Anthony Dillard

They had basketball courts everywhere, swimming pools—we had everything kids don’t have now. We had it all. Girls played tetherball and jump rope. We played football, baseball—there were courts, monkey bars, and stuff all throughout the neighborhood. I remember every Christmas, Lincoln Courts had a party, a Christmas party. Santa Claus would come around. They don’t do any of that anymore—it’s just gone.

Mr. Crawford’s bike shop was there. He worked on bikes, and then Kevin got the store. He passed it along, but Kevin turned it into a store, which is closed now. But Crawford’s bicycle shop was definitely there.

Did you ever hang out there? Ever see or talk to him?

I’d take my bike there. He had inner tubes and a couple of dogs. He was the white man to go to back then, yes—and he was a really nice older guy. That was across from Spelling Road, and there was a cow factory there too.

One thing I want people to realize is that when I was coming up, they didn’t call it Ezzard Charles. I’m all for that name because he was a great boxer from my era, but it used to be called Lincoln Park Drive. A lot of people don’t know that. They don’t even know about the Shoemaker Clinic—it’s all gone. They don’t know anything about St. Mary’s Hospital either. It’s all gone. But it was there when I was growing up.