Basketball
The Chosen League has become a focal point of Philadelphia’s vibrant hoops scene. Founder Rahim Thompson hopes that his path will help others find success both on and off the court.
As the sun peeks back out, the days get longer, and temperatures steadily rise, organizations such as The Chosen League are preparing to return to normalcy and figuring out how to move forward in this new reality. Navigating this change is just another challenge to face for founder Rahim Thompson, who for 14 years through the Chosen League, has served the Philadelphia community by establishing a pathway for high-school students aspiring to play college and pro basketball. The face of the world may have changed, but for the Chosen League, the goal of helping students make the right decisions that will make a positive impact on their lives is always constant.
The Chosen League’s moniker isn’t something by chance. It’s not an accident, an oversight, or even just a dope name for founder Rahim Thompson. It’s his entire ethos: “Choose wisely,” which also happens to be the name of his book: Choose Wisely No Matter What The Odds Are: The 1st 20 Years. We spoke to Rahim about his path to where he is now, the experiences that have shaped him, and why that phrase means so much to him.
Born in Bronx, NY, Rahim learned how to cope with adversity from the start. Speaking over the phone, he tells me matter-of-factly, “I was born deaf with a broken foot, and my mom was a single parent. So I’ve always had the odds against me from the moment I was born.”
At the age of 13, Rahim and his mother moved to Philadelphia, and basketball became the focal point of his life. He cut his teeth in a Philly high school hoops scene that included players like Rasheed Wallace, and Alvin Williams, reveling in the talent that abounded in that area. When asked about the point he realized basketball wasn’t his long-term future, he laughs. Jovial in his recollection of past memories, Rahim describes himself as a “human victory cigar… My only goal was to score two points and get my name in the newspaper the next day in the box score. And it was real! It was like a coming to Jesus moment. You understand, because it was like ‘I’m good, but I’m not as good as these dudes.’”
I was born deaf with a broken foot, and my mom was a single parent. So I’ve always had the odds against me from the moment I was born.
What Rahim found himself to be good at was relationship building. He parlayed that into a varied career, including a stint at Slam Magazine, building the contacts and reputation within the Philadelphia and greater basketball community that led him to the creation of The Chosen League in 2002. “One thing I was always good with was communicating with people because I moved so much in my life. When you move a lot, you gotta know how to adjust as soon as you get into a new situation, you get what I’m saying? So when the coaches would come in and recruit the players, I would sit near the coaches and talk to them. I would always strike up a conversation with a coach and try to soak up some knowledge."
“And one day," Rahim continues, "my mom just trumped the sh-t out of me, and said: ‘If these Black boys are making hundreds of thousands of dollars, what are the owners making?’ And when she said that to me, it just sparked something… And that’s something I preach nowadays, there’s more opportunity off the court than there is on the court.”
In 2011, the NBA ground to a halt, with team owners beginning a work stoppage upon expiration of the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement. The ensuing lockout lasted 161 days. During that period, the summer basketball circuit saw a number of high-profile games, one of the most prominent of which was “The Battle of I-95”, organized and put on by Rahim Thompson and a number of Philadelphia luminaries. A who’s who cast of all-stars showed up, including LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul who led the Baltimore-based Team Melo against Tyreke Evans, Hakim Warrick and a Philadelphia-based team including a then lesser-known player by the name of Kyle Lowry, a product of Thompson’s Chosen League.
It was a full-circle moment and a springboard for the Chosen League, which had gone from an organized street league where “referees had to be able to fight in case something went down” to a legitimate high-profile high school entity. The league boasts 200+ Division 1 basketball players in its alumnae, 7 McDonald’s All Americans, 9 players drafted into the NBA, and 16 players overall in the NBA ranks. The Chosen League has formed partnerships with major players like Red Bull, Nike, Mitchell & Ness, Reebok, Converse as well as the grand nod, a full embrace from the Philadelphia 76ers proper.
With his book, Choose Wisely, Rahim aims to simply pass on the knowledge and experience he’s accrued through decades in this game. The book is a nod to his life’s mantra and the outlook that drives him to continue to achieve: Choose wisely. The choice is yours.
