By Giang Nguyen

Larry "Gator" Rivers

Larry “Gator” Rivers, basketball legend and coach, has been one of the most supportive locals of the Waters Avenue Revitalization project. Over the past couple weeks, our team, the Crowd, has had some very interesting and inspiring talks with the man, who can be considered one of Savannah’s icons.

Gator had quite a complicated upbringing. He was born in a family with a mixed culture that included an Irish grandmother, an African American Baptist grandfather, and a very young mother.

Introduced to basketball by his mother who taught him many things that made him the man he is today, Gator holds an immense passion for this team sport. Basketball is Gator’s craft, career & way of life. During high school, Gator became well known for being a part of the greatest teams that ever played for the state of Georgia, and later for being a part of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Larry “Gator” Rivers – Highschool Basketball Championship

Larry “Gator” Rivers – Introduction to Basketball & Joining Harlem Globetrotters

After retiring from the Harlem Globetrotters, Gator has been working as a basketball coach for many student teams here in Savannah. He is also curating a project that introduces organic farming and gardening to the youth by “carry the excitement of basketball to farming”.

Gators in a basketball training session, JEA

During our talks, he opened up about many interesting things in his past, from how he was introduced to basketball by his mother to how life was like during the civil rights movement in the 60s – 70s, when black people were not fairly treated by the society. He also provided us some very fascinating facts about how Waters Avenue used to be like during that time and the changes that happened in this area.

Larry “Gator” Rivers – On Segregation & Integration in Savannah

Gator has been providing us with valuable insights and background information that we find very helpful to the research, and we are glad to have his support on the project. More information about him will be covered in the next posts.

Giang Nguyen is an MFA student in the Graphic Design Department at SCAD. Tiifany Lindeborn and Ying Liu, along with Giang, comprise ‘The Crowd,’ a team in the graduate class The Role of Design in Social Awareness engaged in a project that highlights the people who live along Waters Avenue. This series will present ‘pillars’ of the community, as well as several youth, several business people, and several long-term residents. One goal of the project is to celebrate the assets that the communities along Waters already share.