The Golden Age of Basketball

In the final second, the miracle didn't happen.

The full-on physical contest had left Washington High School's players without their offensive touch.

Their last shot was disrupted by Gan Guoyang's enormous hand, resulting in an air ball.

Wu Zhixiong grabbed the ball beneath the basket and threw it into the air as the players from Beiqiao High School hugged each other tightly, celebrating their progress towards the ultimate goal.

In a fierce battle, Gan Guoyang racked up 19 points and 28 rebounds, delivering 11 blocks.

One could say he squeezed every ounce out of his defensive ability, while the players from Washington High School also gave it their all—except for Quentin Stephenson.

However, Stephenson had a significant impact tonight, inflicting rare psychological damage on Gan Guoyang.

If not for Gan Guoyang's unwavering will, the final attack might not have gone in, and the teams would have had to fight it out in overtime.

Winning the Northern California championship, the atmosphere on the scene was actually not as enthusiastic as when they won the San Francisco League championship.

The fans at the San Jose Civic Auditorium stood up to applaud Beiqiao High School, but no one entered the court, no one went wild.

So, the award ceremony proceeded smoothly in the center of the court, with the whole team from Beiqiao High School holding the trophy symbolizing the Northern championship and taking a group photo in the middle of the court.

By the time the ceremony ended, the Civic Auditorium had become empty, with a fine rain still falling outside, utterly lacking in championship fervor.

"Getting the Northern California championship doesn't feel as satisfying as the San Francisco League championship," Gan Guohui complained in the locker room after receiving the trophy.

"Of course, San Francisco is our place, with lots of Chinese people... San Jose has mostly Japanese people," Chen Xing explained.

In San Jose, a lot of Japanese descendants lived, but they were interned and subjected to forced labor during World War II. After the war ended, they tried every way to detach from Japan's influence and become fully American.

By contrast, many Chinese in the Bay Area kept closer ties to their homeland and took pride in that, with Beiqiao High School's curriculum deeply infused with Chinese culture.

"Hey, since not many people celebrated our victory today, let's celebrate it ourselves. How about we all sing a song together?" Gan Guoyang suggested, and everyone agreed.

But when it came to deciding which song to sing, they found themselves at a loss.

Many popular songs weren't suitable for group singing, and they also had nothing to do with victory.

Some songs you knew how to sing, and others didn't, which made it impossible to sing together.

After some discussion, Gan Guohui said, "We certainly can't sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. That song is too difficult and I don't know how to sing it."

Suddenly, Huang Zhenfan said, "How about we sing 'My Motherland'? Everyone learned it in elementary school, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Although they were overseas, the song "My Motherland" had a global influence among the Chinese, and for many, it was an enlightening childhood song.

Except for Beelman, Franklin, and Xu Xun who didn't know the song, the rest started to sing together, "A wide river, waves spanning broad, the wind blows the rice flowers, fragrance lacing both shores..."

After the song finished, there were tears in everyone's eyes. Although Beelman could not understand the lyrics, he was also touched, believing it to be a very good song.

Gan Guoyang said to Xu Xun, "Ah Xun, why don't you sing a Korean song for us?"

Xu Xun scratched his head and after thinking for a while said, "Well then, I'll just sing 'Patriotic Song'."

"Under the clear and bright sun, this land rich with gold and treasure, three thousand miles of picturesque scenery..."

Xu Xun didn't talk much usually, but his singing was not bad, although his face turned red as he sang.

Finally, it was Franklin's turn to sing a song, and everyone expected him to perform a jazz or pop song. Instead, he surprised everyone by singing the deeply somber African American song "Old Man River" with his low voice:

"There's an old man called the Mississippi, that's the old man I don't want to be like, because he doesn't care for the trouble on earth..."

This song reflected the miserable lives of African Americans along the southern Mississippi River, casting a somber mood over the locker room.

Beelman interrupted Franklin, saying, "Enough, enough, no more singing. Are we still a basketball team? Are we celebrating a victory? You all are singers, great artists singing about their homelands and the tragic lives of black people. God, what kind of players have I got... Pack up, back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we roll back to San Francisco, day after, remember to train!"

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Although the Northern California championship was met with a lukewarm reception in San Jose, the Beiqiao Shui Zhong Team received a warm welcome when they returned to San Francisco the next day.

This was the first true Northern California championship in CIF history, and on March 1st, they would represent the entirety of Northern California in the battle for the state championship.

The campus of Chinatown's Beiqiao High School had never been so lively, with waves of reporters, Chinese organizations, and well-known figures in politics and business flocking to Beiqiao High School to interview, comfort, and encourage the Shui Zhong Team, and to offer sponsorships.

Several commercial brands also approached them to discuss partnerships, looking mainly to Gan Guoyang as the face for their brands.

However, Gan Guoyang turned down these lucrative endorsement deals, stating that if he were to do endorsements, it would have to be with the entire Shui Zhong Team, and the proceeds would be shared equally.

Eventually, they shot print ads for a sports apparel retailer and a basketball brand.

An article about their team appeared in the February 1982 issue of the renowned sports magazine "Sports Illustrated".

Beelman told them that if they could secure the state championship on March 1st, making the March cover of "Sports Illustrated" was within the realm of possibility.

The number of articles about Gan Guoyang began to increase, with his influence spreading from San Francisco-Bay Area to the whole of Northern California.

The basketball world began to talk more and more about this Chinese basketball prodigy, yet at that time, no one could foresee the magnitude of his impact on the world of basketball.

In contrast to his rising fame in San Francisco-Northern California, Gan Guoyang had not yet attracted much attention in the talent-rich Southern California.

In Los Angeles, in San Diego, in Long Beach, what they had in abundance was basketball talent.

Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Greg Ballard, and a whole bunch of up-and-coming talented players.

UCLA, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Lakers, they're all basketball teams famous throughout America.

On February 28th, the Shui Zhong Team arrived in Los Angeles by plane, and then were taken by the airport shuttle to a hotel called the "Los Angeles International Airport-Holiday Inn", which sounded very impressive.

But upon arrival, everyone discovered it was just a two-story Motel.

The room decorations were very ordinary, the sanitary conditions poor, the carpet was full of holes burnt by cigarette butts.

Some of the bed sheets even had bloodstains that hadn't been washed off, leaving one to wonder what had happened here before.

The worst part was that the hotel had no extra-long beds, which was a big problem for tall guys like Gan Guoyang and Franklin.

Beelman and the team leader, Teacher Liu, made phone calls to the CIF Championship Committee, hoping to change hotels, but they were told that no other rooms were available nearby.

"Damn it, is this how these Southern California guys organize the most important game of the year?" Beelman cursed, spitting after he hung up the phone.

"Southern California is determined to win this championship, so they're definitely creating trouble for us."

Last year, the first CIF California Championship ended with two Oakland teams vying for the title.

This year, it was divided between Southern and Northern California, and Southern California wanted to keep the championship in Los Angeles no matter what.

In the end, Beelman managed to piece together two extra-long beds with cabinets and pillows for Gan Guoyang and Franklin to make do for one night.

The next day they ran into another problem: they had nowhere to do their warm-up training.

The games were to be held in the evening but the Great Western Forum was booked for other purposes during the day, so they couldn't go in to practice.

The Southern California Championship Committee didn't arrange a practice venue for the Shui Zhong Team and said it would suffice to get to the venue early in the evening to warm up.

After all, neither team had a venue arranged for training, which was fair.

Beelman was so angry he was biting his teeth, cursing, "Fuck this bunch of sons of bitches. Riverside Polytech High School is just an hour's drive from the Great Western Forum; they don't need any goddamn training venue!"

But the protest was still ineffective, no arrangements meant no arrangements, and Beelman and Teacher Liu had to figure it out on their own.

Teacher Liu reached out to the Chinese Progressive Association's branch in Los Angeles, and they managed to find a middle school near the Great Western Forum.

The Chinese Progressive Association had made donations to this middle school before, and the principal agreed to let the Shui Zhong Team use the school gym for two hours when he heard about their situation.

So after lunch, the Shui Zhong Team went to the middle school's gym to warm up and prepare for the evening's game.

Just over half an hour into training, another group of people entered the gym; it was the school's girls' basketball team.

The girls' coach said they had a game that afternoon and needed to warm up. Beelman said they had already applied to the principal.

Both sides, being stubborn, couldn't agree, so they went to the principal's office to ask the principal to decide.

The Shui Zhong players had no choice but to stop their practice, while the girls changed into their uniforms and started warming up on the court.

The Shui Zhong players watched attentively from the sidelines, noting that the girls' warm-up routine was as effective as running and shooting on the court.

They were also surprised to find that among the group of girls, there was one with yellow skin and black hair.

"Hey, hey, hey, that girl is really pretty and has a great figure. Do you think she's Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?"

"With that height, that facial features, is there even a need to ask? She's definitely Chinese."

"Who's going to ask for her contact? Hurry up before the coach comes back."

"What's the use of getting it, we're leaving right after the game, you think you can stay in Los Angeles?"

A few guys discussed excitedly, while Gan Guoyang grabbed a ball and started practicing dribbling on the sideline.

He deliberately closed his eyes to enhance his feel for the ball, with the noisy discussions around him not affecting him at all.

Suddenly, the talking stopped, and then he heard a clear voice, "Hello, are you Ah Gan?"

He opened his eyes and saw a girl standing in front of him, dressed in a white top and black pants, holding a basketball.

It must be the girl they were just talking about, with black hair, indeed very pretty, kind of resembling…

Gan Guoyang felt like she reminded him of some movie star, but he couldn't quite remember who at the moment.

"Hello? I hope I'm not bothering you?" the girl asked again, pursing her lips.

"Oh, not at all. Yes, my surname is Gan, my name is Gan Guoyang."

"I knew it was you! I've seen you in the newspapers. You play really well. Tonight, you need to do your best!" she said with a smile, then took her basketball and ran back to warm up.

The female basketball players also stirred, whispering among themselves, making the girl blush.

And seeing her smile, Gan Guoyang remembered, this girl looked like Joey Wong.