The mission of the Gator Ball Academy Summer Camps is to provide activites that are entertaining, educational, and provide a model of healthy living.
 Larry "Gator" Rivers
Harlem Globetrotters
  At age seven, Larry Rivers was fascinated by Marques Haynes' ball handling skills in the movie "Go Man Go."  On his way home from the theater, Rivers told his mother he wanted to be a Harlem Globetrotter, so she bought him a basketball at the local pawn shop and he started practicing his ball handling skills.
  Sixteen years later, Rivers' boyhood dream came true.  Marques Haynes held a tryout for Rivers, who at the time was an All-Conference guard at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Missouri.
  Haynes kept in touch after being impressed with Rivers' extraordinary control of the basketball and two summers later, Rivers was asked to attend a formal try-out for the Globetrotters.
  From 1973 to 1986 Larry "Gator" Rivers was the premier dribbler and served his last six years as a player/coach.  During his playing years, Gator was hailed as the greatest ball handler in the world.
  Since leaving the Globetrotters, Rivers has formed a youth foundation, the Gatorball Academy.  Gator Rivers still practices his skills and sometimes adds new tricks to his ball handling repertoire, but now is most concerned with helping kids find the right path to personal success.
 



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