ESPN and its 30 for 30 documentary series has produced a short film on Milwaukee resident Andy Gorzalski's mission to bring the iconic MECCA basketball court back to Milwaukee. It's a must-watch for anyone who calls the city home.
It's a tremendous piece of work from director Chris James Thompson, and honestly, what I like most about it is the passion for the city that the people involved in this project have.
This isn't a "Bucks" story. It's not a basketball story.
Sometimes, people need to recognize what's not only "cool" but culturally significant. You don't just let works from artists like Robert Indiana get lost forever. Such things should be reclaimed, but not by recyclers, but by people like Gorzalski, John Steinmiller and the Koller family.
Well done.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
