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  • Roger Hill, Cyrus From “The Warriors,” Dies At Age 65

    Roger Hill had a short career in film, but for those who saw the iconic film The Warriors, he will be remembered simply as Cyrus. The film has become a cult classic, and while his name may not be well-known to most people, his character played an intricate part in the film.

    Hill was a life-long resident of New York City, and died in his hometown on Thursday morning. After being born and raised in New York, he attended City College of New York. He is survived by his only son, Chris Hill, who is a film editor.

    The film features Roger Hill as Cyrus, the leader of the one of the gangs in New York City, while the film focuses on several gangs fighting for territory. Cyrus is shot down at the beginning of the film while delivering a public speech to several gangs, while hoping to unite all of the street gangs in New York City.

    He was cast in the film after a real life gang member mysteriously went missing just before the film’s director, Walter Hill, had expected to start filming the classic 1979 film.

    After Cyrus’ death, the warriors are falsely blamed, and are forced to fight their way home throughout the course of a single night as the other gangs try to take them down.

    The film was based on a novel by Sol Yurick, and later inspired a video game of the same title from Rockstar Games that was made for the Playstation 2 and Xbox. As the character continued a life of its own in the game, Roger Hill took notice, and ended up filing a lawsuit of $250,000 against Rockstar Games for using his voice and depicting him in their game.

    None of the actors present in the film were well-known at the time, which made it feel much more natural for each of them to represent members of street gangs. The Warriors also helped launch iconic quotes such as the plea that Cyrus uttered as he was killed, saying “Can you dig it?” and the famous “Warriors…come out to play” line.

    In his later years, Roger Hill had left his acting career, and had been working as a librarian, while also writing poetry. He began a career in theater, and spent time appearing in several Off-Broadway productions.

    He retired from acting in 1987 after an 18-year career that was spent mostly in theater, while being most well-known for his iconic role as Cyrus in The Warriors.

    Image via Youtube

  • NBA: Sleeved Uniforms Announced For the Warriors

    Adidas and the Golden State Warriors this week unveiled a new uniform with “modern” short sleeves. The uniform is also the team’s lightest uniform ever – 26% lighter than current Warriors uniforms.

    “Players on every court like to have a unique sense of style,” said Lawrence Norman, vice president for adidas global basketball. “We were excited to work side-by-side for the last 18 months with the Warriors, one of the NBA’s youngest and most exciting teams, to develop this unique uniform system that helps maintain peak player performance while ensuring comfort, fit and style.”

    Though range-of-motion would seem to be a concern with sleeves, adidas claims its has worked with players to develop the uniforms. The sleeves include armhole insets that are made of a stretch fabric. The company claims that movement in the jersey is equal to that found in normal tank-top style uniforms.

    “When adidas began working with us to develop the short sleeve jersey, I couldn’t wait to wear it in a game,” said Harrison Barnes, Warriors forward. “I love the fit and style the sleeves give me on the court.”

    The new uniforms will debut on February 22 during the Warriors’ game against the San Antonio Spurs. They will also be worn during two more home games this season: on March 8 against the Houston Rockets and on March 15 against the Chicago Bulls.

  • Sol Yurick Dies: “Warriors” Author Was 87

    Sol Yurick, author of the highly-acclaimed book “The Warriors”, died on Saturday from complications relating to lung cancer. He was 87.

    Yurick, who worked for the New York Department of Welfare before finding success as an author, drew from his real-life experiences when he found himself inspired to write. Working for the welfare department was enough to give him material for many books, but he condensed his experiences into a novel, “The Warriors”, and later touched on the vast differences between the impoverished people he came into contact with every day and those he’d grown up with.

    “Some of the children of these families were what was then called juvenile delinquents,” Yurick wrote in an introduction to “The Warriors.” “Many of them belonged to fighting gangs. Some of these gangs numbered in the hundreds; they were veritable armies. This social phenomenon was viewed, on the one hand, as the invasion of the barbarians, only this time they came from the inside rather than from the outside.”

    Often considered too “radical” for New York’s literary intelligentsia, Yurick was rejected by 27 publishers before one decided to take a chance on “The Warriors”. When it was made into a film some 15 years later, it became an instant cult-classic and resonated with an entire generation, particularly those accustomed to big cities.

    Yurick also authored “The Bag” and “Fertig”, which were largely based on his life experiences as well, and wrote short stories.