now everything is online,” said Gordon. “So I think social media is a great tool, you know?”

Looking ahead, AND1 is performing a sort of balancing act, introducing streetball to a new generation of fans while preserving its classic roots. “We will never stop celebrating our future, our heritage, our culture. … [But] moving forward, we must meet the young children where they are. So, some things have to change, [and] you have to get used to what's going on,” said Gordon. And that starts with finding new talent to represent the culture, with current Globetrotter and former national champion Alexis Morris—AND1's first female athlete—one of their key additions.

This is not just basketball; it's about building community and providing opportunities. And nothing captures that better than streetball.

When asked about the impact Open Run has had off the court, Dexter Gordon had many things come to mind—whether that's thanks to the people featured on the OG Mixtape Legends or new NBA players recounting memories of watching the Hot Sauce. But one stood above the rest: “We were going to the communities and, you know, that day and that time of that event, man, there was no violence. You have gang members, guys who had beef with each other who would get together in this park [and play ball].”

Photos by Evan Bernstein.