SAN ANTONIO – The Inner City Basketball Court on San Antonio’s West Side has a rich history of serving low-income Mexican Americans. It got started back in the 1970s. Before the pandemic temporarily closed them, the courts helped connect the surrounding community.

Art Campos mentors and coaches kids on those courts, but he also spent his childhood playing ball there.

“This is our Rucker Park, Dyckman Park, this is our sanctuary,” he says.

It’s a place he remembers fondly and says it was an honor to be able to play and coach there as an adult.

“Every single day – if we weren’t at Tobin, if we weren’t at Lanier – it was always, ‘Let’s just go to Inner City,’” Campos says.

The love of basketball extends out into the community, connecting generations of players.

Rudy Bernal was the 31-year hall-of-fame head coach at Lanier High School, but also remembers seeing photographs of his dad and tio (uncle) when they helped win the 1943 and 1945 basketball state championships playing for Lanier.

He himself led Lanier’s team to the state tournament as a coach in 2000 and 2001 – he knows how vital basketball is for this community, especially for at-risk youth.

“I know there are some kids that went to school - the only reason they went to school was 'cause of basketball,” Bernal says.

He also says several of the students he coached have gone on to become teachers and coaches themselves.

Courts across the city have been closed because of the pandemic, but as they begin reopening, Bernal

says the Inner City courts will have the largest impact on the community.

Ninety-five percent of Bernal’s former players grew up economically disadvantaged and he says the court is where they learn valuable life lessons.