E:60 (2007)

Bobby Hurley was born and raised in Jersey City, at a time when the city was devastated by crime, drugs and AIDS. But for Bobby, whose father Bob was a probation officer, nowhere was off limits. All of Jersey City was his playground—and he developed his skills, and his defining trait—toughness—playing all over town, taking on the toughest competition Jersey City could offer. At St. Anthony High School, he would lead the Friars to the national championship—playing for the most demanding of taskmasters, a Hall of Fame coach, his father, Bob Hurley. Once considered by many as the greatest point guard in the annals of college basketball Hurley was on the verge of achieving his dream of being an NBA star. But just as his NBA career was beginning, it all came crashing down. Over the next two decades Hurley had to fight back from physical, emotional and financial ruin. And in the process he realized that Bobby Hurley is about much more than just basketball. E:60’s Jeremy Schaap speaks with all the major figures from Hurley’s life – Coach Mike Krzyzewski, former teammates Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Jalen Rose, Jay Bilas, Kenny Anderson, Mitch Richmond, PJ Carlesimo, Terry Dehere and of course Bobby’s family – to tell the complete story of one of the greatest basketball figures of modern times.

He was compared to Magic Johnson, a versatile young superstar who took the NBA by storm. At the height of his career, Penny Hardaway was first team all-NBA and a pop-culture icon. But injuries plagued him, and by 2008 he was out of the league and out of the public spotlight. In recent years, Hardaway helped childhood friend Desmond Merriweather coach his middle school basketball team following a cancer diagnosis. Side by side, the two lead their team to 3 straight middle school championships. In February 2015, Merriweather lost his battle with cancer. This season, committed to carrying on his friend’s legacy, Hardaway accepted the coaching job at Memphis East High School – Merriweather’s alma mater – with one goal in mind: to lead the boys to a state championship in honor of their coach.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver speaks for the first time about his improbable journey to the NFL and the brutal murder of his father at the hands of his uncle.

Reporter Buster Olney went with the American League Rookie of the Year to Puerto Rico, where Correa was born, raised and fell in love with the game of baseball.

The Olympic gold-medalist will head to Rio this summer with the hopes of becoming the first American boxer, male or female, to win back-to-back gold medals. Shields reveals to E:60 reporter Jeremy Schaap her tumultuous childhood, bouncing from home to home, surviving sexual assault, and now living among the 40,000 people below the poverty line in a city dominating headlines for a toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

ESPN’s award-winning news magazine, E:60, returns tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN to tell the best stories in sports. Recently honored with Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports News Anthology and Long Feature as well as the Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalism, the series will continue to deliver impactful, timely, original pieces that transcend sports. The special summer run of shows premieres tonight with former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, who sits down for the first time to talk in-depth about his retirement from the NFL (Trailer: http://es.pn/29nOEmF). The show will also feature the unique story of the man who drove 19 miles with Muhammad Ali in the back of the hearse, through the streets of Louisville, Kentucky, to ‘The Champ’s’ final resting place (Trailer: http://es.pn/29CcHPP). Finally, the powerful story of Paula Blanco, a running back with the Orlando Anarchy women’s football team, who was with teammates at Pulse nightclub on June 12th, when 49 people were killed in the worst act of terrorism on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001, and the deadliest attack on a gay target in the nation’s history (Trailer: http://es.pn/29i7BTL).