However, in order to take away his singlet, the boy had one last challenge.
Big Easy, the Globetrotters' lead man, lined the boy up before the hoop and encouraged him to shoot.
The boy crouched down, mustered all his strength and shot the ball - airball!
Tenacious and determined to win, he wanted to give it another go.
Big Easy called in his team troops to kneel and pray in support as he did. He shot and missed again.
Determined to see the boy win, Big Easy called in more troops for support - this time the other team. Again the boy missed.
By now, the audience was louder than ever in support and encouragement. The referee ran in from the sideline and joined the sea of support.
Big Easy, in earnest anticipation, grabbed the ball, knelt down and encouraged the boy to just believe and lined him up with the basket once more.
The boy shot the ball and the ball went in. The crowd erupted and the boy got his singlet.
The point of the story? Persistence, belief and support. Keep the faith, keep shooting and we will make the basket.
Big Easy believed in the boy. The boy believed in Big Easy. Together they attracted support and made the goal.
It's a lesson that reminds me of the potential of the Te Mata Peak Trust fundraising campaign.
The Chambers family, the trust and supporters have been casting a vision for the development of one of our most iconic sites in Hawke's Bay.
They've had traction along the way with support from our local councils, various funders and now Hawke's Bay Today getting behind the cause.
Almost all in Hawke's Bay have their own story of the peak. A family member told me recently he first learned of the sleeping giant story from a Sesame Street episode where the puppets did an international flyover trip of New Zealand.
Sesame Street? He assured me it was true.
While I don't remember Sesame Street myself, I do have my own stories.
I remember hiking up the redwoods as a child on school trips to learn ecology and take bark rubbings.
I had a dawn barbecue on the serene mountain-top setting once, have exercised up it and once had an office overlooking one of the best views in the world - the silhouette of the sleeping giant Rongokako and Te Mata Peak.
The fundraising campaign is gaining momentum day by day and I applaud and endorse the efforts.
Te Mata Peak is an integral part of our community.
A visitor and education centre will allow schoolchildren and visitors the opportunity to get to know the full history of the peak and surrounds.
If the Harlem Globetrotters, strangers from a foreign land, can support and lift the spirits of a young boy in such a remarkable way, how much more can we as a community get behind, lift and support our own with this project?
Together, we can make the goal.
Jacoby Poulain is a Hastings District Council Flaxmere Ward councillor.
