The great basketball conspiracy

Latest work for the NYT

I recently spent two days in Herkimer, NY, with New York Times all-star writer Dan Barry. The story is well worth a read.

We were there to look into claims that this small town held the true origins of basketball. That would mean Springfield, where the National Basketball Hall of Fame is located, might not be the sport’s birthplace. Not only that — but there might be a conspiracy to cover up the truth. And a family with little resources to prove their ancestor’s worth. And a ‘Human Calculator’ that is committed to help solve it.

All this in a town where the most notable historical marker sits on the site of New York’s last execution by hanging. Much like those gallows, the site of the first basketball game is also gone — now a parking lot.

So they sent me to photograph a parking lot.