Nicholas J. Booker Basketball Courts is named after Nick Booker, a St. Louis youth who loved basketball and worked as a teenager in Forest Park for the St. Louis Parks Division. He died tragically from an asthma attack while playing pickup basketball during his first year of college.
A partnership between the St. Louis City Department of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry and the private nonprofit conservancy Forest Park Forever and funding from the Eric P. and Evelyn E. Newman Foundation and other supporters helped bring basketball to Forest Park. This is the first time in the park’s history to have a basketball court.
Saturday, July 13, the dedication of courts had a day of games, food, and music. Over 100 friends and family of Nick Booker came to honor and celebrate his memory and love for Forest Park and basketball. Basketball teams from across the region signed for specific games and contests.
A proclamation from the Mayor of St. Louis City, Tishaura Jones proclaimed July 13, 2024, as Forest Park Nicholas J. Booker Basketball Day – cheers from family and friends filled the hot summer day air.
“This is such a tremendous honor for our family to have something that is so needed and inclusive that is in his honor,” said Booker’s dad Britt Booker. Britt describes his son as someone who loves to bring everyone together, even those he doesn’t know.
He said Forest Park is centrally located and having the basketball court there will bring more people together, people from the south St. Louis, north, and the west end communities.
“We are grateful for all who have helped make this happen,” Britt said.
The young basketball player was an organ donor, “He has helped so many people,” his mother Tanya Booker said. She mentioned that his organs have helped save over 100 lives. “Being an organ donor and having the basketball court in his honor, he is continuing to help others.”
As a teenager, young Booker had a very enthusiastic appreciation for Forest Park, during the summer he worked for the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry.
“It’s so special to name the courts in his honor,” said Lesley Hoffarth, president and executive director of the nonprofit conservancy Forest Park Forever. She said the organization is excited to see what the basketball courts can do for Forest Park and the St. Louis community region.
“Since Tuesday at the ribbon cutting and now we’ve seen lots of people out here on the court,” she added. Basketball equipment is available and free, visitors can check out a basketball free of charge. The organization in partnership with Vector Communications conducted community surveys at different rec centers with young people getting their input on what they would like at the basketball court.“Listening to the people who are going to be using it, it just makes sense,” she said.
Booker’s grandfather Andy Newman, a trustee of the Eric P. and Evelyn E. Newman Foundation, said he is proud to be a part of the positive change at Forest Park. He believes adding the basketball court is a part of righting a wrong that is decades old. His grandmother Peggy Newman said, “Even though he is no longer here with us, his spirit of bringing everyone together will continue after we’re gone.”
Tamara Sheffield, the Senior Vice President of Finances and Administration Services for Forest Park Forever, appreciates the St. Louis community for supporting the basketball courts. She said partnering with the city taught her team to think about amenities that will help them identify with and see themselves in the park. “Basketball is exactly that,” Sheffield said.
Ashley Winters is a Report for America reporter for the St. Louis American.