Look past the half-empty bleachers and subdued atmosphere. Past the double-digit deficits and last-place record.

Past the kids who don't always hang on to the ball and, when they do, don't always know what to do with it.

Manual High School is back where it belongs this winter, playing boys varsity basketball after a strange two-year absence, a tormenting time when an old neighborhood dream was emptier than the Thunderbolts gym.

The 115-year-old school, shut in 2006 because of declining enrollment and lagging achievement, reopened two years ago with 163 freshmen - and a freshman hoops team.

This year, there are about 300 freshmen and sophomores, and a varsity squad that desperately is trying to cut and weave and shoot like the old days, when opponents had to resist a powerful impulse just to stand and gawk.

"A lot of these kids' parents went to Manual. Old Manual people wanted to bring their kids here," said coach and former Manual player Kerry Price, whose son, Juwan, plays for the Thunderbolts.

Few schools have cause to feel as proprietary about basketball as Manual. From the 1930s to the 1990s, the Thunderbolts toted home 11 state championship trophies, a record that still stands. They won more than two dozen Denver Prep League championships, raising the game to new heights in Colorado.

And, oh, those players, whose achievements are legion and legend. Dennis Boone, Horace Kearney, Larry Farmer, Micheal Ray Richardson, Chucky Sproling, Johnnie Reece . . .

The roll call of marquee shooters, big men and dazzling point guards and their respective teams are as much a part of Five Points lore as the Rossonian Hotel and the gabled Victorian homes that surround Manual, which opened in 1894, three years after James Naismith hammered his first peach basket into place on the balcony of a Springfield, Mass., gym.

"You walked down the street and people would say, 'Hey, state champion,' " said Kearney, an assistant coach who played on the 1966 state championship team.

Learning curve

Unfortunately, the 2008-09 Thunderbolts aren't your father's, or grandfather's, Thunderbolts. Stepping onto the court for the opening practice, Price saw that many of his players barely could dribble and shoot.

With two weeks left in the regular season, he still uses the halftime break to work on fundamentals that opponents mastered years ago. One of his go-to players, Deonte Crews, is 13.

"We don't have anyone over 15," Price said.

Instead of lining up against Denver East, Montbello and other traditional rivals, the Thunderbolts find themselves in the Class 3A Metro League, going against schools such as Faith Christian and Holy Family.

The 'Bolts are 0-9 in league play, 2-13 overall and have lost 11 consecutive games. But there are encouraging signs. In the fourth quarter, when opponents stick in their subs, Manual usually gains the upper hand. And the Manual freshmen owned a 10-2 record at one point.

"We have to be patient," Price said. "I have to count to 10 during games. A lot of the kids hadn't played organized sports before. They've got a lot of basketball from video games and stuff like that. But I think we're on the right track. I think next year we'll truly be competitive.

"I believe in Manual. When they shut down the school, I was hurt. A lot of us were hurt. We love this school, we have so many good memories of this school. Not just of basketball, but because it was a good school.

"But now that I'm involved again, my feelings are good again. I feel like I'm doing the right thing. I'm not in the park protesting the shutdown anymore. I'm here, working at getting it better. That's what we need now. We need a lot of us to come back and get things back on track."

Denver East boys basketball coach Rudy Carey, who guided Manual to three state championships, is doing his part.

"Coach Carey calls me every now and then and says, 'Keep your head up.' It helps me come in, be patient and teach," said Price, who played for Carey on the 'Bolts' 1988 title team.

Starting over

Manual has undergone so many changes in recent years that it sometimes misplaces its identity. When then-superintendent Michael Bennet and Denver's school board closed the school - it's a story that attracted national attention - many alums chose to remember the old days, and the memory rankled.

"People ask me, 'What happened to Manual? They're down in 3A?' " Kearney said.

During the first three decades of the 20th century, thousands of blacks moved into Five Points, the only place they could live. It eventually turned into a cultural mecca and one of the West's most prosperous black communities.

Manual's basketball program acquired lofty status when the Thunderbolts won their first state championship, in 1939, the start of a run that included at least one title in every decade through the 1990s (1948, 1949, 1950, 1955, 1966, 1972, 1976, 1988, 1990 and 1991.)

In fact, the state tournament wasn't complete without the Thunderbolts and their entourage: dancing cheerleaders, hip jazz band, community leaders who swelled with an extra pride, and students chanting, "All we want to do for you is just win, win, take it to the rim, turn around and put it in."

College coaches came clamoring for Manual players, especially in 1966, after Carl Ashley scored 29 points in the title game to cement Manual's 20-0 record as the first undefeated team in big-school competition.

"Four players off our team were all-city, three made all- state and seven of us got scholarships," Kearney said. "We were definitely public figures."

Eye on tradition

The past surrounds Manual today. Principal Rob Stein is a 1978 graduate, and all three basketball coaches played for the 'Bolts, which is why they often double as history teachers.

Pointing toward Manual's 11 state championship banners at the first practice, Price dipped back into the glory days.

"It's all there for them to see," he said. "They don't know anything about Manual's tradition. So I make them look up at those banners."

That passion was evident during a recent practice. Four coaches, including a volunteer assistant, covered the court, turning mistakes into teaching moments for Crews, Juwan Price, Charles Harden, David Dunehew and other promising players.

"We have a bunch of bad days, then we really come together," backup Benito Zamora said.

Added Crews, one of the highest-scoring freshmen in the state: "We've struggled a little, but we're competing."

When Manual reopened in 2007, it borrowed elements of a charter school. Class sizes in core academics were 25 to 30 students, students met three times a week with the same adviser, wore uniforms and received extra help in after-school programs and summer school.

During a 90-minute "overtime" session at the end of school, athletes are required to do homework before practice at 5 p.m. Slip up, and they don't suit up.

"You make up all your work there," Crews said. "If you have homework, you can complete it in there. The teachers are there to help you. So there's really no reason you should be ineligible."

Rebuilding a legacy

At new Manual, though, the old buzz is absent at games. Sitting near midcourt on a recent weekday night, sophomore cheerleader Tracie Parker predicted enthusiastic days ahead.

"I'm proud that we at least have (an athletic program)," she said. "They get discouraged, but they know they're young. The (spirit) is not all the way there yet, but it's there."

A few feet away, freshman Kameo Thomas focused on the final moments of the freshman game, groaning when the 'Bolts came up a little short.

"That was an excellent game. They're really stepping it up."

At every turn, the 'Bolts are working overtime to repair a program that lost touch with its legacy, hoping ultimately to add another title banner to the east wall of the Thunderdome.

Far-fetched?

The odds seemed just as intimidating a year ago, when the 'Bolts fielded a freshman team.

"I think we had three kids, at the most, who'd played basketball," Kearney said. "But we ended up with a 12-8 record. When it was over, I was saying, 'I believe in miracles.' "

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