Blog entry:The Commissioner

Laura Checkoway Laura Checkoway is a Brooklyn-based journalist, author, and documentary filmmake...

Editor's Note: As part of our month-long exploration of work in our ""9 to 5"" theme, we're proud to showcase a short series of profiles by emerging filmmaker Laura Checkoway. Check out other videos, audio and blog posts curated around the theme ""9 to 5"" here.

The Samuel Gompers housing projects loom like brick giants over the Hamilton Fish Park basketball court on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Wednesday through Saturday afternoons, recreation director and basketball commissioner Bill Lynch sits on the sidelines overseeing and announcing games, every summer since 1985.

In 1992, Bill was crossing the street on his way home in the Bronx. A cop car sped by on a chase and hit him. Confined to a wheelchair, Bill considered giving up plenty of times. But the game and the players keep him going. Bill’s dream is that Mayor Bloomberg will see this segment and build a dome over the court so he can keep kids off the street year-round instead of only May through September. He’ll be able to retire fulfilled if that day ever comes.