Rafer Alston, skip to my lou

Rafer Jamel Alston, also known as Skip To My Lou or Skip 2 My Lou (born July 24, 1976 in Queens, New York City), is an American professional basketball player currently with the NBA's Houston Rockets.


The Last of the True Playground Legends, Rafer Alston

Streetball legend
Alston grew up in Jamaica, Queens as a street basketball legend and has received most of his recognition for that aspect of his career. In high school at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School he played in only 10 games his last two years but managed to score 319 points. He first came into the public spotlight for his starring in the And1 Mixtape Volume 1. In this mixtape, it had him performing his legendary dribbling moves on future NBA star Stephon Marbury. Alston attended California State University at Fresno and was drafted after his junior year at Fresno State by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round. He was the 39th pick overall in the 1998 NBA Draft.

His nickname Skip To My Lou stemmed from his tendency to skip while dribbling the ball upcourt. He played in several prominent streetball tournaments including the Entertainer's Basketball Classic, the North American street basketball tour, the AND1 Mixtape Tour, and the ESPN TV show, Street Ball. It is said that, during a streetball tournament at the legendary Rucker Park in Harlem, Alston once performed what most would regard as an impossible move: during a fastbreak, he supposedly glided in the paint for a layup attempt but made a change of plans in the air as he rolled the ball down his right arm, across his shoulder and down his left arm to a trailing player for a finishing dunk. Since 2006, Alston has served as the spokesperson for the Houston Rockets Blacktop Battle -- a popular 3-on-3 tournament held every spring in Houston.