At 5'9", he built his legendary street status by jumping over the top of a Volkswagon and slam dunking a basketball. As NBA superstar Jason Kidd puts it, "he could jump over a building."
Gary Payton, another NBA superstar and childhood friend asserts, "he was better than me, he was better than Jason (Kidd), Antonio (Davis), he was better than everybody."
But while Hook's childhood friends, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Antonio Davis, Brian Shaw, J.R. Rider and Greg Foster all ended up playing basketball in the NBA, Hook ended up incarcerated.
From the drug and crime infested streets of West Oakland to the California Men's Penal Colony, Hook made all the wrong choices.
The story of how "Hook" wound up incarcerated, while the buddies he grew up with skyrocketed to superstardom with multi-million dollar salaries, is told in this poignant tale of a life gone wrong.
"Hook" Mitchell is the greatest basketball player to never make it to the NBA.