The distinctive sound of sneakers squeaking on a polished gym floor signalled this year’s subdued Super Sunday.
Usually the highlight of the Dirt Bowl season, which brings hundreds to Lexington’s Douglass Park, the Super Sunday games drew a sparse crowd at Dunbar Community Center.
No cheers, only the muffled squeaking met those who walked in.
About an hour after the start of play Sunday, uniformed police officers beside the court, in doorways and at entrances outnumbered people in the stands.
“It’s really sad that one person could stop the event” at the park, said basketball pro Erik Daniels, who played for the University of Kentucky from 2000 to 2004 and last season played for a team in Argentina. Daniels was on one of the teams Sunday.
That one person was a yet-to-be identified shooter who injured five people during Dirt Bowl games on Father’s Day at Douglass Park. One of the victims, Kwame El-Amin, 42, died four days later.
Super Sunday is the highlight of the Dirt Bowl season, said Lexington police Sgt. Rahsaan Berry. People mark it on their calendars, plan to visit with family and friends, fry up some fish and watch some great basketball.
But Douglass Park courts were empty Sunday as the event was moved indoors.
Mike Thomas, one of the few spectators, was disappointed in this year’s Super Sunday, which he said usually ranks behind only the Roots & Heritage Festival as a must-attend event.
“It is a homecoming for Lexington’s black community,” he said.
But what’s happening in Lexington, “it’s not a basketball issue, it’s not a park issue. It’s a neighborhood issue,” he said
Last year Thomas, a veterinary tech, formed a nonprofit, Community Inspired Solutions, to help curb violence in Lexington.
First, he said, someone needs to step forward and help police identify the Father’s Day shooter.
There were more than 300 people at the park when the shooting occurred, said Thomas, who thinks somebody knows something but is too afraid to tell.
He also thinks that Lexington is a close-knit community that can tackle these problems.
Berry is doing his part to help people feel safe in their neighborhoods.
Through the end of July there will be church services in Douglass Park on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. On Thursdays there will be a free family movie. This week it’s Disney’s Frozen.
Last week about 25 showed up to watch Annie.