New Boerum Hill Basketball Courts Honor Slain Teen

BOERUM HILL – Last Friday, December 1, NYC Parks unveiled two newly renovated basketball courts at Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Park located on Wyckoff Street between Hoyt and Bond Streets.

NYC Parks Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Martin Maher hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and was joined by Brooklyn Nets team members D’Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, DeMarre Carroll, and Jarrett Allen, as well as Council Member Stephen Levin, Assembly Member Jo Ann Simon, and the parents of Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr.

Heyward Jr. was a 13-year-old resident of the Gowanus Houses who was shot and killed by a New York City Housing Authority police officer in 1994 while playing with friends in his building. Police mistook a water gun the teen was holding for a real firearm.

The two new basketball courts have been repaved, painted, and color sealed, and are now ADA-accessible. New fencing, benches, nets, hoops and backboards have been installed as well as new drinking fountains with bottle-fillers. The $324,000 project was funded and renovated by the Barclays Center’s foundation, Barclays Center Cares, and the Brooklyn Nets Foundation.

Originally named the Gowanus Houses Playground, the park was renamed in 2001 for Heyward Jr. who played basketball regularly there. This is the first major renovation the courts have received in more than 25 years.