This story appears in the December 26, 2016, issue of Sports Illustrated. To subscribe, click here.
The address of Erasmus Hall High—911 Flatbush Avenue—contains a sense of urgency, but the place itself suggests permanence and achievement. The massive stone edifice across from the Benny Jewelry & Pawn Shop rises like a castle above Brooklyn's landscape. To enter, open the red door, walk through the metal detector and past the X-ray machine. One of the two guards there may offer a key to the bathroom, but only after a promise to lock it on the way out.